Jesus: A New Vision: Spirit, Culture, and the Life of Discipleship

Although I am not a fan of the author's writing style, which at times can be a bit obtuse, his take on the historical Jesus is interesting and a departure from most scholars.

The author's historical Jesus was a charismatic who was a healer, sage, profit and revitalization leader.

Part one of the book discusses historicity in terms of Jesus relationship to the "Spirit." In essence, Borg he argues for an epistemology that says there is more to world than science and the material world. I personally don't agree, but it is an interesting observation and at least worth considering If for no other reason than to understand the worldview of Jesus' day.

More interesting was part two, which is discusses Jesus relationship to culture. The author show more depicts a Jesus arguing against the current conventional culture, which involved unnecessary concern for security, honor and status. (Similarly, today's conventional culture excessively values achievement and reward.) The claim is that Jesus argued we should let go of our insecurities and instead trust in the compassion of God. show less

From the Preface: "This book attempts in a scholarly and nondogmatic way to say, 'This is what the historical Jesus was like, this is what he taught, and this is what his mission was about.' It seeks, in short, to sketch a portrait of what Jesus was like as a figure of history before his death." And it does a great job.