There is this huge controversy in Christianity today. Many of us grew up in Christianity and have a history of reading the gospels in a very literal way. Many of us have tried to engage the gospels and have found the stories differ from each other. In trying to find meaning for my own life, I have realized that the gospels emerged from a genuine response of people who had an incredible experience of God and needed to put it in words.
A blogger I follow who calls himself rlp - as in real live preacher - has had the opportunity to have a conversation with Marcus Borg and he has posted an introduction and a recording of the conversation on CCBlogs (thinking critically, living faithfully). I found listening to this recording was a valuable use of a half hour of my time.
Quoting from rlp's introduction...
"Most of us ministers have made our peace with this. We understand that the gospels clearly reflect early Church theology. That’s okay because that theology was the present experience of the friends of Jesus. It has value too. Our approach is to preach and teach from the gospels, taking the text as given. Trying to distinguish what might be the actual words of Jesus and the actual events of his life from what might be slightly embellished Church tradition is something that would be interesting, but ultimately it a question that cannot be answered. Moreover, we are busy with the real lives of people in our world who are following the spiritual path of Christianity as a means of salvation and spiritual growth.
Marcus Borg and the Jesus Seminar scholars have, however, taken up that task and have sought to distinguish carefully between the pre-Easter Jesus, who was a man defined by what he actually said and did, and the post-Easter Jesus, who is the figure venerated by the Church."
If you have read this far, I encourage you to take the time to go to My Conversation with Marcus Borg - by Gord Atkinson and see what you think.
later man, jan
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