Review of Marcus Borg, Jesus: a New Vision

 
In his book Jesus: A New Vision, Borg advocates a new image of Jesus: a person filled with the Spirit who sought to transform the social world of first-century Palestine by the politics of compassion (an alternative consciousness) against culture's conventional wisdom and the politics of holiness.

Borg's scholarly study and reflection on the historical Jesus began by rejecting the two dominant images of Jesus. The first, popular image of Jesus is a divine being who came to the world to die for the redemption of sinners and then ascended to heaven. The second image is the eschatological prophet, who mistakenly predicted the end of the world in his own time. Borg rejects the first image because it portrays Jesus through the faith lens of post-Easter Christians. Such portrayal is distant from the historical Jesus' life and death. He also refuses to take the second image of skepticism about the historical Jesus because it depicts Jesus only as the eschatological prophet -- who failed to bring about the end of the world. Against these two images, Borg emphasizes the importance of the historical Jesus viewed from a new angle of knowing what Jesus was: a Spirit-filled person in the charismatic stream of Judaism.

To support his thesis that Jesus was a Spirit-filled person who sought to change the religious social world of first-century Palestine, Borg works on the two organizing principles: Spirit and culture. Borg claims that the world of the Spirit is real and Jesus had deep, intimate relationships with the Spirit. The author does not stop here but relates this reality of the Spirit with culture. That is to say, a Spirit-filled person could not remove himself from the culture in which he lived.

In discussing the world of the Spirit, the author states that the reality of the Spirit has been present not only in the biblical tradition but also in the social, and scientific studies of paranormal experiences (universal primordial tradition). In the biblical tradition, Israel's story itself was the story of the interaction between the world of the Spirit and the world of ordinary experiences. The Spirit of the world became part of their lives. Moses and the prophets were also Spirit-filled mediators. In social, and scientific studies of paranormal experiences, cross-culturally, the world of the Spirit has been also accessed by the charismatic who entered it and experienced the world of the Spirit.

Borg says that the biblical tradition of Spirit-filled mediators is very significant to understanding the historical Jesus. The reality of another world (the invisible world of the Spirit) was not unusual to those people of the ancient world, unlike the modern people who disregard the reality of the invisible world simply because it seems to be unscientific, superstitious, or psychotic.

Borg also argues that Jesus stood in the ecstatic, mystical tradition of biblical and Jewish religion. He lists the examples of this trait demonstrated by his internal life: his prayer life, the visions he experienced, and his sense of intimacy with God. All his life was full of ecstatic, mystical experiences with the Spirit. He was a person of the Spirit. A corollary was that Jesus as a Spirit-filled person evidenced his life of the Spirit by the mighty deeds of exorcisms and healing. Exorcism and healing are good examples that demonstrate his charismatic power that flowed out of his deep encounter with the Spirit.

In discussing Jesus' relation to the culture, Borg shows a contrast between the politics of holiness and the politics of compassion. The social world of first-century Palestine was under the pressure of Roman occupation and was operated by the politics of holiness, which separated the pure from the impure, and insiders from outsiders. But Jesus was challenged with the politics of compassion, this prevailing holiness-ridden culture, and the conventional wisdom of that social world, which centers around "family, wealth, honor, and virtue, all shaped by a religious framework" (81). This self-oriented culture was a focus of transformation. Jesus was filled with God's compassion to change his social world into a transforming community of compassion filled with love, acceptance, and inclusiveness.

Borg, then, using four social, and religious types, portrays Jesus, as a sage, revitalization movement founder, prophet, and challenge. First of all, Jesus, like Sage, was both radical and subversive. Jesus critiqued the conventional wisdom of the Jewish social world by asking his people to turn to God rather than to their religion of holiness politics. Spirit-filled Jesus called his people to center themselves on God and to change their hearts and minds so that they see things in a new way: the narrow way, the way of "dying to the self" in place of the broad way that seeks wealth, power, honor, and this-worldly securities.

