Rating: 
Summary: repetitious, illogical, ambiguous and silly
Review: Read N.T. Writght, John Meier, E.P, Sanders, James Charlesworth and Alan Watts. Borg states he hasn't experienced death so cannot say whether there is an afterlife or not and yet apparently he has experienced God with a political/socio-economic agenda for a possible finite world. A waste of time.
Rating: 
Summary: Losing My Religion
Review: Simply stating: Any book written by Marcus Borg is worthy of nothing more than the heretical bonfire that should be started in the critical time of Christianity in the world. If you would like to lose your faith, then please read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Iluminating view ,"pre-Easter Jesus" vs "post-Easter Christ
Review: So very much of moder scholarship has caused this pilgrim to be reminded of what Uncle Remus was to have said:"It ain't what I don't know what hurts me, it's what I know fo sho that just ain't so that does." We live in a world of faith and within our Christiain tradition we find huge differences between those whose faith is literalist and those whose faith cannot be literalist (Fundamentalist). Borg's work as a scholar provides excellent support for that position that declares the Fundamentalist positon an embarassment and a disaster for the contemporary church. Not only is the fundamentalist position an historical embarassment but such folks have contributed to an untnable modern-day position in terms of their faith statements and belief structure. Strongly recommend this to help develop a knowledge base for strengthened anti-Fundamentalist discourse.
Rating:
Summary: A Relationship With The Living God
Review: THE GOD WE NEVER KNEW covers three broad subjects. In the first section Borg describes both the God he learned about in his youth and also the God he came to know later in life. In the next section the author explains why our image of God is important and how it influences our entire concept of the sacred. In the last part of the book Borg explains that God is all around us. The sacred is not somewhere else. God is always in relationship to us and journeying with us. God yearns to be known by us. The closing chapters resemble an instruction manual on how to open up to God. Borg includes here a clear vision of what we can expect from our own pilgimage with Jesus. This is what sets the author apart from most of the other Jesus Seminar scholars. Borg goes beyond the reconstruction of the historical Jesus to emphasize the rewards of seeking a relationship with the living God.The author suggests that the Christian life is about opening the heart now to the God who is already here. It is about entering into a relationship with God in the present that begins to change everything now.
Rating: 
Summary: A Mixed Bag
Review: The God We Never Knew follows the success of Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time and carries Borg's reconstruction of theology further into the realm of the Doctrine of God. He begins on an autobiographical note by describing the conception of God he was taught as he was raised in the conservative wing of the Christian church. The emphasis was placed, he says, on a powerful God "out there" who shakes a chastising finger in part because he was modeled on a pastor who did likewise. Borg integrates the image of a transcendent and judging God with the theological scheme perpetuated by fundamentalists and evangelicals: the inerrant inspiration of Scripture, the way of salvation through Christ alone, judgment for heaven and hell, etc. After reviewing through his mind-opening seminary education, Borg then speaks of the need to reclaim the immanence of God alongside transcendence.
Thus he sets up a dichotomy between what he calls "supernatural theism," which he claims has been the historic emphasis throughout church history, and "panentheism," which notes that while God is more than everything, God is right here and everything is in God. However, as he himself admits, the balance of transcendence and immanence is not really an innovation but goes back to the panoply of Scriptural voices. "Supernatural theism" is thus not a necessary foundation for conservative theology, in my mind, but an unfortunate tilt to far to one end that conservative theology has more often than not embraced. This is not a God "we never knew" but more like a God whom we have obscured or distorted. Growing up in the conservative church I would speak from my own experience that we certainly believed in the immediate presence of God as well, thus nullifying any straight dichotomy in Borg's scheme - although I imagine he would deny attempting to fix such rigid boundaries.
Borg then moves on to a discussion of how we "image" God, based on the metaphors we choose to rely upon. He contrasts the "monarchical model" of God as lawgiver, judge, king and patriarchal father versus the "Spirit/relational model" of God as mother, companion, friend, and lover. The author affirms that both models are based in biblical witness but heavily criticizes the monarchical model, preferring to promote the latter. However, I do not think that a reinforcement of God's fatherhood or kingship necessitates the extremes of the monarchical model.
