There aren't many nonfiction books I pick up the moment they come in the mail and read to the end. This was one of them.
Marcus Borg describes the spiritual crisis of our time. The ancients did not differentiate between sacred mythology and literal reality. Modern rationalism causes us to see reality as literal. This forces large numbers of people to reject their faith. I went through a similar, very long process, and only clear evidence that the earliest Christians never literally believed a word they said or wrote about Jesus' biography allowed me to meet God again for the first time. What convinced me was that most elements of the nativity story are the nativity story of Mithras. The people who wrote it into two of the later gospels knew that, as did everyone who celebrated them.
The stories as told in the Gospels led scholars to the conclusion that they didn't literally happen, by contradicting each other so severely they couldn't all have happened, a detail that never bothered early Christians; but that is not what convinced me that I wasn't lying each time I went to church and recited the Nicene Creed.
In fact, Antiochus Epiphanes, the Hellenic king of Judea who set off the Maccabean revolt, enacted the nativity of Mithras each year in a nativity play. There were no early Christians who did not know whose birth story that was. Mithras was the ancient Lord of the Covenant, and also a sun god, who died on the winter solstice, went on a journey through the underworld to redeem humanity, and on the third day, emerged from a cave, from behind the great rock that blocked the mouth of the cave. All sun gods did that. In the 4th century, Constantine chose which of the three cults of the sun god, Mithras, Apollo, or Christianity, he would use to unite his empire.
Marcus Borg's book doesn't relate all of that. What he DOES relate is how the story should have meaning to us; why it has such meaning to me. We relate to God by participating in sacred stories. We participate in the sacred through sacred stories and sacred ritual. The Gospel story in fact tells an archetypal story that people the world over have told independently of each other; the story elements are a basic part of our psyche. These stories are how we participate in the world of spirit. The world of spirit is a critical part of reality; but it will never be described by the scentific method.
Then Borg takes it a step further. A Lutheran minister and professor of theology, he puts this all in terms of his deep Lutheran commitment to social justice. To him, as for Martin Luther, active participation in faith means active commitment to social justice, not in a weak liberal sense of the word, but in a very fundamental and active sense of the word. Lutherans are actively involved in helping others like I've never seen members of any Christian denomination participate before.
Borg takes it a step further.
Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
Buy new:
$9.89$9.89
Buy new:
$9.89$9.89