Second, as revitalization movement founder, Jesus focused on the renewal of Israel rather than creating a new religion, in the midst of a crisis in the Jewish social world: "the growing internal division within Jewish society, and the deepening of the conflict with Rome" (142). Jesus? renewal movement is summarized by his "alternative community with an alternative consciousness" rooted in the Spirit (142). His alternative consciousness is to reverse the dominant consciousness of conventional wisdom through his vision of transforming Israel. Jesus calls his people to change their consciousness of holiness politics. Borg states that the revitalization movement stayed in the frame of Judaism. He put this rightly: "Jesus remained deeply Jewish, even as he radicalized Judaism" (141).

Third, as a prophet, Jesus similarly assumes the job of traditional prophets who indict, threaten, and call to change. Borg points out that "the purpose of the prophets was not to reveal the future but to change it" (154). The author also points out that Jesus was not really speaking about the final judgment or about the kingdom of God that would come very soon. But Jesus' concern was just to change the present lives of his people by speaking out prophetic utterances to bring about a real change of heart to God-centered.

Finally, Borg pictures Jesus as a challenge; Jesus risked his life and went to Jerusalem to issue the call to change, and "to make a final appeal" to his people at the center of their national and religious life (172). Borg states that the death of Jesus would be the result of his sojourn in Jerusalem, not the purpose of his journey. Jesus was killed because he sought to transform his own culture, in the power of the Spirit.

This book sheds a fresh light on the understanding of the historical Jesus. A new image of Jesus as a Spirit-filled person is very relevant to the contemporary church and moderns as well. The first significance or relevance is that the reality of another dimension (the world of the Spirit) is really beyond the visible world. Moderns are so caught up with the first dimension of the material world that they cannot consider things to be real if they do not see them. They are so boastful of the power of human reason. In fact, modern technology and science force us not to believe in the power of the Spirit because human reason is so elevated. But the realization of another dimension of the world gives rise to a new understanding of humanity, who was supposed to have genuine encounters with the Spirit. In the mainstream church where I belong, this reality of the unseen but powerful world of the Spirit is not fully recognized. I think we need to grasp the importance of personal encounters with the Spirit in one way or another in our church. In this way, we can strike a balance between the bodily and spiritual life.

Another relevance to today's church is that real spirituality is not distant from compassion with which society can be changed to the culture. In other words, the Spirit-filled person should work for the sake of a community to transform the dominant way of culture in which Christians are called to live out Jesus' life (Spirit-filled life with compassion). Unfortunately, however, many Christians think of spirituality as the subjective reality of experiences that has nothing to do with compassion to change the social world of our time and culture.

Still, another relevance to our churches is the distinction between knowing about God and knowing God. Knowing God through experiences can be a living reality. A Christian life can be enriched by the actual living relationship with God (the Spirit). Knowing about God is not sufficient to live out the life of Spirit-filled compassion. Compassionate work can be done in a personal, intimate relationship with the Spirit.

If I find a small weakness in this book, Borg could have dealt with the elements of culture or Judaism as to how they shaped Jesus' identity. The other small weakness is that Jesus' humanity is not much addressed because of too much focus on the world of the Spirit. If Borg had had a balance between the Spirit and the humanity of Jesus, the picture of Jesus would have been more realistic or appealing to us.

Dao De Jing (full translation)

Dao De Jing is a classical wisdom book purportedly written by Laozi. It is one of the most-read books in the world today. It comprises 81 short poems. In some sense, it is close to Jesus's parables. I wrote a book about this: Reading Jesus' Parables with Dao De Jing. For my full translation of the Dao De Jing, please click on this link (it's free).

Calligraphy by Yung Suk Kim

"To keep softness is the strength"

--Dao De Jing 52

Commentary on Acts 19:1-7 (Working Preacher)

 

My commentary on Acts 19:1-7 (Working Preacher)

Excerpts:

Laying on of hands, the Holy Spirit’s coming, and its manifestation (19:6)

Paul’s laying on of hands signifies that he participated in the work of the Holy Spirit, who confirms the love of God and the grace of Jesus. The Holy Spirit came to them not because of Paul’s hands but because of the disciples’ submission to God through Jesus. As the Spirit leads Jesus to bring good news to the poor and proclaim release to the captives (Luke 4:18), they must be led by the same Spirit of God as they follow the Lord Jesus. The Spirit equips them with the gifts of speaking in tongues and prophesying. These gifts are needed to do the work of God through Jesus and the Spirit. Luke thinks these gifts are the most typical sign that God’s Spirit works with his people. But we should not limit the work of the Spirit or the manifestation of the Spirit to only speaking in tongues and prophesying.

