Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost Their Meaning And Powerand How They Can Be Restored

Modern Christians are steeped in a language so distorted that it has become a stumbling block to the religion, says internationally renowned Bible scholar Marcus J. Borg. Borg argues that Christianity?s important words, and the sacred texts and stories in which those words are embedded, have been narrowed by a modern framework for the faith that emphasizes sin, forgiveness, Jesus dying for our sins, and the afterlife. Here, Borg employs the ?historical-metaphorical? method for understanding Christian language that can restore for us these words of power and transformation. For example,

• Redemption: now narrowly understood as Jesus saving us from sins so we can go to heaven, but in the Bible it refers to being set free from slavery.

• Savior: now refers to Jesus as the one who saves us from our sins, but in the Bible it has a rich and wonderful variety of meanings having nothing to do with the afterlife.

• Sacrifice: now refers to Jesus?s death on the cross as payment for our sins, but in the Bible it is never about substitutionary payment for sin.

In Speaking Christian, Borg delivers a language for twenty-first-century Christians that grounds the faith in its deep and rich original roots and allows it once again to transform our lives.

Editorial Reviews

Borg (Canon Theologian, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland, OR; Reading the Bible Again for the First Time) is an esteemed and much-published author in theology and biblical criticism. As a member of the Jesus Seminar and chair of the Historical Jesus section of the Society of Biblical Literature, however, he is not without his detractors. His latest book will delight his friends and continue to confound his adversaries. Here, he makes a convincing argument for a contextual reading of the words and experience of the New Testament. To Borg, we face a choice between a faith mesmerized by our fate in the next world and a faith that focuses on the transformation of this world. VERDICT Borgs approach makes the complexity of his ideas transparent; his ideas will appeal strongly to individual Christians, as well as the unchurched.

About The Author:

Marcus J. Borg is Canon Theologian at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. He was Hundere Chair of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University until his retirement in 2007. Borg is the author of nineteen books, including the bestselling The Heart of Christianity, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, and the novel Putting Away Childish Things. He was an active member of the Jesus Seminar when it focused on the historical Jesus, and he has been chair of the Historical Jesus section of the Society of Biblical Literature.