Continuing our summary/review of Tom Wright and Marcus Borg's discussion... For other articles in this series visit http://jmm.aaa.net.au/catalog/section/jc1.htm.

More from Marcus Borg:

'[There are at least five interpretations of Jesus' death in the New Testament]. I see them as powerful and truthful post-Easter metaphors for expressing the significance of Jesus' death and resurrection.

'But for several reasons I do not think they go back to Jesus himself. First, with a majority of mainline scholars, I see the passion predictions in Mark as post-Easter creations... Traces in the gospels indicate that Jesus' death was a shock to his followers and a shattering of their hopes. This is hard to understand if Jesus had spoken so clearly about his upcoming execution.

'Second... I see the use of passages from the Hebrew Bible generally as prophecy historicized rather than prediction fulfilled.

'Third, I have trouble imagining that Jesus saw his own death as salvific. Tom and I differ substantially on this... His claim... is that Jesus saw his own death as accomplishing something of utmost importance in the God-Israel relationship, as "the final battle against the real enemy". Jesus took the suffering and sin of Israel.... upon himself. He saw his death as atoning for the sin of which Israel was guilty and he himself was innocent...

'I think Tom's claim is correct [in that] the notion of one's death having an atoning effect for others was present in the Jewish milieu in which Jesus lived and died. I accept that it was possible for a first-century Jew to think this. But I have difficulty affirming that Jesus believed this about himself' (p. 81)

More tomorrow...

-- Shalom! Rowland Croucher