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Summary: Back to the believing
Review: This book really made an impact on my belief system. I, like Borg, had many doubts about the information that I had been taught as a child and really struggled to stay connected to Christianity. He tears down many of the issues that I was conflicted over and tells me it's OK not to believe something just because its written in the Bible. He illustrates the how's and why's of many of the Bibles scriptures and ultimately puts everything back together with a renewed image of Jesus. It really removed many of the roadblocks that prevented me from moving forward in my faith. It is definately a must read!
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Summary: A Good Discussion Starter
Review: Religious conservatives will not be thrilled by this book, because Professor Borg minimizes the divinity and sonship of Jesus Christ in order to emphasize other aspects of his nature. Professor Borg fails to address the received state of the Biblical texts, preferring to seek after some ineffable, pure, historical Jesus. His vocabulary and choice of subjects makes clear his political agenda. Borg is often speculative or controversial. Nevertheless, his writing is always thought provoking. That is where his greatest value as a teacher resides. He makes us think!
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Summary: The Alternative Wisdome of Jesus
Review: Borg does a wonderful job of presenting the historical Jesus in a manner that is relevant to today's seekers of truth. He depicts Jesus as a spiritual teacher who taught humanity about the unconventional truth of God. Most importantly, Jesus shifted the focus of the religious life from piety and ritual to a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. It is this relationship that the reader comes to understand as meeting Jesus again for the first time.
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Summary: insights that stretched theological conservative
Review: Although fellow conservative colleagues may find it anathema to say so, I found Borg's work very reflective of the Christ I worship as the unique Son of God. This book has created a riddle that is rumbling in my head--the irony of the tension between theological conservativism and theological liberalism. The more conservatives push the envelope their way, the less they preach a Christ who resembles the Christ of the gospels. Yet the more liberals push the envelope their way, the more material about and by Jesus evaporates, leaving no one to emulate. So it may well be that conservatives and liberals desperately need each other, to help us recognize that it is this amazing God-man reaching to us existentially and transformatively who reveals God and helps us live our lives in a way pleasing to Him.
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Summary: Much More Than Just A Discussion Of The Historical Jesus
Review: One of the most interesting facets of MEETING JESUS AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME is the author's treatment of the historical Jesus. Borg believes that the images of Jesus in the synoptic gospels are very different from that presented in the Gospel of John. Since John's Gospel was written at a much later date, he argues that the Johannine image of Jesus is nonhistorical. For the development of the historical Jesus, Borg relies on the early layers of Matthew, Mark and Luke as well as the Gospel of Thomas which was discovered in Egypt in 1945. There is much more to this book than just a discussion of the historical Jesus. However, for anybody seeking a highly readable introduction to the subject, Borg's description in the second chapter of his own quest for the historical Jesus will be very useful.
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Summary: A Radical New Way Of Looking At Jesus
Review: This book is aimed at Christians whose belief has grown stale. The author describes a radical new way of looking at Jesus which will appeal to anybody who is sincere in their desire to grow in Christ but feels hopelessly stuck with an unsatisfactory image of Jesus.
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Summary: Rewarding...eye-opening...
Review: I'm so thankful that I've discovered Marcus Borg and I look forward to reading more, if not, all of his books. This book opens with the author reflecting/reviewing his childhood, adolescent and young adult memories of Jesus. Eventually discussing college courses that brought him to the point of reassessing his understanding of Jesus and the Christian faith. One of the important new concepts that I particularly appreciate is Borg's description or identification of a Pre-Easter Jesus contrasted with a Post-Easter Jesus. This highly illuminating and thought-provoking view of the historical Jesus has been (is) an important revelation. While not answering all of my questions, the author is the first Jesus scholar I've read that tackles many of the critical questions that tend to create doubt in the minds of many "believing" Christians with questions regarding the nature of "belief" and "faith" from studying the history of Jesus. I particularly appreciated the book's format, use of "white" space, section headings, large print and extensive annotated notes at the end of each chapter. This would be an excellent book for a religious study group, far better and more rewarding than the typical fundamentalist retelling of biblical themes.
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Summary: One of Many Mediators of the Sacred
Review: Much of Borg's book is based on the author's conception of the historical Jesus. According to Borg, Jesus was a cosmopolitan Jew who did not intend to start a new religion. He had a profound religious experience and at some point became associated with John The Baptist. Jesus started his own ministry after John went to prison. The message of Jesus was God-centered and He probably did not think of Himself as the Messiah. Jesus was one of many mediators of the Sacred. Instead of learning and believing certain facts about Jesus, the author views the Christian life to be a journey with the Spirit of Christ towards a deepening and transforming relationship with God. Borg asserts that the gospels were written for Jews and Gentiles in the wider Mediterranean world. They reflect the developing tradition of early Christianity and are not eyewitness accounts. This book will appeal to Christians who are struggling with their faith and looking for a fresh image of Jesus. For those who are firmly rooted in any of the many Christian sects, Borg's book can only promise to be unsettling.
