Marcus Borg is one of the primary contributors to our on-going Living the Questions conversations; much of what he shares in those conversations is outlined in in his very compact little book Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith. As he tries to answer the question "What Manner of Man was Jesus?" Borg suggests, these "impressions" of Jesus...
"Jesus' verbal gifts were remarkable. His language was most often metaphorical, poetic, and imaginative, filled with memorable short sayings and compelling short stories. He was clearly exceptionally intelligent...In contemporary terms, he was gifted as both a right-brain and left-brain thinker...
"He used dramatic public actions. He ate meals with untouchables, which not only generated criticism but also symbolized his alternative vision of human community... There was a radical social and political edge to his mission and activity. He challenged the social order of his day and indicted the elites who dominated it. He had a clever tongue, which could playfully or sarcastically indict the powerful and proper...
"He was a remarkable healer: more healing stories are told about him than about anybody else in the Jewish tradition...There must have been something quite compelling about him. He also attracted enemies, especially among the rich and powerful.
"And finally, he was young, his life was sort, and his public activity was brief. He lived only into his early thirties, and his public activity lasted perhaps as little as a year (according to the synoptic gospels) or as much as three or four years (according to John). The founders of the worlds' other major religious traditions lived long lives and were active for decades. It is exceptional that so much came forth from such a brief life.
(from Marcus Borg, Meeting Jesus Again For the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith, p. 30-31)
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4 comments:
This has been something that has bothered me about the message I hear from the more "conservative?" churches - the emphasis on the death rather than on the life of Jesus. It always seemed like "they" had it backwards. And not to mention hymns like "Are you washed in the Blood?". That's just icky.
Stephen
I am about half way through reading Shelby Spong's book, "Jesus for the Non-religious" (don't know how to underline in this forum), and so far he is challenging his readers to completely throw away all of the supernatural components of the Jesus story. I believe that the next half of the book will be the argument that not only is the mystical stuff unnecessary, it actually gets in the way. I find it compelling to consider Jesus as perhaps the first, and most important, human prophet in a long line of people teaching love and tolerance and all that other Christian stuff (including Ghandi). Interesting, though, how many of that ilk end up young marters...
Becky. I just finished Spong's book, "A New Christianity for a New World". I think I am on a similar track as you, but this then places a greater burden on all of us; if the divine is removed, then we have less of an excuse to not do what we know we should.
Rats! Wasn't it so much easier to say 5 Hail Mary's and throw the ball? oops, wrong metaphor
Wasn't it easier to blame God and just figger that bad things happen due to some divine plan? Which then removed any responsibility from our shoulders.
Stephen
*we cannot do underlining as this box does not allow the HTML 'u' tag
(from Christine)
It was a good session last night.
I recently saw a quote from Walter Brueggemann, who I believe has an amazing handle on this whole faith thing. It speaks to what we are called to do and be with our lives - how we can contribute to God's kingdom.
“What God does first and best is trust us with our moment in history. God trusts us to do the best we can for the whole human family.”
That's an awesome trust, yet it inspires me to do the best I can to make a positive difference in the world.
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