Alejandro D. Manunta Christology Rev.

Gabriel Scarfia March 2nd, 2011

Comparison between the Jesus of Marcus Borg and the Jesus of Brian McDermott Although Marcus Borg is a member of the Jesus Seminar he is an Episcopalian layperson and has a very faithful view of Jesus. One of the reasons why I chose him to compare with Brian McDermott is that in my opinion their views are not completely opposite but they rather overlap and complement themselves. Borg describes in his book Meeting Jesus again for the first Time, which is a sort of autobiography, a discovery Journey that through multiple experiences led him to discover through his own experience that not only God was real, but that Jesus was God. This experience based faith is what McDermott defends in his book Word become flesh (102). Another aspect mentioned about Borg is concerning his research methods (103). He uses the traditional historic criticism, in a multidisciplinary approach drawing into his investigation elements of sociology, anthropology and, probably his favorite, history of religions which happens to be his field of expertise. Through his research Borg tries to establish what kind of person Jesus was, rather than evaluating the accuracy of the texts attributed to his deeds and words. The portrait of Jesus that is presented to us by Borg comes from his books Jesus: A New Vision and Conflict, Holiness and Politics in the Teachings of Jesus (104). In these works we

can appreciate that Borg offers four images of Jesus, namely healer, sage, movement initiator and social prophet. To perform his analysis he centers his work in two focal points: social world and spirit(104). This spiritual dimension can be later interpreted as Jesus being transcendent. McDermott similarly states that Jesus started his ministry to Israel as a charismatic preacher and healer (40). McDermott however, finds as the focal points the sayings tradition, the activities tradition and Jesus execution by the Romans. We will now take a closer look at these four images: Jesus as a spirit person (104f) Borg states that during Jesus time on earth the population had a profound understanding of the spiritual world, considering it as real as the material world. They also knew that at some points and events, these two worlds intersected, and these intersections in most cases were mediated by people that were considered holy in some aspect. Examples of this type of people were the prophets, healers, shamans, etc. Borg states that Jesus was one of such persons. The first experience as a spirit person that he mentions is the baptism performed to Jesus by John the Baptist, and then he follows with the temptations in the desert that are supposed to come from the Q document. Mc Dermott also mentions as a pivoting point the baptism at the Jordan(40). Following with the exposition of Jesus as a spirit person Borg calls attention on Jesus prayer life describing it as deep and profuse based on the prolonged periods of time that he would spend praying, giving indication that his prayers were of a contemplative nature rather that the traditional recitations. McDermott also finds important to mention Jesus prayer practices. Both, McDermott and Borg mention the fact that Jesus would use the Aramaic word Abba, which is a tender way of referring to ones father, to refer to God when the contemporaneous culture

would avoid to even pronounce Gods name. This, both authors claim, would indicate a great magnitude of intimacy with God. Borg also stresses how Jesus was perceived by his followers. He quotes examples such as the Transfiguration event, although he makes clear that he is not making any assertions on whether the incident really took place or not, what he sees in events like this and others is that Jesus displayed authority to his followers who in turn perceived him as an almost divine being. Jesus as Healer (105f) Borg now goes on to describe Jesus as a man who was able to perform miracles and exorcisms. In, what I believe is a great example of historical criticism, he tries to see these miracles and exorcisms with the same eyes that first century Hebrews would. McDermott appreciation of this healing ministry is an almost perfect parallel (45) with what Borg postulates. Borg explains that in that time these phenomena were seen as part of their normal lives, and nobody questioned the actual occurrence of such healings. Moreover, Jesus was seen as a person who did have that power and used it. At some point it was questioned about the source of this power, but not the power itself. This brings an interesting irony, these supernatural events are seen as something common and that would have not been doubted at that time, so while the acts themselves lose their uniqueness they, at the same time, become credible. Borg takes this even further by stating that there is no valid point in seeking scientific explanations for the miraculous cures, as some have done explaining these healings as psychosomatic processes. He finally makes a point of the fact that Jesus used his supernatural powers in healing, and not in cursing or in other evil ways as some of the people with this type of powers who roamed the land back then. McDermott, does a more exhaustive analysis of this ministry presenting it as a battle that was carried on between the Son of God and the forces of evil (46ff).

