(For previous articles in this series, visit http://jmm.aaa.net.au/catalog/section/jc1.htm ) The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions (Marcus Borg and N T Wright) is a book after my own heart. I don't agree with all that either writer suggests, but reading an irenic discussion between two outstanding scholars helps sharpen one's own thinking. How pathetic to simply believe what someone told you when you were impressionable! This is one of the first books I would suggest an intelligent Christian study for Christology 101. Borg's liberal (but he calls liberal N T scholars 'mainstream'), and Wright's conservative (but he's the only conservative I know who uses a small 'g' for God when it's not a proper noun (as in god-ordained, Israel's god etc.). Borg is more 'heady' - as you would expect from liberals (!); Wright's more 'pastoral' - as you would expect from a bishop! The first question many ask about Jesus is 'Did he exist?' Both of these scholar-historians assume he did: in fact I can't remember them raising the question. But I'm re-reading the book for the third time and if I come across something in that area I'll let you know! Of course in terms of theology 'there's nothing new under the sun'. Take these two sentences for example, from Tom Wright: 'The Pharisees were deeply critical of most of their contemporary Jews. The Essenes regarded all Jews except themselves as heading for judgment; they had transferred to themselves all the promises of vindication and salvation, while they heaped anathemas on everyone else, not least the Pharisees' (p.43) (Reminds me of folks I meet every day on Usenet newsgroups :-) Wright goes on: 'Jesus' clash with the Pharisees came about not because he was an antinomian, or because he believed in justification by faith while they believed in justification by works, but because *his kingdom agenda for Israel demanded that Israel leave off its frantic and paranoid self-defense, reinforced as it now was by the ancestral codes, and embrace insterad the vocation to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth* (emphasis Wright's, pp. 44-45). More tomorrow * Shalom! Rowland Croucher * * http://jmm.aaa.net.au/ * (17,000+ articles, 4000 clean jokes/stories)
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