Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary is a book that should have begun with its epilogue. It is at the end that Marcus Borg makes clear what is at stake for a 21st-century treatment of the historical Jesus and why it matters. You don't have to be a devout Christian, nor the least bit conversant in all the religious jargon, to grasp the importance of a book like this. But those who have no acquaintance with the nuts and bolts of basic Christian thinking are unlikely to wait until the final section to discover the rationale.
And this is unfortunate, because the conversation has gained urgency. Today, powerful groups are making claims in the name of Jesus – claims that are moving us to the brink of extinction. For those of us who want to bequeath to our children a decent world, we may have no choice but to say "No" to Jesus, or at least to a particular version of Jesus. We cannot afford to be complacent about the activities of those who think it honorable to be instruments of an apocalypse. If we are to oppose these activities, then we must begin by educating ourselves about how the Jesus story has been manipulated – which claims are plausible, and which are sheer nonsense. And, as Borg makes clear, there are many that are nonsense.
Borg's writing falls within the genre that Albert Schweitzer laid down a century ago when he published The Quest of the Historical Jesus. There, Schweitzer summarized all the historical scholarship that had preceded him, and established a footing for the 20th-century quest to begin. This turned out to be a great gift because, by the middle of the 20th century, the quest had gathered new life with the discovery and translation of documents at Qumran and Nag Hammadi. These have given us more material to refine our view of the life and times of Jesus.
The genre is problematic. Is it history? Is it theology? Or a mix? If we weight our thinking in favour of one discipline or the other, how useful will it be in answering the extremists who use Jesus to achieve pragmatic goals? If we lean towards history, as Borg often does, then -- so the argument goes — we can demonstrate that the historical Jesus lived in a way that can't possibly speak to today's highly polarized debates about American imperial aspirations and public school curriculum in Kansas and stem cell research. If we restrict our examination of Jesus to a 1st-century peasant living on the margins of the Roman empire, then we can easily limit his teachings and meaning to that context while looking for better tools to deal with the many crises which were unimaginable in that world.
Article comments
1 - Baronius
So linearity stems from the Enlightenment...then why do we see it in Roman thought? I realize that this is a tangent, but projecting a different way of thinking on a historical period is as risky as projecting our own. We read in some scripture passages that the Hebrews had a different understanding of time, but in other places their thinking is thoroughly linear (prior age vs. present age, what we are vs. what we shall become, etc.). I've seen attempts to Hinduize early Christian thought, and it's just not a good fit.
2 - SHARK
Just to add a bit of background:
Borg has spent years -- especially through work in The Jesus Seminar -- trying to come to terms with his 'christianity' in relation to his 'rational; mind. That rational/scientific mind grew uneasy with the mystical, miraculous, often literal interpretations of JC.
Borg & The Jesus Seminar specifically addressed two main issues of JC:
1) historicity of his ACTS as described in the synoptics
2) historicity of his WORDS as described in the synoptics
Borg's latest book is another attempt to summarize/synthesize his thoughts on these subjects, and as a 'christian' who -- ironically -- has given up on some of the most basic tenets of the orthodox church -- he is trying to define Jesus' relevance to a modern world.
...Especially for liberal and/or skeptical and/or scientifically inclined folks who were raised within a Christian environment -- and are having a bit of a hard time in coming to some conclusions that 'make sense'.
It's a fascinating and admirable quest.
3 - C. Michael Bailey
Excellent review! Borg has a gentle way of guiding the reader between history and theology so that both are equally treated in a sound and fair fashion.