Very rarely is Borg original in this book. His promotion of "panentheism," as he himself tells us, is nothing new. He lifts the two-models approach of imaging God from elsewhere, he parrots current critical scholarship concerning the "Jesus of history" versus the "Christ of faith" (or, in his words, the Pre-Easter Jesus and the Post-Easter Jesus), and in the later part of the book he adopts as his own Verna Dozier's terminology for the biblical vision as the "dream of God." It appears to me, after having read a few of his books, that Borg's strength and popularity do not reside so much in providing something innovative but in writing so attractively and sincerely that he is fully capable of capturing the reader's imagination. He is particularly moving in the latter part of the book as he calls for opening the heart to God and embracing a politics of compassion.
I have an ambivalent relationship to Borg's work. He writes in an engaging and disarming manner and shows a definite passion. He is certainly more appealing than hardliners on the right. But Borg goes too far, in my mind, in his attempt to reform Christianity. One would think that his friendship with N.T. Wright would soften his stance on the difference between the Pre-Easter and Post-Easter Jesus, and I find his understanding of the resurrection to be pale and disappointing. Nevertheless I always enjoy the challenge and adventure of reading the liberal church's most charming author.
Rating:
Summary: God Is Present Everywhere
Review: THE GOD WE NEVER KNEW introduces us to a God that we never met during childhood. Most of us as Christians were taught about a supernatural being out there who created the world a long time ago and sometimes intervened - especially during biblical times. After death we might be with Him if we were good on earth and believed the right things. Instead of believing in a supernatural being out there, Borg suggests we will find it more satisfying to be in relationship with a sacred reality right here. God is not the sum total of things. God is more than everything. He is all around us and within us and we are within God. The Christian life is not about beliefs and requirements. It is not about believing in a God out there for the sake of an afterlife later. The Christian life is about entering into a relationship with God as known in Jesus Christ. This is the God who is out there but also right here. This God is real and is the God we never knew. A relationship with this God will prove to be a life-changing experience. Borg shows how this God has really been in the Bible all along but has been largely ignored by mainline Christianity. For anyone struggling with Christian beliefs, THE GOD WE NEVER KNEW may well lead to the start of an unforgettable journey with the sacred.
Rating:
Summary: Faith as Fiction...
Review: The work is more cathartic and confessional than academic. It is more humanistic, political and social than sound theology. The one possibly redeeming idea is that our faith must be an ex-periential relationship with God. The incredibly naïve weakness is that any sense of "wonder" or "awe" may be considered a valid religious experience that is redemptive. While I strongly disagree with some of what Borg says, I am very impressed with the panentheistic understanding that God is eternally, internally and externally present everywhere in immanence and transcendence Borg makes three profound statements on page 51... "God is real." "The Christian life is about entering into a relationship with God as known in Jesus Christ." "That relationship can - and will - change your life!" Borg rejects traditional theological "proofs" in favor of "spiritual" evidence, which is highly subjective and dangerous, but the obvious results of the faith without fact. Borg juxtaposes two antithetical radicals to focus on the obvious message of the gospel. Such a process may be valid if the correct identification is made. To identify a traditional understanding of the Christian faith with one of those radicals and then pose the obvious position of Christianity as the answer is not only unfair, but bad logic as well as being historically wrong and disingenuous. His attempt to make this identification is done through catharsis that is more descriptive of his personal struggle than with a valid analysis of Christian theology. Borg would do well to remember Paul's statement "...when I was a child I thought as a child..."
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This book confims so much I first learned from An Encounter With A Prophet Spirituality is the answer.
Rating:
Summary: Revives my faith
Review: This book has excited me and revived my faith. I've been a follower of Christ for many many years, and have become discouraged about the fundamentalists taking over the perception so many people have of Christianity. Borg's discussion of God as present Spirit makes me feel closer to my Creator--and his exploration of what he calls the pre-Easter Jesus makes me feel energized about theology. I used feel threatened about concepts that were outside of the evangelical chruch (and Bible colleges) I attended for many years--at this point in my life, being totally turned off by the fundies, Borg is a cool clean drink of water in a very hot desert. Wow.
Rating:
Summary: The Door to Christianity
Review: This book makes Christianity come alive, especially for those of us who are mainline Christians or skeptics. God is right here right now, not out there long ago and far away. The key to a right relationship with God is compassion not purity (observing religious standards, such as the sabbath to separate ourselves from the world). The essence of Christianity is a relationship with God not requirements ( works or belief in correct doctrine). Borg follows in the tradition of Paul Tillich and of John A. T. Robinson, author of "Honest to God" (1963), the best book that I have ever read on Christianity.
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