Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious RevolutionaryMarch 23, 2008 0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I found this book by Borg to be interesting, and very useful when teaching my Senior High Sunday School Class. We have been discussing the miracles and parables of Jesus and [the kids] are also wrestling with whether they think/ feel that Christ has to be a god, god/ like, or a gifted human being for him to be meaningful to them. Have several by Borg, and also am a fan of the literary inventions about Christ's life... such as Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and several lessor ones about the Shroud and some of the religious articles saved by the Knights Templar. All of these books help me build an historic image of the times and life of Christ. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to study secular history as much as religious history. For those interested, the students have pretty much decided that Jesus was a full human Pre-Easter [Borg's definitions] and became god-like Post-Easter.
Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious RevolutionaryMarch 11, 2008 Another great book from Marcus Borg. We're studying it in our adult Sunday school class. Makes for lively discussion.
Book ReviewFebruary 8, 2008 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.
Simultaneously challenging and comfortingJanuary 28, 2008 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
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.
A true integration of Jesus' life and missionJanuary 12, 2008 1 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
