Jesus A New Vision

From top Jesus expert Marcus Borg, a completely updated and revised version of his vision of Jesus—as charismatic healer, sage, and prophet, a man living in the power of the spirit and dedicated to radical social change. Fully revised and updated, this is Borg's major book on the historial Jesus. He shows how the Gospel portraits of Jesus, historically seen, make sense. Borg takes into account all the recent developments in historical Jesus scholarship, as well as new theories on who Jesus was and how the Gospels reflect that. The original version of this book was published well before popular fascination with the historical Jesus. Now this new version takes advantage of all the research that has gone on since the 80s. The revisions establish it as Borg's big but popular book on Jesus.

"Jesus: A New Vision is at once a magisterial work of scholarship and a completely new approach to the meaning and message of Jesus. It comes at a time when the western world is divided between a declining number of believers in Christian doctrine and an ever-increasing number of people who feel that Jesus was nothing more than a religious zealot who was executed for the crime of sedition. What if neither of these approaches is right? What if Jesus really did perform miracles, including the resurrection, but that this says not that he was a deity, but that he was exercising human powers which are buried within us all, and which we do not suspect are there? By exploring the life of Jesus and his teachings in an entirely new way, Jesus: A New Vision sheds fresh light on the meaning and power of his parables, explores the mysteries of the gospels of Thomas and Mary with fresh insight, and explains why, as Strieber puts it, he “committed suicide by crucifixion.” It also addresses the questions that continue to surround the Shroud of Turin, exploring both the science that concluded that it was a medieval forgery and the more recent studies that have shown it to be something very different. It explores what happened after Jesus’s death that led to the ultra-violence that destroyed the entire polytheistic culture of the Roman Empire, and explains why this greatest of all human revolutions happened, relating it to the pandemics and uncontrollable migrations that resulted from a climate change event that began around 150 A.D. and led to extraordinary disruptions that the Romans, knowing nothing of solar variability, blamed on their gods."--Amazon.com

The most important development in recent historical Jesus studies is the attempt to understand the ministry of Jesus in "political" terms. In calling the nation of Israel to repentance, Jesus served as a national prophet concerned with the salvation of Israel. Scot McKnight furthers this line of inquiry by showing how Jesus' teachings are to be understood in relation to his role as a political figure. McKnight looks closely at Jesus' teachings on God, the kingdom, and ethics, demonstrating in each case how Jesus' mission to restore Israel brings his teachings into a bold new light.

This book attempts in a scholarly and nondogmatic way to say, "This is what the historical Jesus was like, this is what he taught, and this is what his mission was about." It seeks, in short, to sketch a portrait of what Jesus was like as a figure of history before his death. A twofold purpose: to present a synthesis of modern Jesus scholarship that is accessible to the general reader, whether Christian or among the interested inquirers; to make a serious scholarly case for a particular image of the historical Jesus that is considerably at variance with the dominant scholarly image.

In Simply Jesus, bestselling author and leading Bible scholar N.T. Wright summarizes 200 years of modern Biblical scholarship and models how Christians can best retell the story of Jesus today. In a style similar to C.S. Lewis’s popular works, Wright breaks down the barriers that prevent Christians from fully engaging with the story of Jesus. For believers confronting the challenge of connecting with their faith today, and for readers of Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God, Wright’s Simply Jesus offers a provocative new picture of how to understand who Jesus was and how Christians should relate to him today.

A renowned scholar calls for a change of direction for the study of Jesus in the 21st century.

A unique look at Christian biblical interpretation and theology from the perspective of Native American tradition. This book focuses on four specific experiences of Jesus as portrayed in the synoptic gospels. It examines each story as a “vision quest,” a universal spiritual phenomenon, but one of particular importance within North American indigenous communities. Jesus’ experience in the wilderness is the first quest. It speaks to a foundational Native American value: the need to enter into the “we” rather than the “I.” The Transfiguration is the second quest, describing the Native theology of transcendent spirituality that impacts reality and shapes mission. Gethsemane is the third quest. It embodies the Native tradition of the holy men or women, who find their freedom through discipline and concerns for justice, compassion, and human dignity. Golgotha is the final quest. It represents the Native sacrament of sacrifice (e.g., the Sun Dance). The chapter on Golgotha is a discussion of kinship, balance, and harmony: all primary to Native tradition and integral to Christian thought.

'It has been slowly dawning on me over many years that there is a fundamental problem deep at the heart of Christian faith and practice as I have known them . . . we have all forgotten what the four Gospels are about.' With that surprising assertion, Tom Wright launches this ground-breaking work in which he helps us to see the gospel story in radically a new light, and to acknowledge that, for many generations, the Church has been avoiding its full impact and holding back from proclaiming its full meaning. 'Classic Wright: clear, accessible, robust, engaging and challenging.' Paula Gooder in Third Way 'Scholarly, accessible, insightful and provocative.' Christianity 'Wright argues compellingly that the twin themes of kingdom and cross are inseparably linked. . . This is a much-needed reorientation. The book makes its case for 'rethinking' cogently and deserves widespread attention.' Theology