Marcus Borg has been fine tuning his view of emerging Christianity for many years and each time he writes another book the message becomes more clear and compelling. For many people, modern Christianity has lost its ability to tell a convincing story about Jesus but in this book Borg shows us how to tell the story in a more powerful and “believable” way. Most of the material has been used before in his other works, but he has finally packaged the bulk of his research into one definitive book on Jesus. It seems that he also has tailored the package for a broader audience. I wish it had found its way into the hands of Mel Gibson several years ago before he made that horrible movie. Maybe if he had read this book then Mel would he would have known exactly what Jesus was passionate about. (Here is a clue Mel, it doesn’t have anything to do with his ability to endure pain and suffering). Christianity continues to focus on the birth and death of Jesus that I’m thankful that Marcus Borg continues to keep us focused on what happened in between those 2 events.

I’m not sure what I would have done without Marcus Borg’s influence on my life. He “saved” my faith by giving me a way to reconcile what I felt in my heart and the things I understood to be true. His work may not be a unique revelation in modern theology, but it was new to me and he has a powerful gift to express these ideas more clearly than anyone else I’ve read on the subject.