Product Description

Now in paperback, renowned and beloved author Marcus Borg presents a renewed way of being Christian for the twenty-first century. Borg reveals that, when properly understood, the vital elements of Christian faith are more compelling than ever. Borg offers a practical guide to thinking about God, Jesus, the Bible, faith, and Christian practice. He shows how faith in God and Jesus has never really been about believing certain propositions but rather about a dynamic relationship. He shows that being "born again" is at the center of Christian life and that the "kingdom of God" is a matter of transforming society into real world values of justice and love. And that the Christian life is essentially about opening one's heart - to God and to others.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #143925 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 234 pages

About the Author
Marcus J. Borg is Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University and author of the bestselling Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, The God We Never Knew with N. T. Wright., and Jesus: A New Vision. He was an active member of the Jesus Seminar when it focused on the historical Jesus and he has been chair of the Historical Jesus section of the Society of Biblical Literature. In great demand as a speaker throughout the United States and Canada, he increasingly focuses on the topic of this book--How To Be A True Christian in the Contemporary World--since it is of vital concern to those who hear him speak and read his books.

Customer Reviews

A Vision of Hope
In THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY Marcus Borg describes the challenges facing many people who are trying to remain Christians today. It is no longer possible for great numbers of the followers to believe for instance that the Bible or the creeds are literally or factually true. It is still possible, however, to find much that is true if one views them metaphorically.

Borg explains why he chooses to be a Christian and he makes several practical suggestions on such topics as worship and meditation based on a metaphorical, historical and sacramental approach to Christianity.

For me Borg is one of the most inspiring writers associated with the Jesus Seminar. This is especially true because of his ability to take the reader beyond the spiritually dry places one may find after deciding that Christianity no longer makes much sense.

An intriguing emerging paradigm
As a big fan of Marcus Borg's earlier works, I approached this more recent offering with considerable eagerness. In general, I wasn't disappointed, though I'm not persuaded that the 'emerging' paradigm whose Christianity he describes is as recognisably coherent a movement this side of the Atlantic as it apparently is in the US. Nonetheless, I appreciated his efforts to recover an understanding of faith as being beyond the merely (or predominantly) propositional - beliefs about God/Jesus and so on - and as being more properly relational. I found his presentation of Jesus as insightful as ever, and his attempt to move our understanding of sin away from the atonement/sacrifice nexus timely and helpful. His emphasis on life as sacramental was as new and surprising to me as it was refreshing. Where he was less than clear was in his presentation of God as 'beyond personal' - as ultimate reality - and yet still very much referred to as personal in the sacramental activities that infuse our daily living (or should do). This is an area that clearly needs a bit more work, as do aspects of his thinking about Christianity in a pluralist world. If, as he seems to be saying, one's Christianity is in large part about 'fit' with a 'cultural-linguistic community' or 'story', how is it that people across the world change their faith allegiance to 'fit' with a different cultural-linguistic community ? Some unanswered questions for me here, then - but perhaps that's inevitable with a paradigm that's still emerging...

Emerging or diverging paradigms
Borg is clearly popular with his fans but a traditional Christian who believes, with Paul, that "if Christ be not risen, then is (Paul's) preaching vain, and (our) faith is also vain." will find this barren stuff. Apart from "dumping" most of the teaching in the Bible on the virgin birth; Jesus dying for our sins; and the resurrection, the concept that God did not and does not intervene in the world is alien, I believe, to most members of the Church of England. I prefer to accept what John tells us, that "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." The book that Borg wrote jointly with Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham,"The meaning of Jesus" helps to set the record straight.