Product Description

Presents a synthesis of modern Jesus scholarship. The author shows that not only is Jesus a witness to the reality of spirit as an element of experience, but his passionate involvement in the culture of his own time connects two realities which Christians have often separated.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #429522 in Books
• Published on: 1992-02-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

The Social World of Jesus.
One of the more interesting chapters in this book attempts to describe the social world of Jesus. Borg theorizes that Jesus was deeply involved with the sociopoltical life of His own people as the founder of a revitalization movement.

The Jesus movement is depicted as seeking to transform Jewish society by creating an alternative community based on inclusiveness, acceptance, love and peace. The Jewish social world in contrast is dominated by the politics of holiness which emphasizes separation as typified by clean and unclean, purity and defilement, sacred and profane, Jew and Gentile, righteous and sinner.

Further complicating the situation is the Roman annexation of Palestine in 63 B.C. which creates an onerous system of double taxation with disastrous consequences for the agrarian society into which Jesus is born. The Jesus movement has competition from other Jewish renewal movements in Palestine such as the Essenes, Pharisees and Zealots.

Borg manages to explain this complicated web using a very readable style. Overall I recommend the book highly as long as you do not insist on the inerrancy of the Bible. Otherwise you will definitely find it unsettling.

A Model For The Christian Life
Borg paints a picture of Jesus which is different in many important respects from the image presented in the gospels and in particular in the Gospel of John. In Borg's view Jesus has at the center of His life a relationship to the Spirit of God and He is concerned with creating a community grounded in the Spirit. Jesus is a healer,a charasmatic, a sage, a renewal movement founder and a prophet. Although Borg doubts the authenticity of the exalted identity and purpose of Jesus described in John, he still sees Jesus as a model for the Christian life as well as a model for one's own personal discipleship.

A Spirit-filled Figure in the Charismatic Stream of Judaism
One of the ideas I applaud the most in this book is Borg's suggestion that the power of the Spirit can create new life for believers. Life in the Spirit not only draws one away from culture but it can actually create an alternative community and culture.

Borg describes Jesus as a Spirit-filled figure in the charasmatic stream of Judaism. JESUS: A NEW VISION is one of the more inspiring books I have read on the subject of the historical Jesus.