Rating: Summary: INCREDIBLE!! Review: A must read for any Christian. Borg's pointed arguments provide a well thought out and much needed option for contemporary Christians. He puts forth an intellectually appealing alternative to mainstream Christianity.
Rating: Summary: Excellent book about the nature of God Review: After reading Meeting Jesus again for the first time I was left with a sense of where do I go from here. This book continues the ideas taken in Meeting Jesus again and brings those ideas to the questions about God. If you liked Spong's book "Why Christanity must Change or Die" this is a book that will fill in the blanks left by that book and show how we can have both faith and reason in our understanding of God. A must read for anyone who believes in a God present in our every day lives.
Rating: Summary: Provides Many Valuable Insights!!!!!! Review: Although I was never a fundamentalist at any stage in my life, I have always sought a modernized faith that doesn't force me to commit intellectual suicide. Borg gives me a lot of insights to develop just that sort of faith.This book is not for the fundamentalist who wouldn't be open minded enough to learn any new ideas, but for the majority of Christians and the rest of humanity, this book is a refreshing breath of fresh air, and a valuable contribution to modern theology.
Rating: Summary: Helpful but flawed analysis of modern disaffection with God Review: As with many writer-apologists trying to carve out the originality of their position and the force of their argument, Borg exaggerates the extent to which his two models of Christianity ("popular level" and his more refined and favored model of "panentheism")were separated in practice, at least in Catholicism. God may have been the remote and inaccessible character he describes in popular Christianity but there was plenty of piety around concerning Jesus, making God close and accessible in that way. This Jesus of piety may not be very credible today but that is not for lack of a sense of closeness. Borg paints an excessively negative portrait of the "popular level" of Christianity emphasizing demands and doctrinal formulations at the expense of more interior religious experience. He fails to acknowledge the legitimacy of these features of Christian practice which seem to have a sound biblical basis as shown in the exegesis of Bultmann (Jesus' demand for radical obedience) and the theology of renowned figures like Kierkegaard (Either/Or) and Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship) which emphasize the stark, life-determining choices we must make in regard to Jesus' claims. He likewise exaggerates the singular importance of the subjective, intuitive spirituality that he champions (e.g. "It seems to me that ecstatic religious experience is the primary reason for taking seriously the reality of the sacred, of God.") Since few of us, even among those in contemplative religious orders, have such ecstatic experiences (per Thomas Keating), it would seem to follow that most of us would be seriously lacking in an adequate foundation to develop and maintain our Christian faith. The fact is that his dichotomy is strained for the most part. He is right to stress the interiority of true faith and practice. But this interiority is not inconsistent with beliefs and requirements. Rather these are valid expressions, intellectual and ethical, of the experience of God upon which Borg sets so much store. Not all of the faithful have the same capacity and sensibility for the conscious experience of the immanent God. But through a faith decision they may still be deeply committed to do God's will as revealed and mediated through Scripture, tradition and the instrument of God's living church. If we call such persons secondhand or second-class Christians, then Christianity becomes a religion of the elite and the elect which is a highly suspect religion perhaps even more out of touch with modernity than the "popular level" Christianity he posits. Without the overstatement and straw man comparisons, however, Borg gives impressive account of and testimony for a deepened conception of God as relationship and it is certainly fair to say that we need to recover the vigor of this conception and experience if Christianity is to be credible to ourselves or to our children, perhaps the least educated generation in Christian history on the fundamentals of faith.
Rating: Summary: A new way to look at an old God Review: Borg gave me insight into what I always knew that God wasn't just a benevolent dictator. The God of Grace is not just out there, but in our world among us, beside us, inside us, and around us at all times and in all places. I'm not sure I can buy into a lot his ideas on the Post-Easter Jesus, though. I enjoyed reading the book, but I think I was ready to read it. That is, I finally reached that point in my life that my faith journey demanded that I read it. I'm sure other people would have opposite reactions to the book. Therefore, I suspect that the book did just what the good professor expected it to do -- provide more questions that have no answers.
Rating: Summary: Identifies problems in Christianity, yet fail in resolution Review: Borg struggles with the form of Christianity that overshadows the Spirit of God. He expresses valid concerns and many relate to his deeply personal struggle, yet utlimately Borg's solution falls short of embracing the paradox of faith. He opts to zap the divinity of Christ by overly identifying with the humanity. His ideas may seem fresh and orginal, but in reality they are really old heresies warmed over.
Rating: Summary: Borg brings us insight Review: Borg's TGWNK is a great book. Its prose is not always up to par, and the extensive quoting gets annoying, but it is fantastic nevertheless. For any person who discounts Christianity on the basis of its innate contradictions, this book provides a sharp analysis of such issues, taking into account the Gospels, and their corruption and interpretation. The chapters concerning mysticism are especially helpful. Whether you are a Christian yourself or just trying to understand Christianity from an academic point of view, you should buy this book.
Rating: Summary: The God We Never Knew Review: I am pleased to recommend this book to people who are hungry for God and interested in understanding bare bones Christianity. Borg's panentheistic (not pantheistic) understanding of God fits wonderfully with the understanding of God as Spirit (as taught in the gospel). Liberating God from the image of a supernatural being somewhere "out there" and showing God as being "right here" as Spirit presents God as available, knowable, and accessible. It seems to me to be the very God of Jesus. One does not have to agree with Borg on everything to have windows opened for greater spiritual understanding in the here and now of practical life, as well as an experiential relationship with God. The book is written with clarity, humility, and honesty, without putting anyone down who sees some things differently. There is a spiritual flavor here that can be useful to every open heart and mind.
Rating: Summary: Borg gets to the Truth! Review: I have enjoyed Marcus Borg's writings for about 5 years now. He has helped me in the struggles I've had with current Christianity as it is practiced to come up with a new sense of God without leaving my brain at the church door. This book, while it did not have the sense of excitement that I had when I first found a similar voice (a more eloquent one at that) in Borg, is thought provoking, and also hopeful. His thoughts about finding salvation on earth rather than obsessing about an afterlife should be read by all who profess to be Christians.
Rating: Summary: Yet another book by Borg purchased for school Review: I must say that the reason I chose Borg for my study was that the Borg in Star Trek is interesting to me. I discovered that Borg and the Borg both want to asimilate you into their way of life. While "the Borg" is make believe, Borg lives in the real world and his beliefs should be in the Star Trek universe. I would not recommend this book to anyone. Yet another attempt to bring Jesus down to the level of other spiritual people. I guess if you don't like being held accountable for what you do then Borg's philosophy would be for you.
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