A true integration of Jesus' life and mission

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	• Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary Marcus J. Borg HarperOne, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 37 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Better Way to Look at Things

The author of this book presents a better way of interpreting many old traditional ideas about Jesus. I was so glad to hear these ideas. You will be, too.

Simultaneously challenging and comforting

Marcus Borg's work is consistently worth reading. He distills quite accurately the contemporary scholarship of the progressive wing of Christianity without the need to scoff at and belittle those who disagree. He differs refreshingly in this regard from other progressive writers such as John Spong and John Dominic Crossan.

Borg invites the reader to step outside twenty centuries of ecclesial accretion and consider Jesus as he might actually have lived and thought. In a sad time when fewer and fewer Christians read the bible metaphorically and more and more read it--or-try to read it--as literal history or inerrant divine revelation, such an approach is deeply needed. Alas, the people who really "need" to read this book probably won't or, if they do, will dismiss it without any real thought. But at least if they try to read it carefully they won't find themselves mocked and insulted on every other page, as they might in much of the work of other progressive Christian writers.

One must, to be sure, keep in mind Borg's deep investment in the work of the Jesus Seminar. I'm an enormous supporter of the work of Westar but I'm also aware that the scholars approach their work with their own systematic biases and that their output must be read with that in mind. The work of the Jesus Seminar is good scholarship but it is by no means wholly objective scholarship.

To the thoughtful and intelligent reader who is willing to approach Borg and his ideas with an open, yet critical mind, his work is thought provoking and illuminative. Highly recommended. I give it four stars only because Borg fails to account adequately for the biases of his own hermeneutical understanding and the limitations of his approach to the historical study of Jesus.

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Borg's take on Jesus

I start by saying that I very much enjoyed this book. However, there are things that I would have liked to have known before reading it. First, Borg views Jesus as what he calls a "Jewish Mystic" rather than God in human form or the ordained Son of God. He defines a mystic as someone who has very vivid experiences of God. However, he seems to lump Jesus in with other "mystics" from Christian history and other religions such as Moses, St Francis, St Paul, Buddha, etc.

Secondly, Borg views almost all of the miracles of Jesus (walking on water, turning water to wine, the virgin birth) as metaphorical stories that devopeled within early Christian communities rather than "history remembered." He also argues that the view of Jesus as "God in the flesh" is something that likely developed only AFTER the death and resurrection.

Finally, Borg states at the very end of the book that he originally wanted to name the book "An Emerging Jesus for an Emerging Christianity." This emerging Christianity is what Borg hopes will be the antidote for the "Christian Right" which he feels is dogmatic and serves to drive more people away from Christianity than it does good. To be fair to Borg, he only mentions this in the brief Epilogue at the end of the book. However, it does appear that his hope for this emerging Christianity could have very well shaped they way he wrote and researched his book.

Again, I very much enjoyed this book and found it well-written and spiritually moving at times. Borg is a Christian, and it is clear that he has much concern for Christianity and the way we view and interpret Jesus. Furthermore, I walked away with a much deeper understanding of Jesus as well as a respect for the author. Indeed this book initiated much contemplation and even a deeper apperciation for the Life of Jesus.

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Book Review

Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary

Deeply appreciate the Scholarly appproach that the author goes about in writing this book. My wife has been reading it as part of our morning devotions and I love it. I have difficulty reading since my strokes in 1998 paralyzed my right arm and leg. So my reading is confined to what I get on the computer.
Marcus Borg speaks my language!
Earl J Prignitz, retired Friends minister.

A true integration of Jesus' life and mission

This is a great book for a time such as this! One of those rare books where 'light bulbs' are flashing -- leading into a path of deepening understanding.

A great work of integration -- of Pre Easter Jesus and Post Easter Jesus, providing a path for a journey into being in the best sense of both words evangelical and progressive.

Truly a benchmark book for the shifting winds of our time.

Thanks for your life's good work.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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