From Library Journal
Under three headings?thinking about God, imaging God, and living with God?Borg (religion and culture, Oregon State Univ.; Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, LJ 1/94) examines what belief entails today. Borg holds that traditional Christianity emphasizes God's transcendence too much; he makes a case for pantheism, that is, God as spirit present in the world. Borg argues that how we think about God matters, and that the Christian tradition makes sense if understood at a deeper level. He seems not to believe in the divinity of Jesus, nor even necessarily in a transcendent God, but comes across as an honest seeker after meaning. While not all readers will agree with him, Borg offers a compelling reflection on what it means to believe today, and his discussion of the politics of compassion and of images of salvation are noteworthy. For both general readers and scholars.?Augustine J. Curley, Newark Abbey, N.J.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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From Booklist
In the companion to
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time (1994), Borg argues for
panentheism the conception of God as being both transcendent (God is more than everything) and immanent (God is in everything). The ancient Jews and the early Christians, he says, understood God in this way, as being "right here," at the same time that God was also thought to be supernatural and transcendent, the all-knowing king-judge "out there." Panentheism entails imaging God, not as a monarch to whom we owe fealty, but as a lover with whom we have a relationship. Borg ultimately maintains that living in relationship with God enjoins an open heart; a politics based in compassion and, especially for Christians, just communalism rather than a system of individualistic competition; and the understanding that salvation is an ideal for this world, not any afterlife. The many enthusiastic readers of Borg's Jesus book will be further cheered by his God book.
Ray Olson
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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