Biblical scholars Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright live on two different
continents and seem even further apart in their theology of Jesus. Borg is
the liberal American revisionist; Wright is the conservative British
traditionalist.
Together, they are the Siskel and Ebert of the theological world. In
The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions the scholars almost always take opposite
views in 16 alternating essays. The book is seldom dull, but it may be too
civil for many readers’ tastes. If it were a tennis match, it would be
remembered for long rallies and skillful play rather than snappy sparring.
As the apologist for traditional views, Wright’s position is almost
always predictable. The Nicene Creed encapsulates the tenets for which he
argues, drawing generously from his understanding of historical
Christianity. But at times he’s so skeptical of modern biblical
methodology that he refers to the scholarly lens known as the hermeneutic
of suspicion as the "hermeneutic of paranoia."
Borg, on the other hand, thrives on shaking up the traditional
paradigms. For instance, he concedes that Jesus was resurrected, but says
it wasn’t necessarily a bodily resurrection. It’s this kind of revisionist
viewpoint that often catapults Borg into headlines.
But readers might be surprised by how traditional Borg’s beliefs
sometimes are and how conciliatory Wright sometimes is. In terms of the
historical Jesus, the scholars find common ground on two key points:
first, that Jesus’ message emphasized the kingdom of God, and, second,
that Jesus’ disruptive behavior in the temple during his final days was
the single-most factor prompting his arrest.
Wright argues that Jesus thought of himself as the Messiah and saw his
death as salvific, points that Borg doesn’t buy. (Borg suggests those
views are possible, but not plausible.) In fact, Borg says his
disagreement with Wright over the Messiah is their most significant
difference in their understanding of the historical Jesus.
Borg passes on Wright’s traditional separation of the "Jesus of
history" from the "Christ of faith" and instead speaks of a pre-Easter and
post-Easter Jesus. By the latter he means the Jesus of Christian
experience and tradition (i.e. "what Jesus became after his death"). Borg
argues that the pre-Easter Jesus never thought of himself as divine,
though he was the embodiment of God.
Wright doesn’t toe the traditional line in his response. "I do not
think Jesus ‘knew he was God’ in the same sense that one knows one is
tired or happy, male or female," he wrote. "He did not sit back and say to
himself, ‘Well, I never! I’m the second person of the trinity!"
Nonetheless, Wright affirms Christian teaching on incarnation and asserts
that Jesus had a strong sense of vocation.
Borg believes that the gospel of Mark’s account of Jesus’ final week is
"historically plausible." And in describing Jesus, Borg uses five
categories: Spirit person, healer, wisdom teacher, social prophet, and
movement founder. Even people who appreciate Borg’s views will find these
scholarly categories awkward and poorly named, with the exception of the
justice-minded social prophet.
Still, for all their theological differences, Borg and Wright happen to
be friends, which accounts for the respectful tone of their disagreements.
Both studied at Oxford, and Wright taught there before becoming dean of
Lichfield Cathedral, 150 miles northwest of London. Borg, a religious
professor at the University of Oregon, is one of the most visible
participants in the Jesus Seminar, the academic movement of liberal
scholars in search of the historical Jesus. Reared a Lutheran and shaped
by that historical tradition, he’s now a practicing Episcopalian.
In doing this book, the scholars said their goal was to foster
conversations between conservatives and liberals. Wright’s scholarly
eloquence will help to dispel stereotypes of conservative Christians as
unthinking and narrow-minded. And Borg’s creative views will resonate with
any Christians who find it difficult to literally embrace Jesus as
presented in church doctrines.
SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH is a reporter for the Minneapolis StarTribune.
The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions. marcus J. Bork and N.T.
Wright. HarperSanFrancisco, 1999. |
