Marcus Borg 1942-2015

I was saddened to hear the news of the passing of Marcus Borg, a former member of the Jesus Seminar, long time professor at Oregon State Uni, and the author of several popular books on religion like Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time and Speaking Christian. The book I co-wrote with James Crossley, How Christianity Began: A Believer and Non-Believer Examine the Evidence was loosely modeled on the Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright volume Jesus: Two Visions. Admittedly, our book didn’t sell as well as theirs! I also interacted with Borg’s work on Jesus and purity in my Ph.D thesis Jesus and the Origin of the Gentile Mission.

For me, Marcus Borg was a brilliant liberal Christian scholar, who sought to make Christianity palpable to the modern world by recasting its biblical teaching at a time when most would rebuff any mention of religion. He was a member of the Jesus Seminar and debated with folks like N.T. Wright, William Lane Craig, and Craig Blomberg on the meaning of the resurrection and the historicity of the Bible. Borg was a standard liberal in many ways. However, he was very adept at commending his pious liberalism to a secular and progressive audience. His books like Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, and Speaking Christian exemplify his ability to show how progressive Christianity can remain attractive for a modern audience. He was a very popular author in mainline churches. Borg was a very effective communicator who evangelical authors can learn from even if they don’t embrace his theology.