Book reviews from rob-theologist

Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time

by Marcus J. Borg

Marcus Borg is a prominent historical Jesus scholar from the United States, part of the Jesus Seminar and fairly liberal in the scheme of things. This book is a rich survey of basic scholarship, fairly non-technical and easy to read. As the title suggests, Borg advocates for a rethink in understanding one's perception of who Jesus is. There is an unconscious connection between one's images of Jesus and images of the Christian life. The striking part of all this is that the Jesus image sketched by Borg is admittedly quite different from the popular image of Jesus. Here are a few of his points that I found particularly interesting. They are not necessarily new thoughts, but they are expressed in ways that I found appealing. These are probably some of his more tame conclusions. * Jesus' message of compassion was a political stand against the prevailing social paradigm of the time which was centred around holiness (Not to be confused with legalism). Both ideas are based on attempting to imitate God [lat. imitatio dei]. For example, "God is holy, therefore Israel is to be holy." By Jesus' day, the Jewish religion had become overly focused on attempting to be like God through being holy or pure. This resulted in social boundaries, division and the exclusion of many. Jesus' radical message of compassion preached inclusion, unity and love regardless of one's 'purity'. "Have compassion as God has compassion." Thus, according to Borg, an interpretation of Scripture faithful to Jesus and the early Christian movement sees the Bible through the lens of compassion, not purity. * The Christological title "Son of God" should not be taken literally, but rather metaphorically. Otherwise the definition of this relationship is narrowed to a simplistic familial one which does not reflect the depth or fullness of the title. There is uncertainty about what is being affirmed when one says that Jesus was literally the Son of God. * Borg suggests how conventional wisdom can overtake God's wisdom. He cites examples that Jesus spoke out against (Jesus was very much an advocate for rejecting conventional wisdom). Then Borg moves on to modern day ones. For instance, post Luther the idea of salvation through grace became important, rather than salvation through works. This emphasis that was on grace somewhere along the way got transformed into faith. Many Christians generally emphasize that faith (most often understood as belief) is what God requires, and by a lack of faith/belief one risks the peril of eternal punishment. This in turn divides the world up into those who have faith and those who don't. When someone is God's 'chosen', this instantly means that someone else is not. But the problem is that whether works, or belief, the Christian message is still expressed as one of requirements. * Finally, a common misconception of what the Christian life entails is secondhand religion - that of believing what the Bible says or what the doctrines of the church say. Firsthand religion, on the other hand, consists of a relationship to that to which the Bible and the teachings of the church point - namely, that reality that one calls God or the Spirit of God.