This excellent book with the unusual title is by Marcus Borg. The title does make sense after you have read the book.
I truly enjoyed this book and learned a great deal from it. Some of it is very personal, but other things I do not mind sharing to some extent here.
Mr. Borg starts off by talking about his first understandings of Jesus which were very much like mine and probably many other people's as well - very "traditional" shall we say. He then went on to show how this changed over time for him and how he came eventually to some new understandings on the subject.
He makes many interesting points, but I think the major one has to do with how he believes (and I think I agree with him) Jesus saw himself, God and life. This is a human Jesus working toward and apparently succeeding in having a very personal relationship with a loving and accepting God and sharing this in many ways with others through teaching and (other) acts of compassion. Some may think this is not totally new and maybe it isn't, but Borg does express it very well and in a new way. Borg does seem to drop a lot of the "divine/second coming" trappings that many give to Jesus and that can get in the way at times. Borg made me feel like I could have something like this human Jesus had and in the here and now if I paid attention to what Jesus was really saying.
Borg discusses other points as well, and of these, one that stands out for me is the discussion of three main "stories" in the Bible and how they apply to our understanding of Jesus and life today. These are the "stories" of exodus from slavery in Egypt, exile in and return from Babylon and the priest/temple activities. They really can apply as Borg says!
I cannot do Borg's book justice in a short space, so read it yourself; it is under 150 pages and well written. I hope you will read it and let me know what you think.
I truly enjoyed this book and learned a great deal from it. Some of it is very personal, but other things I do not mind sharing to some extent here.
Mr. Borg starts off by talking about his first understandings of Jesus which were very much like mine and probably many other people's as well - very "traditional" shall we say. He then went on to show how this changed over time for him and how he came eventually to some new understandings on the subject.
He makes many interesting points, but I think the major one has to do with how he believes (and I think I agree with him) Jesus saw himself, God and life. This is a human Jesus working toward and apparently succeeding in having a very personal relationship with a loving and accepting God and sharing this in many ways with others through teaching and (other) acts of compassion. Some may think this is not totally new and maybe it isn't, but Borg does express it very well and in a new way. Borg does seem to drop a lot of the "divine/second coming" trappings that many give to Jesus and that can get in the way at times. Borg made me feel like I could have something like this human Jesus had and in the here and now if I paid attention to what Jesus was really saying.
Borg discusses other points as well, and of these, one that stands out for me is the discussion of three main "stories" in the Bible and how they apply to our understanding of Jesus and life today. These are the "stories" of exodus from slavery in Egypt, exile in and return from Babylon and the priest/temple activities. They really can apply as Borg says!
I cannot do Borg's book justice in a short space, so read it yourself; it is under 150 pages and well written. I hope you will read it and let me know what you think.
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