Two Visions
By
Marcus J. Borg
&
N. T.
Wright
Reviewed by
Geoffrey W.
Sutton
In The Meaning of Jesus, two religious scholars take turns presenting different perspectives on the
same salient events or topics about Jesus and his ministry. I’ll offer a brief
summary of the eight parts followed by some comments.
1. How do
we know about Jesus?
Borg, a
Jesus scholar, explains the source material that is available about the
historical Jesus then takes readers through an easy-to-read introduction to
methodology—how he uses the sources. Wright offers the traditional or
conservative, albeit scholarly, perspective on understanding Jesus through the
lenses of faith and history.
2. What did
Jesus do and teach?
Wright provides the sociohistorical context for Jesus mission. He stresses the importance of the fact that Jesus was a Palestinian Jew. He notes a few points about Jewish monotheism and Jewish eschatology—"history is going somewhere.”
In Borg’s chapter, he makes a familiar point about the differences
between Jesus before and after Easter. Before Easter, Jesus was a Jewish Mystic
characterized by five elements: Jesus as a Spirit Person, healer, wisdom
teacher, social prophet, and movement initiator.
3. The
death of Jesus
Borg begins with the question: “Why was Jesus killed?” Borg considers much of the meaning surrounding Jesus’ death as found in the New Testament to be “prophecy historicized rather than as prediction fulfilled.”
Wright calls his chapter
“The Crux of Faith” and emphasizes the traditional importance of Jesus’
death. Jesus led the way to death as martyrs have always done. He notes the context of Israel
who had sinned and was punished in exile. In God’s timetable it was time to deal
with Israel's history— when Jesus came, “the time of forgiveness had arrived.”
4. God
raised Jesus from the dead
Wright takes the lead in this inquiry. He sets the resurrection in the context of a range of Jewish beliefs about life after death in the first century. Some like the Sadducees denied life after death. Others believed in life after death, but not in bodily form. The Pharisees represent the other pole—they believed in a bodily resurrection. He acknowledges the difficulty in harmonizing the Easter morning stories in the gospels, but this does not cause him to doubt what happened. In Wright’s view the variations represent a lack of collusion.
Borg reminds us
that Easter is central to Christianity—“a foundational affirmation,” he calls
it. Borg affirms “Jesus lives, and Jesus is Lord.” His disagreement with Wright
is in the support for the two affirmations. He uses a familiar challenge—what might we
see if we had a video camera. Borg’s view is that the physical resurrection is
not important compared to the truth of Easter. His view of the gospel stories
is that they should be viewed as a developing tradition in the early church and
as “powerfully true metaphorical narratives.” As a part of his argument, he
refers to Paul who reported his encounter with Jesus as a vision on the
Damascus Road. Borg notes that the others with Paul did not share the experience.
And Borg adds his view that visions and apparitions can be truthful experiences
and are not hallucinations.
5. Was
Jesus God?
The
divinity of Jesus is an old belief within Christianity. It is a fundamental
doctrine found in the Nicene Creed and a “test” of whether or not someone is a
Christian. Borg tries to explain his nuanced view that during his life, the
evidence does not indicate Jesus thought of himself as God (the pre-Easter
Jesus). Following Easter (the post-Easter Jesus), Jesus is one with God. He
reminds readers of a variety of images in the gospels such as Jesus is the
bread of life, the true vine, the door, Son of God and Word of God. According
to Borg, these sayings were statements of the early Christian community and
should be seen as metaphors representing a different kind of true statement
than a statement of fact. He refers to the Old Testament to illustrate that Son
of God refers to Israel and the King of Israel.
For Jews
like Jesus, there is one God, Wright reminds us as he takes us through a
possible development among the early Jewish difficulties in understanding Jesus
after Easter. For early Christians, Jesus was the Jewish messiah but he was
also with God.
6. The
birth of Jesus
Christmas is more important than Easter in our culture, Wright observes. He sees the birth stories as having little significance and notes they function as a test of belief and sexuality. He admits to the problem of belief in the virgin conception and variances in the birth stories by Matthew and Luke.
Borg does
not see the birth stories as historically factual but as true as literary
works using ancient imagery to express truths about Jesus.
