On being "Born Again"

For the past several weeks, our church's Adult Education group has been discussing Marcus Borg's book, "The Heart of Christianity : Rediscovering a Life of Faith." (See book profile at Amazon.com)

Borg's book attempts to bridge the gulf between progressive and traditional Christians. (Our church is progressive and the gulf often seems incredibly huge.) This week's discussion centered around being "born again" and Borg urges progressive Christians to "take back" this concept.

I don't think there are many phrases that seem to be so difficult for progressive and traditional Christians to resolve. Borg argues that traditional Christians use the phrase to mean a very specific concept by and I'd agree. The problem is that it seems to be an exclusionary term ... akin to the secret handshake in fraternities. It seems pretty futile to try to engage in dialogue in this regard.

So I was mulling over how traditional Christians would respond to Borg's thoughts. Came home and read some reviews on Amazon by traditional Christians ... several were exactly what I'd feared. My optimism for dialogue nosedived.

But there were also some rather interesting reviews, including this one:

Evangelicals beware --- this is the same Marcus Borg of the Jesus Seminar, the one who has categorically stated that he does not believe that Christianity is the only path of salvation, that the Bible is the Word of God, that Jesus experienced a bodily resurrection, or that Jesus is, in fact, the Son of God. So why review this book? Why give him any cyber ink at all?

There are any number of reasons why evangelicals need to be aware of what Borg believes and what he has written, not the least of which is his tremendous influence on non-evangelicals ...

... Borg never demeans those who do hold to a strong doctrinal stance and a literal interpretation of the Bible, much of which he considers to be metaphorical. But while many evangelicals dismiss him outright, Borg is obviously trying to build a bridge between the conservative and liberal factions in the church...

Even if you completely disagree with Borg's fundamental premise, THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY is worthwhile reading for anyone who is unafraid to examine a perspective on faith that seemingly differs dramatically from their own...

There's no question that some who read this book will conclude that Borg has cut the heart right out of Christianity. But likewise, there's no question that many lapsed churchgoers will return to the faith as a result of Borg's enormous influence. For that reason alone, evangelicals would do well to familiarize themselves with the work of this highly gifted thinker and communicator. click for full review

Maybe there can be dialogue.