Jesus as Sage (106f) The vision of Jesus as a sage is a very common one among Jesus scholars today. Mc Dermott does not treat Jesus as a sage but more as a teacher and he spends plenty of space describing the different styles of teaching that Jesus practiced namely parables and beatitudes (51ff). Although Borg thinks that this is one of the images of Jesus he does not believe that it is a dominant one, rather he believes that this image is a direct consequence of his spiritual image. He states that a deeply spiritual charismatic person would radiate wisdom. Borg distances Jesus type of wisdom from the Cynics and likens it to that of Buddha and Lao Tzu. He does this on the grounds that all three of the proclaimed a transformation based on insight into how things truly are. Borg describes Jesus wisdom as one that challenged conventional wisdom. This conventional wisdom that the talks about is what everybody within a certain culture agrees to be true. The example that Borg proposes is that of believing in a system of rewards and punishment which would reward always the individuals who follow a certain behavior that is understood to be right, while the wrongdoers would be punished. He, then, explains that Jesus in order to explain his view about this section of conventional wisdom would resource to nature, and describing how the birds and plants are constantly being nourished although they do not work, and how the sun gives light and warmth to the good and to the bad. Or to put it in Borgs own words, Jesus had a vivid sense that reality was ultimately gracious and compassionate. Though Jesus wisdom did challenge conventional wisdom, Borg says that he was not anti-law or anti-convention; he was rather a Jew who treasured his traditions and who would use traditional wisdom to challenge conventional wisdom. Although McDermott writes this past concept almost word by word (57) he also goes into a more detailed analysis of the Law at the time of Jesus, its various parts and what was Jesus reaction to each one of these parts, since he understands that Jesus found updated

interpretations for some of these parts (54ff). Jesus, according to Borg would offer an alternative way of being based on the spirit. His teaching would not be a specific doctrine or ethics but an invitation to see differently . He mentions the consequences that can be found within Jesus proposal by the parallels between the narrow way and the broad way; putting in evidence that most people while seeking the broad way receive a bitter life, consequence of the self-centered behavior, whereas the few ones seeking the narrow way experience happiness in a God centered life that is grounded in service to others. Jesus as Movement Initiator (107f) Borg contends that this new wisdom approach to the community brought social and political consequences to Israel. Therefore Jesus followers constituted a sectarian revitalization movement. Borg believes that the act of selecting twelve apostles was representative of Gods selection of the twelve tribes of Israel, proving this way that one of Jesus objectives was to create a new Israel with a more compassionate society. McDermott also believes that there is symbolic meaning in the choice of the number twelve; however he does not explain what this symbolic meaning could be (41) although he later gives a hint (58). Part of the revolution sought with this movement had to do with what Borg calls the politics of holiness. With this he is trying to reflect the separation that existed between pure or holy items and people and impure or unholy items and persons. Rules governing what was pure and what was not abounded, and were used to outcast sections of the population. Once again we find a very close parallel between what Borg is stating and McDermotts writing when he quotes the gospel passage where Jesus says that it is n ot what goes into a person what makes him or her impure but what comes out of them (57). Under this new philosophy Israel was being invited to be a more inclusive society welcoming not only all the members of its people but also to include foreigners and strangers.

Jesus the Social Prophet (108ff) Jesus spoke and behaved in the same ways as the prophets of the Old Testament, Borg says. In his view what Jesus was warning against, was not the end of the world in an eschatological way, but the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple should Israel not change its ways. Borg goes in detail on the sociological analysis of the Urban Elites that constituted by landowners and Temple rulers would make sure that a significant separation between classes be real and permanent. The above mentioned politics of holiness would be one of the tools that the governing religious class would utilize to keep and increase the gap between the richer and the poorer. This prophetic role, according to Borg, is what got Jesus killed. He refers specifically to the incident in the temple when Jesus overturned the table s of the money changers; he also mentions the fact that Jesus made his entrance in Jerusalem riding the colt of a donkey symbolizing that he was after a kingdom of peace and not war. The overturning of the tables is seen by Borg as a protest against the politics of holiness, and in his view this incident, although minor, was the trigger that put in motion the tragic events of Holy Week. McDermott looks to the temple incident as well as the key action that led to Jesus execution (67ff). We can discuss other two points made by Borg. In the first place, Borg does not believe that Jesus presented any sort of eschatological discourse; he understands that these periscopes were added later in the tradition. He accepts Jesus discussing the kingdom of God but he thinks that the meaning of it has nothing to do with the end times but rather with the possible union between the material world and the spiritual world. The second discussion point has to do with Borgs view of the resurrection. Although he believes that the resurrection did happen he does not necessarily support the idea that it happened in body and soul, calling this concept corpse resuscitation. He believes that after Jesus death on Good Friday, he moved into a new plane of

existence where he remains in communion with his followers. McDermott studied material does not discuss any of these two topics; It would seem that he does not see an eschatological image in the historical Jesus that he describes. Concerning the resurrection, it is treated later in his work outside the scope of this comparison. Conclusion As stated at the beginning these two authors are well aligned in their main statements. McDermott, however, presents more material than what was available form Borg. So we find discussions on the names of Jesus and other themes that are not present in Borgs material preventing a more comprehensive comparison.

Bibliography McDermott, Brian O. Word Become Flesh: Dimensions of Christology. Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press, 1993. Print. Powell, Mark A. Jesus As a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee. Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998. Print.