My YouTube channel trailer

Henry George (1839-1897)

Henry George was a great human who had a passion for justice and equality in human lives.

He wrote the book Progress and Poverty (full text with audio listening).

 

Albert Einstein says about him:

"One cannot imagine a more beautiful combination of intellectual keenness, artistic form, and fervent love of justice. Every line is written as if for our generation."

From his book Progress and Poverty (also as an epitaph):


The truth that I have tried to make clear will not find easy acceptance. If that could be, it would have been accepted long ago. If that could be, it would never have been obscured. But it will find friends those who will toil for it; suffer for it; if needs be, die for it. This is the power of truth.

Interestingly, I thought about Dao De Jing Chapter 41, which echoes part of the truth that George Henry states. Below is my translation:

When the wise person hears of the Way, they act it out diligently.

When the mediocre hear of the Way,

they are uncertain and do not practice it.

When the foolish hear of the Way, they laugh out loud.

If it were not laughed at, it would not be the Way.

Therefore, there is an old saying:

“The enlightenment of the Way seems obscure.

Progression in the Way seems like a regression.

The even path of the Way seems uneven.

The higher virtue seems like valleys.

Great purity seems tarnished.

The great character seems weak.

Solid virtue seems lacking.

Great space has no corners.

A great vessel takes time to be filled.

A great sound is inaudible.

A great form is shapeless.”The Way is hidden and indescribable.
Yet it alone nourishes and completes all things.“Man [the human] is the only animal whose desires increase as they are fed; the only animal that is never satisfied.” --Henry George.

*More quotes from Goodreads

*Henry George Foundation

In this turbulent time, I ask myself

The year 2020 is going away. But COVID-19 continues, and the New Year 2021 is unlikely new. The unprecedented global pandemic has put us in the most precarious situations in our lives. Its dreadful effect is ineffable, immeasurable, and rampant in every corner of our world. Our life is in crisis, and we are likely to face more pandemics in the future unless we change our culture and politics. In this turbulent time, I ask myself: Is my scholarship or teaching helpful in addressing the perpetual problems of human arrogance, selfishness, and ecological demise?

Why are there differences in the Gospels? Are they historically reliable?

First of all, the gospels we have in the New Testament are not eyewitness accounts. They are all anonymous and we don't know who wrote them. The title of the gospel was added in the second century CE to make distinctions among the different gospels. We believe that they were written down at least 40-60 years after Jesus died. All of them were written in Greek. This is odd given the fact that Jesus and his disciples spoke Aramaic. Jesus's disciples were Galileans and illiterate; therefore, they could not write in Greek. Until the gospels were written down by Greek-speaking persons, a variety of oral traditions about Jesus had been circulating in different regions beyond Palestine, including Greek-speaking regions.

So depending on who wrote or in which community the Evangelist worked, the content of the gospel changed. Therefore, changes in the gospels are expected. Sometimes, the Evangelists (Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John) tell the same story about Jesus differently. For example, Jesus's water baptism in the synoptic gospels is told differently yet similarly. Jesus's crucifixion between Mark and Matthew is told very differently. In Mark, Jesus worries about his death, being shocked and agitated by his impending death; he cries at the last minute: Eli Eli lama Sabachthani, which means, "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This portrait of Jesus reflects Markan theology about the suffering of Jesus. But in Luke, he is so calm and adamant about his death because he knew how he was going to die as a prophet. He prays for those who kill him, saying "Father, forgive them because they don't know what they do." He dies as a great hero of the prophet, who says: "Into your hands, I commit my spirit." Many events or things in the gospels are told differently though the degree is different. Again, this is because the Evangelists edited the inherited sources and registered their theological voices/interpretations that reflect their communities.

But there are also irreconcilable accounts between the Gospels. In this case, one account may be right or both of them may be incorrect. Otherwise, not both of them can be correct.
1) Where is Jesus's hometown? (Nazareth in Luke; Bethlehem in Matthew);
2) Which chronology of Jesus is correct? (In Matthew: Jesus's parents flee to Egypt from Bethlehem because of Herod's threat; In Luke, they return to Nazareth after Jesus's birth in Bethlehem);
3) Where do Jesus's disciples have to gather after the resurrection? (In Mark/Matthew: Galilee; but in Luke, they should stay in Jerusalem);
4) When does Jesus die? In John, he was crucified on the day of preparation for Passover (Thursday); in Mark, he was crucified after the Passover meal was eaten, which is the last supper (Friday).
5) There are also a lot of differences in Jesus's resurrection account.

