Reading the Bible Again For the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally [Hardcover]

Marcus J. Borg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 20, 2001

Growing numbers of Christians both inside and outside the organized church are unwilling to abandon the modern world of science and critical thinking in order to believe, and are searching for an enlightened, modern way to understand their faith and the Bible. Leading biblical expert Marcus Borg offers them a bold new understanding of scripture that respects both tradition and reality. Covering all the essential texts of the Old and New Testaments, Borg demonstrates how such stories as Adam and Eve, the Sacrifice of Isaac, the Gospel miracles and even the Resurrection are not historical reports as much as vital teaching stories about our relationship with God and Jesus. Moving away from the narrow literalism that drives so many away from the profound richness of the Bible, this groundbreaking book blends the best of biblical scholarship with a profound concern for authentic Christian faith and how it can be lived today.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Reading the Bible Again for the First Time is Marcus Borg's follow-up to Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. Like his earlier book, this one is written for lay people whose faith has been frustrated by their misapprehension that fundamentalism's claim to be the one true faith is valid. Borg, a professor of religion at Oregon State University, describes an alternative to fundamentalists' so-called "literal" readings of scripture. (He believes that such "literal-factual" readings do not live up to that description, and that the limitations of such readings have alienated many people who would otherwise remain part of the church.) Borg calls his alternative "historical-metaphorical" reading, a way of "taking the Bible seriously without taking it literally." Reading the Bible begins with a history of recent conflicts regarding biblical interpretation. Borg navigates the minefields of his subject with sensitivity and precision, explaining, for example, the important distinction between evangelical and fundamentalist readings of the Bible. He then offers historical-metaphorical readings of some key texts from both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Throughout, Borg writes with calm assurance and respect for those who would disagree with him. Reading the Bible is a credible guide to the project it names. It is a faithful exercise of reason, undertaken to help Christians hear more clearly the many voices recorded in the Bible. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly

The title of this book comes from the author's experience of "unlearning" his literal reading of the Bible from childhood in favor of a "historical-metaphorical" reading derived from his 35 years of studying the Bible as an academic. Borg, an Episcopalian who teaches at Oregon State University, is a member of the Jesus Seminar, author of The God We Never Knew and the counterpoint to evangelical N.T. Wright in The Meaning of Jesus: Two Views. Borg offers a highly readable and succinct introduction to biblical criticism, outlining the kinds of cultural, theological and historical lenses through which people read the Bible and explaining how those readings affect their relation to God. The historical-metaphorical reading that Borg presents includes both the "historical illumination of a text in its ancient context" and a metaphorical approach that "enables us to see and affirm meanings that go beyond the particularity of what the texts meant in their ancient setting." He applies this approach to the Bible in sections, wending his way from the creation stories to Revelation even as he advocates a journey from "precritical naivete" (the acceptance that the Bible is literally true) through "critical thinking" to "postcritical naivete" (accepting again that the Bible is true even if that truth does not depend upon factuality). The book is copiously footnoted without being in the least stodgy, and is open about Borg's own spiritual journey without being didactic or disrespectful of the tradition he has left.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (February 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574557580
• ISBN-13: 978-0060609184
• ASIN: 0060609184
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marcus J. Borg is professor emeritus in the philosophy department at Oregon State University, where he held the Hundere Chair in Religion and Culture, and author of the New York Times bestselling Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, The Heart of Christianity, The Last Week, and Jesus. 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for the recovering fundamentalist, November 22, 2005

By 

Barry in Birmingham (Birmingham, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reading the Bible Again For the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally (Paperback)

I am one of the people to whom Borg is referring when he states that a literal reading of the Bible has made it "incredible and irrelevant". I was brought up in a fundamentalist Christian environment, attending church in a denomination that purports to "speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent", and indoctrinated similarly in a church operated school which censored its curriculum to exclude any view that contradicted its view of reality as seen through a literal reading of the Bible. As Borg stated, I experienced a growing inability to accept this view during early adolescence, which is for most people the time when critical (that is, discerning) thinking is developed. As I studied the knowledge accumulated by science and history, I came to reject the religious views of my childhood as contradictory to settled fact. Having no model of an alternate view available to me, I became atheist.

The peculiar situation I found myself in, however, was that I continued to have a fascination with and curiousity about the Bible. Surely, somehow, there was a way to glean some greater truth from the Bible without having to buy into fantastic and utterly unbelievable claims made by that book. With that purpose in mind, I bought this book along with several others in a similar vein.

This book has been very helpful toward reconciling my non-rational feeling that there is in fact a God or Higher Power and my rational rejection of the bibliolatry practiced by many churches especially here in the deep South. Viewing the Bible as a story of how pre-modern peoples experienced God rather than as a purportedly factual account of supernatural intervention in human affairs goes a long way toward reclaiming the Bible as a spiritual resource. This view can explain why the Bible appears to support such evils as genocide (for example, the extermination of the Amalekites), the subordination of women, and slavery. When such dicta are seen as the co-opting of God to support a cultural bias, rather than being the will of God, deeper messages of spirituality found elsewhere in the Bible can be salvaged. Borg's work encourages the reader to drop an 'all or nothing' approach to the Bible; the inescapable conclusion that portions of the Bible are false does not have to lead to a rejection of the entire scripture.

The introductory nature of this book, and therefore its occasional superficiality, cost it one star in my review. However, it remains an excellent resource for those struggling to rescue some relevance for the Bible and for those who are working to shed the negative religious experiences of their own past.

Highly recommended.

158 of 175 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy successor to Meeting Jesus Again ........., March 20, 2001

By 

H. Paul Greenough (Blaine, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reading the Bible Again For the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally (Hardcover)

Despite his penchant for catchy titles, Borg is arguably amongst the most accessible Christian theologians writing today. He has the disquieting ability to read the poorly framed questions in my mind, state them crisply, and then provide clear, studied, and believable answers. And he is a careful researcher: in some chapters, the length of the notes section almost matches the length of the text itself.

Occasionally I was left with the sense that Borg rushed his writing in this book; some chapters ended before I was ready to leave the topic. And he made only passing reference to the NT epistles that were not written by Paul. Nevertheless, his discussion and interpretation of Revelation alone was worth the price of the book.

If you are new to Borg's work, I would suggest starting with Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. It will give you an excellent grounding in the central tenets of the faith. And you may find some surprises there. Reading the Bible...... then expands the beachhead to cover the core text of the faith.

116 of 131 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a marvelous book, a breath of fresh air, February 26, 2001

By 

W. Foley (Canandaigua NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reading the Bible Again For the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally (Hardcover)

I have read the books "The God We Never Knew" and "Meeting Jesus Again" by Marcus Borg and this new book is a wonderful addition to those. All of these works have been mind and spirit opening. I could not put this one down after I bought it.

This book is very intelligently written and the concepts are articulated in a manner that opens the Bible to deeper understandings. Borg brings the Bible to life and reading it in a metaphorical way, within the proper historical framework, enables one to unearth the deep spiritual treasures that are within.

I do not want to go into a deep theological discourse on my beliefs. This is not the place. But I will echo the author's words and agree with him when he says that God is bigger than, or trancends any religion, or any book. I want to move closer to an experiencial relationship with God, not one based on requirements of faith or dogmatic belief. My challenge remains the same. Read any of the books by Marcus Borg...it will change your life...if not that...at least your perspective.