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.

These brief excerpts are meant to provoke thought/reflection...

More from Tom Wright:

'[Our aim is] to get into the minds of our subjects... When we do so, the categories that Jesus' own world offered to describe someone doing and saying the sorts of things Jesus was doing and saying were: prophet, messiah, martyr. Jesus could, and I have argued did believe that he, in filling these roles, was doing something for Israel that Israel could not do for itself, something that in its scriptures only its God, YHWH could and would do. If, as Marcus suggests, these roles make us nervous, with our late twentieth-century perceptions and prejudices, so be it. *Nervous*? They scare me stiff. Is that not precisely what we should expect if we come face-to-face with ultimate and deeply personal reality - that is, God? Ought we to expect to be able to appraise God coolly, neutrally, rationally? Would God be God if we could?' (p. 226).

[Note from Rowland: To be fair to Tom and Marcus I'm presenting their summary-views before I offer some of my own... You'll have to *think* first, and then wait for my appraisal].

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Shalom! Rowland Croucher