Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time Marcus Borg (Harper & Collins NY)

In the first part of the book Borg outlines his personal struggle to find authentic, mature faith. Of this experience Borg writes, ‘My own journey has led beyond belief to an understanding of the Christian life as a relationship with the Spirit of God – a relationship that involves one of transformation.’

The Pre-Easter Jesus is summarized in:

1. The historical Jesus was a Spirit person i.e. he had an experiential awareness of the reality of God.
2. He was a teacher of a subversive and alternative wisdom.
3. He was a social prophet like those of ancient Israel.
4. He challenged and shattered the social boundaries of his day.
5. The Pre-Easter Jesus was not God (page 39)
6. He was born in Nazareth, not Bethlehem, (Page 40) and his parent were Jewish. He had four brothers and some sisters.
‘Be compassionate as God is compassionate’ sums up his life.

On the concept of Spirit Person, Borg writes:

“The apostle Paul had an experience of the Spirit according to the book of Acts, he had a vision on the Damascus road that involved both photism (an experience of lights) and an audition (a voice). Acts 9:7 “And the men that were with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no man.”

“The modern world view is one-dimensional, the world view of Spirit person is multidimensional. More-over this other reality is not somewhere else. Rather it is all around us and we are only separated from it by flimsy screens of consciousness….a Spirit Person is one in whom these screens of consciousness are usually permeable.” Page 34

It’s important we grasp that the visions of Jesus experienced by some of his friends, after the resurrection, were the same or similar to this vision of Paul’s. No one saw Jesus risen body, or handled it. Apparently it was circled in light. “Pesch holds to the historicity of the appearances as ecstatic visions in which the disciples “saw” or understood, Jesus as risen.

They understood Jesus had entered through death into new life.

The narrative of the “empty tomb” and fingers investigating Jesus risen body etc are “regrettable” Auden.

Jesus as an oral teacher used aphorisms and parables to lead the hearers to new perceptions.

Jesus Image of God.

“Jesus invited his hearers to see God as gracious and compassionate. The new testament contains a variety of images which function as metaphors for imaging the significance of Jesus and his relationship to God. One of these is the image of Jesus as the wisdom of God. Jesus speaks of himself as a child of Sophia. Page 102. Perhaps the banquets of Jesus were the banquets of Sophia. They were festive meals with outcasts as the voice of alternative wisdom, Jesus is also the voice of Sophia or the wisdom of God.”

In his book “Tomorrow’s Catholic”, Morwwod says Jesus revealed that the “sacred” was in each of us, the Kingdom of God is here among you. “Salvation is not about Jesus getting us into heaven. It is about setting us free.

Marcus Borg writes an enlightening chapter “Understanding Jesus Divinity” (page 86)”

‘In a particular time, in a particular place, in a particular culture and in a particular person – Jesus the wisdom of God took flesh and became visible’ (page 91)

Page 95 Let us defend the absolute certain human reality of Jesus.