7. He will
come again in glory
Borg notes that 21 of the 27 New Testament documents mention the second coming of Jesus. Expectations of Jesus return have been mentioned for centuries since Jesus death. Not surprisingly, Borg does not expect a physical return to earth, instead he focuses on Jesus coming in a symbolic and spiritual sense, which is in the forefront during the advent season.
Wright has argued that “the son of man
coming in the clouds” represents exaltation instead of a return. He also
comments on eternal life as a reference to “the life of the age to come” as the
sense of the term in first century Jewish usage. He advises that the concept of
heaven has been misunderstood—it isn’t a place in the cosmos or a destination
in time but a “dimension” of God’s reality. The English word “coming” as a
translation for the Greek parousia refers to presence as in a royal
presence thus Jesus being present is his coming amongst us and as part of God’s
new creation.
8. Jesus
and the Christian life
Wright presents the Christian life as one of worship and mission. In this chapter he writes about spirituality, theology, politics, and healing. Being spiritual involves prayer, meditation, contemplation, and “spiritual reading.” The focus of Christian theology is to know God in Jesus. When it comes to politics, he is not a fan of politicians who speak about family values. He takes the larger view that from a Christian perspective we must focus on the kingdom of God. Jesus, rather than Caesar, is Lord. Wright sees healing as a multidimensional concept that includes physical and psychological healing and extends beyond the person to society.
Borg’s view of the Christian
life is based on the relationship between Christians and God in contrast to
expressing agreement with a set of beliefs. This relationship is mediated through
Scripture and tradition and involves being transformed in our relationships
with others. He contrasts this relational faith to an older understanding of
Christianity as “literalistic, doctrinal, moralistic, exclusivistic, and
afterlife oriented.”
Comments on The Meaning of Jesus
Overall, I
found The Meaning of Jesus an interesting read and suitable for a
small group discussion amongst readers seeking a better understanding of what
means to be a Christian in the sense of one who follows Jesus’ way. Both
authors are Christians, historians, and prolific authors. They write well and
have a good sense of audience. I think Borg explains theological concepts more
clearly than does Wright. In addition, Borg provides historical evidence or reasons in a
clearer manner than does Wright.
For the
most part, I think readers will find a clear choice between the traditional
views of Jesus provided by Wright and the nuanced perspective of Borg. Although
Wright presents traditional Christian views he makes a point of not supporting
fundamentalist and literalist perspectives on the biblical texts. He believes
in miracles, acts of healing, and the virgin conception. Wright is more accepting of
the gospel reports of events as historical events rather than as metaphorical
narratives but does not exclude considering some church doctrines as a
misreading of metaphorical understandings among the Jews who were the first
Christians receiving the original gospels and other New Testament texts.
Borg offers
examples of gospel stories that appear more like stories written by those
in the early church who looked back on the life of Jesus and interpreted the
events, or created stories, based on their memories, their understanding of their Scriptures, and the use of metaphorical
language. Both writers remind readers that Jesus was an observant Jew who
understood the Hebrew Scriptures and spoke to the people of his time with
reference to the Scriptures and the sociopolitical forces of the day.
Borg does a
better job of presenting perspectives on what it means to think of a biblical
teaching or story as true. He clarifies truth in terms of facts that could be viewed if a video recording was made versus
the truth that comes from understanding the meaning of a story or metaphor. An example of this notion of truth can be seen in one of his illustrations. Although most readers will clearly see that “I am the door” is a metaphor, fewer
modern Christian readers view the analogous phrase, “Jesus is the son of God”
as a metaphor.
I appreciate how the authors deal with the difficulties in understanding first century perspectives on various key doctrines and variations in the texts from different New Testament authors. They both seem keenly aware of the difficulties in distinguishing between historical facts and metaphorical language. In my view,
both authors fail to consider the important role of human cognition when it
comes to appreciating history remembered. This omission is in contrast to
the work of evangelical scholar Craig Keener in his study of Christobiography,
which acknowledges memory factors in the gospels and would enrich an understanding of the texts beyond the consideration of metaphors.
Both writers offer helpful comments to those of us who never attended a Bible College or Seminary. So, I found the book helpful in gaining a better understanding of Jesus’ life as a first century Jew living under Roman occupation and the meaning of several concepts that have been perceived differently by many contemporary Christian groups.
Cite
this review
Book Reference
Borg, M. J.
& Wright, N.T. (2009). The meaning of Jesus: Two visions. HarperOne.
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