Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary
Average Rating: out of 39 Reviews
Price: $14.95
Sale: $4.32
Manufacturer: HarperOne
EAN (European Article Number): 9780061434341
Number of Items: 1
Binding: Paperback
Author: Marcus J. Borg
Publisher: HarperOne
Dewey Decimal Number: 230
Publication Date: 2008-02-01
Reading Level: 352
Description:
From top Jesus expert Marcus Borg, a completely updated and revised version of his vision of Jesus—as charismatic healer, sage, and prophet, a man living in the power of the spirit and dedicated to radical social change.
Fully revised and updated, this is Borg's major book on the historial Jesus. He shows how the Gospel portraits of Jesus, historically seen, make sense. Borg takes into account all the recent developments in historical Jesus scholarship, as well as new theories on who Jesus was and how the Gospels reflect that.
The original version of this book was published well before popular fascination with the historical Jesus. Now this new version takes advantage of all the research that has gone on since the 80s. The revisions establish it as Borg's big but popular book on Jesus.
Review Summary: Excellent perspective of the life of Jesus
Date: 2008-06-19
Details: If you have never read any of Mr. Borg's works, please do yourself a favor and pick up this book. While he has written other books on Jesus, specifically "Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time", this one dives much deeper and provides a rich and detailed study of who Jesus was and what he stands for. Mr. Borg does a great job of explaining his positions and providing definitions for the "big words". The material might be scary for Christians who are founded on literal understandings but can be quite a revelation, as it was for me. The message from Mr. Borg is that while much of Jesus' story might not be literally true, it has a more-than-literal truth that forms a comprehensive (and new for me)basis for an increased level of Christianity and a transformational relationship with God.
Review Summary: Jesus the Radical Hippie
Date: 2008-05-02
Details: Marcus Borg has done it again. He has painted Jesus in the kitschy clothes of a communist radical. There are many interpretations of what Jesus was up to in first century Palestine and Borg, like most of the Jesus Seminarians, seems to think Jesus was trying to start a new movement of radical inclusiveness and self-acceptance instead of being the fulcrum of history which I believe he is.
There is an author named N.T. Wright that Borg coauthored a book with called "The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions." When I read the book I was firmly rooted in Borg's brand of Christianity. I glanced at Wright's work and remember that it was very dense.
Fast forward to this year, I've been reading a lot of Wright and he puts more flesh onto Jesus bones than Borg does.
Borg paints with broad strokes a five point sketch that he's written of in other works. It is interesting but he also considers Jesus an illiterate Jewish peasant when the bible actually speaks of Jesus reading a scroll from the Hebrew Bible.
This current book makes Jesus into a preacher of the social gospel. Which is all well and good but it doesn't address the calling Jesus felt or what he really believed.
I recommend N.T. Wright's "The Challenge of Jesus" for a good counterpoint to this work.
Review Summary: Not for everyone
Date: 2008-04-12
Details: I was ready to write a review to really get into this book when someone reminded me today, if you don't have anything nice to say, shut up.
So I will just say; I had 30 book darts point out contradictions, assumptions and facts that had no evidence.
Review Summary: An insight driven book
Date: 2008-04-08
Details: This particular book was outstanding. Very clear and simple Borg did not use cloudy or unclear language. You could tell he had a huge systematic model of how he views Christianity and the world at large. He does not appeal to any radical or extreme vision of what Jesus was like (although some circles could i guess could see it that way). The best aspect of his writing for me was his ability to honor many perspectives without really belittling any of them. He could clearly state big visions while not excluding other peoples visions. This kind of writing brings people and the wisdom traditions together rather then ripping them apart. Bravo!
Review Summary: A Magisterial Work
Date: 2008-03-28
Details: For twenty five years Marcus Borg has shared his understanding of Jesus and his relevance to our world. This book is his magesterial work. Exploring the different versions of the story of Jesus doiminant among Christians today, he presents what he terms an "emerging paradigm" as the lens for seeing and understanding the life of Jesus as shaped by the character of God as justice and compassion.The climax of the book focuses on the message and activity of Jesus challenging the political, economic and social domination system of his day and our day.
out of 39 Reviews
