Book Review: Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time

Marcus Borg is an active participant of the Jesus Seminar. One of the aspects of the Jesus Seminar is their search for the historical Jesus. So they try to determine which parts of this gospel might have happened and which portions may not be portraying literal events. In his book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, he talks about what Jesus means to our post modern world, where people may not believe in the divinity of Christ or in the accuracy of the Bible record. I found this book to be helpful for my faith, even though Borg does not believe that Christ was literally resurrected or born of a virgin.

If you were to ask the average Seventh Day Adventist why Christ came to live on earth, without a doubt the most common response would be that he came to pay the price for our sins. This doctrine, called substitionary atonement, finds its basis in the rituals of the Jewish people. Borg calls this the "Priestly Story" and he includes it as one of three meta-naratives in the Bible. While there is nothing wrong with this image, we tend to forget other aspects of Christ's ministry. Borg brings this back into focus by presenting other images of Jesus that have help Christians in the past.