I've just finished reading Jesus (uncovering the life, teachings, and relevance of a religious revolutionary) - by Marcus Borg. It was first published in 2006 and adresses primarily an American readership though it's extremely interesting and relevant for a wider audience including those of us in Europe.
He views Christianity, Jesus and the Bible through an emerging Christian paradigm - which is a transformation-centered way of being Christian.
He explores the historical context of first century Palestine in order to discover the historical Jesus - also using (mostly) the gospels to uncover Jesus and his message.
I appreciated his humble scholarly approach to the subject.
He sees Jesus as a Jewish mystic - meaning that he had an experiential knowledge of God. The mystic 'experiences a nonordinary state of consciousness marked above all by a sense of 'union' and 'illumination', of reconnection and seeing a new'. Jesus sensed this 'union' with God and this caused him to see anew, differently from his contemporaries.
For mystics the world has a positive value, it is the good creation of God and not simply to be escaped. Rather it is filled with the glory of God. It is where we live but it needs to be changed.
Jesus also taught mainly with paraboles. We don't have any written evidence that Jesus took a portion of the Hebrew Bible and preached systematically on it using (3) points. Paraboles 'leave the mind in sufficient doubt about their precise application to tease it into active thought'. (Borg quotes CD Dodd). Paraboles do not depend on Scripture to make their point. (No aurthoritive text). Paraboles are invitational not imperatival. They invite hearers to engage major questions such as God, life, etc.)
So Jesus,was a Jewish mystic (and much more), who taught mainly in paraboles - he was centered in God and his passion was God and the Kingdom of God. He invites us to participate with God in seeing His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus understood that God's passion is justice. So the message of Jesus is both transformational on a person level but also on a political level. Political meaning seeing the Kingdom of God (His peace, love and justice) - transforming cities, communities, families etc.
Jesus taught nonviolent resistance in the face of the domination system (at the time of Jesus the roman empire) - he was executed by the Empire for his subversion and vindicated by God. The cross is both personal and political. The death and resurrection of Jesus are the central Christian image fo the path of personal transformation; The path involves dying to the old way of being and being reborn into a new way of being. Followers of Jesus are invited into a journey that leads through death to new life.
The cross is also political. By dying and rising with Christ is not just rising and dying - it is dying and rising with the one who was crucified by the rulers of this world. The way of Jesus involves.."taking up the cross", the path of confrontation with the domination system and its injustice and violence. His passion was the Kingdom of God, what life would be like on earth if God were king and the rulers and systems of this world were not. It is a world the prophets dreamed of - a world of distributive justice in which everybody has enough, in which war is no more, and in which nobody need be afraid. It is not simply a political dream, but God's dream, a dream that can be realized only by our being grounded ever more deeply in the God whose heart is justice.
The above are quotes from the book - I was both inspired and challenged that God is good and that he is love - challenged that his kingdom is not always apparent - and that my participation in His dream counts. Our participation in His big glorious dream counts.
So let's make it count!