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Summary: The first book I have read about jesus, and I liked him more
Review: I never read a book about jesus, or the chatoholic faith before. It was always what was in our religion books. This was the first time I picked up a religious book, without it being the bible or being forced to read about my religion. I loved this mans view point, I thought it was so truthful, and it made me realize that some people dont just study there faith and do what it asks but they pour there hart and soul out for it. It only took me a week to finish this book it was so fasinating that I could not put it down. I say if you are looking for a religious book about the cATHOLIC OR CHRISTIAN FAITH then this is the book for you. Its a must read.
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Summary: Politically correct Jesus
Review: Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a fundamentalist. But I like to consider myself fair, so after hearing all the negative stuff evangelicals write about the Jesus seminar, I wanted to read their material for myself. I read John Crossan's book, <i>Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography,</i> which was the popular version of <i>The Historical Jesus</i>, and I was pleasantly surprised. Not that I agreed with him for the most part, but I really enjoyed his writing and his aphorisms. I also learned a lot about the social significance of table fellowship, which shed light on the significance of the Eucharist for the early church. But that's not what I'm here to tell ya. I'm here to tell you about Borg's book. Borg is very articulate which made the book a pleasure to read, but his efforts to assimilate Jesus into the modern politically correct movement made it hard for me to take him seriously. Not that I object to everything in the book. Chapters 2 and 3 were good, even if I didn't agree with everything he said. Borg is a credible scholar. He has the credentials. It's just that he mixes too much of his esorteric theology into his historical eisegesis. Yes, I meant to say eisegesis, not exegesis, because it didn't seem to me like he was even trying to hide the fact. In the first chapter, he lets us in on his spiritual journey, which I appreciate, but it seemed like he decided who Jesus was before ever becoming a scholar. That makes it seem like his scholarly efforts were merely a sophisticated way to promote a Jesus created in the image of Marcus Borg a priori. For the sake of brevity, I just want to use one example of his methodology. I'll talk about his efforts to create a gender-inclusive Christianity. In the notes on page 18, he tells us that he will mostly quote from the NRSV, but he will alter the text to make pronouns that refer to God be more gender-inclusive. He says that he's not doing it to be politically correct, but judge for yourself. We should all be compassionate as God is compassionate, and since it happens that, "In Hebrew (as well as Aramaic), the word usually translated as 'compassion' is the plural of a noun that in its singular form means 'womb,'" (p. 47) then "to say that God is like a womb is to say that God is like a woman." (p. 103) And since Jesus is the wisdom of God, and the Greek word for wisdom is "Sophia," which is a feminine noun, then I guess Jesus is a lot like a woman too. Did anybody else laugh? After quoting John 1:1ff emphasizing "logos" by italics, Borg writes, "It is important in these opening verses of the gospel not to think of "Word" or <i>logos</i> as referring to Jesus, if by Jesus we mean "Jesus of Nazareth." Reading it as "Jesus" is unconsciously encouraged both by the later Christian doctrine of the Trinity and by the use of masculine pronouns in the Greek original and in English translations. But masculine pronouns are used because <i>logos</i> is a masculine noun in Greek, not because the referent of <i>he</i> is Jesus." (pp. 107-108) Okay, assuming that the logos of John 1:1ff does not refer to Jesus (which is ludicrous considering John 1:14) isn't the double standard here obvious? Sophia is a feminine noun, therefore, God is a female, but logos is only referred to as a "he" because it's a masculine noun, not because it refers to a male. It doesn't get more obvious than that! One more thing, just for laughs. Remember how Borg "learned" that compassion has to do with having a womb, which is a female thing, so since God has compassion, then he's a lot like a woman? Well Borg likes to play with the word "believe," as well. "But I now see that believing in Jesus can (and does) mean something very different from that. The change is pointed to by the root meaning of the word <i>believe</i>. <i>Believe</i> did not originally mean believing a set of doctrines or teachings; in both Greek and Latin its roots mean 'to give one's heart to.'" (p. 137) Continuing on in the footnote, "One can see this also in the German word <i>belieben</i>, which is the immediate root of the English word <i>believe</i>. <i>Belieben</i> does not mean 'to believe,' but rather 'to belove.' Thus to <i>believe</i> is more properly understood as 'to belove.'" (p. 140) Don't get me wrong. I agreed with the point he was making. It's just that the way he made the point was kind of, well, entertaining. If you are a Unitarian Universalist, you will love this book. If you are a fundamentalist, part of this book will make you cringe and parts of it will make you laugh.
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