Then, are the gospels historically reliable? If you study the historical Jesus, you should treat the gospels carefully. Some materials will be helpful, while others are not so. There are some criteria by which we can tell which texts may preserve the closeness of Jesus. This is the area of study we call the historical Jesus.

From the religious perspective, we need to study each gospel on its own, trying to understand the Evangelist's community and theological agenda. For example, we may think of four different images of Jesuses in the four gospels. The Markan Jesus "came not to be served, but to serve and give his life" (Mk 10:45). The Matthean Jesus came not to destroy the law and prophets but to fulfill (Matt 5:17). The Lukan Jesus came to seek out and save the lost (Lk 19:10). The Johannine Jesus was born as a king to testify to the truth of God (Jn 18:37).

The bottom line is there is an unbridgeable gap between the gospels and the historical Jesus. Nevertheless, there are some clues by which we may understand him better than otherwise. Essentially, our job is to seek meaning both in Jesus's time and in the later gospel communities' time.

Among my works, the following books deal with the above issues: (1) Resurrecting Jesus: The Renewal of New Testament Theology; (2) Messiah in Weakness: A Portrait of Jesus from the Perspective of the Dispossessed.

De(re)constructing New Testament Theology

In the gospels, Jesus's death is not for the forgiveness of sins. In Mark, forgiveness is possible through water baptism and repentance. Jesus was put to death by Rome because he challenged the status quo. His radical teaching of the kingdom of God, which embraces the most marginalized, brought him to death. He came to serve, not to be served (Mk 10:45). In Luke, Jesus's death is prophetic death, seeking out and saving the lost. In Matthew, Jesus's death is the result of his radical teaching of the law and his fearless proclamation of the kingdom of God. In John, Jesus's death is the result of his truth-speaking and living. CONTINUE TO READ 

A Canaanite Woman's Faith (Matt 15:21-28)

In the usual interpretation of Matt 15:21-28, Jesus is said to test the Canaanite woman. In doing so, readers often explain away the difficult sayings of Jesus and protect Jesus from blame. The only thing they see is the woman's submissive faith. But the idea of testing is invalid because earlier, in 10:5, he told his disciples not to go among the Gentiles. Namely, his mission does not include the Gentiles. So when Jesus meets the Canaanite woman, he is not interested in her.  

Interestingly, the Matthean Jesus is markedly different from the Lukan Jesus, who preaches God's preferential option for the Gentiles (see Luke 4:16-30).  

The Matthean Jesus reflects Matthew's community that struggles to open the doors for the Gentiles. However, at the end of the story of a Canaanite woman, Jesus finally acknowledges her faith, which needs explaining.  

When it comes to the Canaanite woman's faith, her faith is more than submissive faith. She has faith that God would bless her and her daughter through Jesus, the Son of David. Jesus ignores her, initially. Disciples ask him to send her away. He calls her dog and rejects her request for her daughter because his mission is for Jews. But she is persistent; her faith says she also deserves God's blessing. 

Her faith is not about enduring derogatory sayings of Jesus but about her relentless hope that God would bless her daughter. Because of her faith as such, Jesus changes his mind. In the end, explicitly or implicitly, seriously or humorously, she challenges Jesus's narrow-minded mission. Does he experience transformation after encountering this Canaanite woman?

Eventually, the risen Lord commissions the male disciples to all nations (Matt 28:16-20). Here, women disciples do not appear. That is Matthew's limitation. 

  

Matt 25:31-46?

One of my colleagues sent me a message: “Dr. Kim: Greetings. Do you have any exegetical wisdom on Matthew 25:31-46? Let me know ASAP sir. Blessings and thanks.” Then I responded in seconds: “This is part of the so-called Jesus’ eschatological sermon in which this passage plays an important role that for Matthew’s community caring for the marginalized is key to God’s kingdom now and it will affect them in the future. This story can be read together with Luke’s parable, Rich Man and Lazarus. Hope this helps."