A Smorgasbord of Borg

I'm going to be joining a reading group around the book The God We Never Knew by Marcus Borg. As I was waiting for that book to arrive, I decided to reread the one Borg book I have, and one of the better books I've read in the past couple of years, The Meaning of Jesus. In it, Borg and NT Wright present two sides of the debate around the historical Jesus; Borg representing the more liberal view and Wright the more traditional view (although unorthodox in some areas). I find this kind of stuff fascinating and would recommend the book. {Matt--I still want to read this together sometime.}

Although both emphasize the first-century Jewish context in which Jesus lived, Wright and Borg choose to use different language to describe what Jesus was on about. Wright continues to use Jewish language and symbols to describe Jesus where Borg uses cross-cultural descriptors. He argues that for the many for whom the church and Christianity have become stale, if not unbelievable, drawing connections between Jesus' life and teachings to other cultures and religions brings new insight and points out new patterns that make the idea of religion and spirituality intriguing again.

I completely agree; my interest in recent years has been peaked by similar ideas: Joseph Campbell, Thich Nhat Hanh, the Bhagavad Gita, yoga and others. My friend Chris and I were digging in similar areas a few years ago, but since Mon and I moved to Australia we both kept digging but in different areas. Chris has pursued Jesus' Jewish roots while I've been looking across traditions. Now the fun part is getting to share what we've learned.