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Marcus Borg

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Progressive Christian

2013-10-29T10:47:26-05:00

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.

The Real Meanings of the Cross

Last updated on: October 29, 2013 at 10:47 am By Marcus Borg

My previous blog highlighted and critiqued the “payment” understanding of Jesus’s death, the notion that he died to pay for our sins. Some responses defended that understanding by referring to the role of animal sacrifice in Judaism prior to and in the time of Jesus. And at least one represented that practice accurately. Yes, animals were sacrificed in the temple. And sacrifices involved the shedding of blood. But sacrifice in Judaism was not about payment for sin. Its root meaning... Read more

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2013-10-25T17:05:24-05:00

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.

Christianity Divided by the Cross

Last updated on: October 25, 2013 at 5:05 pm By Marcus Borg

American Christians are deeply divided by the cross of Jesus – namely, by how they see the meanings of his death. At the risk of labels and broad generalizations, “conservative” Christians generally believe a “payment” understanding of the cross: Jesus died to pay for our sins so we can be forgiven. Most “progressive” Christians (at least a majority) have great difficulty with the “payment” understanding. Many reject it. Some insist that rather than focusing on Jesus’s death, we should instead... Read more

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2013-10-22T15:44:25-05:00

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.

Does Christianity Have a Future?

Last updated on: October 22, 2013 at 3:44 pm By Marcus Borg

I have just returned from a lecture event in Houston with Joan Chittister and Dom Crossan. The theme was the same as the title of this blog. None of us tried to predict the future of Christianity, even as we all spoke about our hopes for its shape in the future. The question, “Does Christianity Have a Future?” is interesting to think about. And the answer is greatly affected by the time span, short or long. Will Christianity still be... Read more

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2013-10-16T18:59:54-05:00

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.

Response to Modern World-View Responses

Last updated on: October 16, 2013 at 6:59 pm By Marcus Borg

I begin with a confession of electronic communication ignorance: I have not yet learned how to reply to “replies” to my blogs. I’m working on it. And so in this blog, I reply to a repeated theme in the replies. Namely, why do I not regard mystical experiences as divine interventions? I begin by recognizing that they feel like interventions. William James in his classic description of mystical experiences in his equally classic “The Varieties of Religious Experiences” lists as... Read more

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2013-10-12T18:38:14-05:00

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.

Christianity and the Modern World-View

Last updated on: October 12, 2013 at 6:38 pm By Marcus Borg

“World-view” is a semi-technical term that names something we all have, whether we are conscious of it or not. It is a way of seeing reality – of what is real and what is possible. In German, where I think the notion was coined, the term is Weltanschauung – the way the world appears to us, how we think of it. Not just “world” in the sense of “the earth” or “the globe,” but the whole of reality. What is... Read more

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2013-10-10T11:41:02-05:00

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.

Continuing the Resurrection Conversation

Last updated on: October 10, 2013 at 11:41 am By Marcus Borg

I am pleased to see that my response to Tony Jones has generated a thoughtful response from him and many thought-filled replies from others. At the risk of continuing the conversation too long, I offer the following. I begin with a few additional and hopefully clarifying comments. Tony correctly reports what I said at an event that he attended. I am quite sure it was at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, a lecture event that also featured Brian McLaren... Read more

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Resurrection

Tony Jones

2013-10-08T20:20:30-05:00

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.

Response to Tony Jones about the Resurrection

Last updated on: October 8, 2013 at 8:20 pm By Marcus Borg

In his October 4 blog, “No, the Writers of the Bible Did Not Expect It to be Taken Literally,” Tony Jones briefly contrasts his view of the resurrection of Jesus with mine. I agree with the title of his blog, but strongly disagree with his characterization of how I see the resurrection. His own view of the resurrection is clear: he believes that Jesus “materially rose from death” in a “physical” and “bodily” form (from his April 21, 2011 blog;... Read more

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2013-10-01T17:42:18-05:00

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.

Meeting Marcus Borg Again for the First Time

Last updated on: October 1, 2013 at 5:42 pm By Marcus Borg

I am pleased to become a Patheos “blogger” (a word none of us knew until recently). I have visited the website frequently for a couple of years and consider it to be the best religious website that I know. Briefly to introduce myself, I am in today’s terminology a progressive Christian and, except for about a decade in my 30s, I have been deeply involved in the life of the church all of my seventy years. I grew up as... Read more

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Progressive Christianity

Protestantism

Spirituality

2013-10-01T17:44:32-05:00

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.

The Resurrection of Jesus: Physical/Bodily or Spiritual/Mystical?

Last updated on: October 1, 2013 at 5:44 pm By Marcus Borg

This is an excerpt of an article written for Patheos on April 18, 2011. The choice between understanding the resurrection of Jesus as “physical/bodily” or as “spiritual/mystical” was included in the invitation to write this essay. The distinction is helpful; it makes clear that Christians have understood the meanings of Easter in different ways. But for more than one reason, including the common meanings of these words in modern English, I don’t like either option. I begin with the positive,... Read more

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