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A Thinking Person’s Take On Christianity with a Mystical Twist Marcus Borg Wednesday, November 17, 7:30 pm Lecture, Booksigning to follow
 Marcus Borg has spent a lifetime critiquing the vision of Christianity that many people grew up with: its literal understanding of the Bible, absolute adherence to particular ethical teachings, and exclusive belief that Christianity is the only saving faith. This best-selling author, who the New York Times describes as “a leading figure of the new generation of Jesus scholars,” has himself gone from conventional Christian to closet atheist to intentional Christian. Borg now advocates for what he calls an “emerging” vision of “wholehearted” Christianity, one that involves loving God and loving what God loves, and letting go of self-preoccupation in favor of a life centered in the sacred. His own personal paradigm shift came from “eyes-open” mystical experiences, especially a recent one on an airplane. Everything from the fabric of the seat in front of him to the coach-class meal seemed beautiful, all his anxieties disappeared, and he found his face wet with tears of joy. Borg notes that this kind of powerful personal experience of the sacred is also often the basis for the courageous activism of many politically active modern saints we celebrate—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Desmond Tutu. In his most spiritual book to date, The Heart of Christianity, world-renowned Jesus scholar Marcus Borg offers a middle ground for conservative Christians and those interested in Christianity from a distance. |
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