Postscript to A Letter About Jesus

Last updated on: July 30, 2014 at 5:35 pm by Marcus Borg

Postscript to A Letter About Jesus 2014-07-30T17:35:52-05:00 Marcus Borg

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is my third installment about a letter about Jesus and the issue, “Was Jesus God?” If you have not read the first two installments, this may not make much sense to you.

To emphasize: as a Christian, I affirm that Jesus is “the Word of God” and “the Word become flesh,” that is, the Word incarnate, the Word embodied in a human life. In Jesus, we see what can be seen of God in a human life. This affirmation goes back to the first Christian century and is orthodox Christianity.

For those who want to say more than “Jesus is the Word embodied in a human being,” namely that “Jesus was God,” a challenge. What do you mean? Do you mean that Jesus as a historical person had the mind and power of God – that he was omniscient as God is commonly thought to be? And that he had divine powers – that like God he was omnipotent and could do anything? And if you don’t mean that, what do you mean?

If what you mean is that Jesus as the Word of God embodied in a human life is the decisive revelation of what can be seen of God in a human life (namely, God’s character and what God is passionate about), then our disagreement may be about words rather than substance. But if you mean more than that, what do you mean?

Finally, I recognize that for some Christians, Jesus has become one of the names of God. People praise and pray to Jesus. I have no problem with that – unless that is projected back on the historical Jesus so that he becomes a super-human and thus not one of us. The Word become flesh – the incarnation – means that he was one of us.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 17, 2014

Further Thoughts on a Letter about Jesus

Next Post

September 2, 2014 Top Religious Trends 2014: A Christianity Co-Opted by Individualistic, Exclusivist Faith

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent/Christmas Uncategorized

Select a Month January 2015 December 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How long did judges rule over Israel?

Select your answer to see how you score.

250 years 400 years 300 years 350 years