Meeting Jesus in Mark

by Marcus J. Borg

'Many know Marcus Borg as a brilliant scholar, which he is. But he has a pastoral side as well. I've stood with Marcus after his lectures and watched as person after person comes up to say, I lost my faith, but your books have helped me get it back,A" or I wouldn't be in the church today if I hadn't come across your books,A" or Your work has helped me stay a Christian.A" In this highly readable book on Mark, you'll experience that pastoral side as he brings his scholarship to the aid of Christians and seekers alike. If you want to get to the heart of Jesus' message and the way of life into which that message invites us, you'll find help here.' Brian McLaren, author/activist.

160 pages, Paperback

First published February 18, 2011

About the author

Borg was born into a Lutheran family of Swedish and Norwegian descent, the youngest of four children. He grew up in the 1940s in North Dakota and attended Concordia College, Moorhead, a small liberal arts school in Moorhead, Minnesota. While at Moorhead he was a columnist for the school paper and held forth as a conservative. After a close reading of the Book of Amos and its overt message of social equality he immediately began writing with an increasingly liberal stance and was eventually invited to discontinue writing his articles due to his new-found liberalism. He did graduate work at Union Theological Seminary and obtained masters and DPhil degrees at Oxford under G. B. Caird. Anglican bishop N.T. Wright had studied under the same professor and many years later Borg and Wright were to share in co-authoring The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, an amicable study in contrast. Following a period of religious questioning in his mid-thirties, and numinous experiences similar to those described by Rudolf Otto, Borg became active in the Episcopal Church, in which his wife, the Reverend Canon Marianne Wells-Borg, serves as a priest and directs a spiritual development program at the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland, Oregon. On May 31, 2009, Borg was installed as the first canon theologian at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

Marcus J. Borg is Canon Theologian at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, OR. Internationally known in both academic and church circles as a biblical and Jesus scholar, he was Hundere Chair of Religion and Culture in the Philosophy Department at Oregon State University until his retirement in 2007.

Described by The New York Times as "a leading figure in his generation of Jesus scholars," he has appeared on NBC's "Today Show" and “Dateline,” PBS's "Newshour," ABC’s “Evening News” and “Prime Time” with Peter Jennings, NPR’s “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, and several National Geographic programs. A Fellow of the Jesus Seminar, he has been national chair of the Historical Jesus Section of the Society of Biblical Literature and co-chair of its International New Testament Program Committee, and is past president of the Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars. His work has been translated into eleven languages: German, Dutch, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, Italian, Spanish, Portugese, Russian, and French. His doctor's degree is from Oxford University, and he has lectured widely overseas (England, Scotland, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Israel and South Africa) and in North America, including the Chautauqua and Smithsonian Institutions.

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good read! I thought Marcus Borg would be "right out there" as the scholar he is, but he's not as radical (is that the right term?) as I thought, which means that when he questions something or puts forward an idea it is worth listening to - it's obviously been thought through thoroughly and prayerfully. Lots to think about which, for me, is a good thing.