Theology isn’t normally on my reading list, but David Carlson recommended�Marcus Borg�to me after we’d discussed the role of creeds in mainline denominations one night (referenced by Borg in his discussion of the Council of Nicea).
To summarize, Meeting Jesus is subtitled “The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith.”� If that doesn’t really help, let me try to illuminate.� Basically, Borg describes his journey discovering who Jesus was, and is, and what this might mean to a person of faith.� He writes of the early stages of his own discovery,�when he began to realize that what he’d learned in Sunday school wasn’t very accurate, saying, “I found all of this very exciting, though it also seemed vaguely scandalous and something I shouldn’t tell my mother about.”� Exactly.� Sorry, mom.
Borg is an historian, and bascially he sets out to address common precepts that many Christians (and non-Christians) hold up as “true” and refuse/neglect to examine.� For example, the notion that the Bible is some kind of un-erring text – the Words of God, so to speak.� Nope, Borg argues� It’s a collection of texts compiled by the Council of Nicea some three hundred years after Christ.� This should not be news, but it’s surprising how ignorant Christians are of their own history (count me among the ignorant).� To listen to some, you’d think that the Bible was handed down by God (shrowded in clouds) to Billy Graham.� Did this council do a good job selecting texts that represent the message of Jesus?� Yes.� Did they also push a patriarchal agenda and�bury the more feminine metaphors describing Jesus?� Yes.� Are there other texts of the early church worth reading that weren’t included?� Yes.� In short, to read�the Bible and ignore the historical context is to misread the Bible.
The book, however, is more about Jesus, the person�as the Bible portrays him, who Borg subdivides into the Pre-Easter Jesus and Post-Easter Jesus (which seem self-explanatory, but�the terms are�not what�some might expect).
The Pre-Easter Jesus is the historical Jesus.� Of him, Borg argues that he probably wasn’t eschatological (increased my vocabulary); in other words, he didn’t see himself as divine and never would have talked about himself in those terms.� Instead, Borg argues, he was a radical “spirit person” who worked at every level to subvert the dominant religious culture of purity by preaching and living a culture of compassion (ie. hanging out with “unclean” people, healing on the Sabbath).� The implication is that most Christian circles continue to be cultures of purity – arbiters of who’s in and who’s out – and do not hold up compassion – love – as the highest virtue, nor live that idea.�
The Post-Easter Jesus is the Jesus as experienced daily by the early church�during the first century after his resurrection.� This Jesus finds his way into the Gospels, doing things and saying things right alongside the Pre-Easter Jesus.� For example, statements like, “I am the light of the world” or “I am the way, the truth, and the life”�are reflections of how the early church saw Jesus.� The Sermon on the Mount�(“Blessed are the poor…”) is a condensed version of what the early church saw his principle message to be.� Borg argues that it’s unlikely that a real Jesus would have actually said these things.� He also argues that because he may not have actually said these things doesn’t make them false.� They are still the central message of Jesus that the Gospel writers wanted to get across.� The Gospel writers, particularly John, didn’t see themselves writing history.
Borg’s bottom line isn’t that the Bible is a bunch of lies.� He argues instead that it’s a rich, complex text, like any text.� It’s a product of it’s times and�must be read as such.
There’s a lot more to dig in to in this book.� He puts together a lot of random pieces that had formerly been making clanging sounds in my head.� Primarily, Borg’s reading of the Gospels and Jesus puts what’s damaging about a lot of Christianity in sharp relief, and�builds a framework for modern people of faith�on which to rethink their lives.�
Good stuff, that Borg.�
Nice post, Steve. I like how thoughtful and balanced it is. I just finished reading NOT WANTED ON THE VOYAGE by Timothy Findley–it’s a literary recasting of the whole Noah’s Ark voyage–and since this novel is pretty subversive in its treatment of a “hallowed” Biblical tale, it’s very much worth a read. It’s got my brain ticking and ticking. Thanks for the book tip from your end, too!
I checked out mr. Lawason’s website. And I like Borg a lot…but I’m not in the mood to make intelligent comments…so…
Also look up Mr. White’s “The Christian Agnostic” which predates Borg by several generations. Helped me a bunch at the mission. Sarah is pretty anti-christian after being raised christian. I’m more christian now than I was as a christian, even with my taoism, and buddhism, and whaterverism, though my family would say I’m off the deep end.
This is a great review of Borg’s writing. Your phrase “He puts together a lot of random pieces that had formerly been making clanging sounds in my head” has oft been thought by me but ne’er so well expressed, just like the random pieces themselves. I’m still not sure what to do with all this information, however. I threw the baby out with the bathwater and what a muddy mess…
I forgot you’d read this book. I’m going through it again for the first time. Or whatever…