The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith

My only regret about reading this book is that I didn’t do it sooner. A friend recommended it three years ago, and although I promptly purchased it, the book remained squeezed tightly between other unread volumes on a bookcase until last week. I thumbed through it, stopping at many passages and thinking, “This is fascinating,” or, “I need to tell so-and-so about this,” or “Wow! I wish I had someone to discuss this with.Borg covers too many topics for me to treat them all fairly, so I’ll focus on a few of my favorites:Thin places. “This way of thinking affirms that there are minimally two layers or dimensions of reality, the visible world of our ordinary experience and the sacred. Borg reminds his readers that a thin place is anywhere our hearts are open and then tells us how to find them. Thin places don’t have to be explicitly religious and can be found in nature, music, art, and literature. He also lists practices one can follow to access thin places, practices that are doable.Two relationships at the core of Christian life. The first is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, life force, mind, and strength.” The second is to love your love your neighbor as yourself. While we know these things with our heads, we don’t seem to know them with our hearts. Borg’s words about practicing compassion and justice made me squirm a little. Charity and compassion are easier than seeking justice and social transformation for those in need. It’s easier to donate money, time, or old furniture. It’s harder to seek actively seek social justice...or become politically involved.The Bible’s relationship to time and place. The Old and New Testaments are both sacred and human products with metaphorical importance. Those of us who live in a modern Western culture tend to identify truth with fact and thus devalue metaphorical language. Reading Borg’s statement about the truth of the Bible not being dependent on its historical factuality was an aha moment for me since I too am a product of my time and culture.There is much more that gave me pause for thought in this illuminating book, including religious plurality in America and how it came to be. There’s a thought provoking section on salvation, too, one that make the reader realize it’s much more encompassing than avoiding the flames of hell. In the Bible, salvation can be light in the darkness, enlightenment, return from exile, healing of infirmities, knowing God, and resurrection from the land of the dead.Highly readable, interesting, informative, and thought provoking, this is the book for those with open hearts trying to live more authentically Christian lives.

This perspective makes Christianity a possibility for me again.

By far the best book I have ever read on what it means to be a Christian in the modern world.I grew up Roman Catholic, and I am a practicing Episcopalian today. As much as I've tried to live a good Christian life, I've always had trouble taking the resurrection of Jesus Christ literally. I have long believed that the resurection of Jesus may or may not have literally happened - but that if nothing else, it is a strong metaphor for the fact that the resurrection happens every day through the acts of we Christians who do his work on earth. To me this seemed more relevant then whether a man came back from the dead 2,000 years ago. (After all, I see the miracles of God all around me everyday in my very existence.)In thie book Borg separates Christianity into two paradigms - the 'earlier' (traditional) paradigm and the 'emerging' paradigm - both valid forms of Christianity, but both different. I grew up raised and practicing my faith in the 'earlier' paradigm where what mattered was belief, faith, and following the rules. However this hasn't worked for me for 20+ years and I know I've been missing something.My faith and life as a 21st century Christian is now validated by Borg's emerging paradigm by giving me permission to accept that the bible wasn't written for our generation but was written by menwho a very long time ago to address their problems and record their experiences with God.Further, it also doesn't have to be literally factual and historically acurate to still be real or true. (I've always known this, but have never dared applied the label of metaphor to some of the bigger miraculous tenets of faith such as the virgin birth or the resurrection from the dead.) This book is a must-read for those who are grappling with religion, faith and specifically the relevancy of Christianity in the early 21st century.Even if you're a traditional 'earlier' paradigm type of Christian - this book should still be enlightening and help you understand how other Christians see and practice their faith whether or not you are willing to subscribe to the emerging paradigm.What is great about Borg's writing is that it is clear, concise and logical and although his purpose in writing is to advance the new paradigm, he never dismisses the earlier paradigm and defends it as a completely legimiate method of practicing the Christian faith.Very well writeen, very easy to understand, and very thought-provoking. Thank you Marcus for this masterpiece!

Very fascinating.

GOOD READ THUS FAR

great book

Excellent, clear and thought provoking.

I just finished reading Marcus Borg's new book "The Heart of Christianity" and it's the best book on contemporary Christianity that I've read in a long while.Borg talks about the "earlier paradigm" of Christianity and an "emerging paradigm". He discusses the history of the "earlier paradigm" and provides useful insights such as the rather recent notions of Biblical infallibility (post-Enlightenment) and Papal infallibility (1870) which many may assume have ALWAYS been a big part of the Christian tradition.Borg makes quite clear early on in the book that the "earlier paradigm" can and does WORK, insofar as bringing people into fuller communion with God and can certainly produce lives which work for compassion and justice. However, for various reasons (institutional, scientific, and cultural - for example), many in the modern Western world find the "earlier paradigm" to be uncompelling and "unbelievable".Borg attempts to show throughout the book how much more deep and wonderful the Christian tradition is than merely "believing" certain doctrines or defending the literalness of certain events (creation, the flood, the Exodus, walking on water etc...) in order to "prove" the strength of our faith. Did the Exodus really happen? Maybe not. Is it a true story of the human need for liberation from bondage - certainly. Confusing "did it really happen - could I have videotaped it?" with "Is that story true?" is a big issue.Borg argues that we diminish our faith stories by making them merely literal. He pushes for the "more-than-literal" meanings in the Christian scripture. It is a modern Western mindset which equates "facts and proof" with "truth".Borg is a deeply spiritual person who has experienced God personally, who claims that Jesus is Lord, and that "the Other"/"the Spirit"/"God" is real. He even more or less agrees with the value of intercessionary prayer (as opposed to Spong) along the same lines as Catholic doctrine.The Christianity which Borg portrays in the "emerging paradigm" is very compelling for me. It is deeply spiritual, rooted in historical Christian traditions, non-exclusivist, and transformative on the personal and community level. A brilliant easily readable book. Highly recommended.