Lenses through which Borg sees Jesus

Religions originate in experience, especially experience of the sacred, and they are nourished by ongoing experience.

~ Marcus Borg

Graduate scholarship lens

Focuses on gospels as a developing tradition:

A layered tradition
Contains earlier and later material
Has two voices: Jesus and the community

parchment, quill pen, wire rim glasses The titles of Jesus (son of God, messiah, light of the world, etc.) are not found in the earliest layer of tradition and are not part of self proclamation of Jesus. This does not make them wrong. Rather, they are the voice of the community, statements about what people around Jesus thought of him.

Interdisciplinary lens

Uses models and insights from:

Literary and historical studies
Social history
Anthropology
Study of political systems
History of religions
Studies of honor and shame in societies
Studies of peasant societies
Studies of economic systems
Medical anthropology

books and round lens glasses Interdisciplinary studies enable us to understand the dynamics of the social world of the Jewish homeland in the first century, the context of Jesus.

We can see new meanings in his words and deeds when we understand his context.

Cross-cultural lens

Sees Jesus within the framework of the world’s religions and derives a cross-cultural typology of religious personality.

Studies of religious experiences

Experiences of the sacred is a distinctive lens used by Borg among Jesus scholars; he gives great weight to experiences of the sacred.

General theory of religion lens

open book with wire rim glasses resting on the page Contemporary scholars commonly define religions as “cultural-linguistic traditions” meaning each religious tradition takes on the categories and colorings of the culture in which it originates; it uses the language, images, and rituals of that culture.