Marcus Borg—an Oregon professor of religion, author of numerous books on Christianity, notably Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, and more recently Jesus, a summing up of 20 years of scholarship on Jesus—wrote a novel called Putting Away Childish Things (1 Cor 13.11), which my darlin’ girl bought me as an antidepressant.
It’s an easy read, the story of a college professor Kate, her senior colleague Martin, and a student Erin. About to get tenure, Kate is invited to apply for a one year professorship at a seminary; if she accepts, however, she’ll have to reapply for her position and may not get it. She and Martin had a brief affair years ago, which ended abruptly. Erin is part of a conservative Bible study cell, pressuring her to drop Kate’s liberal class.
Author Borg uses the characters’ class lectures, sermons and meditations to put forth his progressive views, namely that since the Enlightenment Christianity has changed. The Enlightenment in the 17th century saw the rise of science, in particular Newtonian physics, and called into question such things as the miracles and the creation accounts. Borg offers an alternative vision which sees the miracle stories as symbolic.
He emphasizes the point that something may not be factual, but nevertheless true; he quotes Thomas Mann, who said, “Myth is the way things never were, but always are.” For those who find the word “myth” scary because it often is used in the sense that something is false or made up, rather than real or true—I define “myth” as language about truth which cannot be put into words.
Kate gives a lecture in which she references a study of the word “believe” over time. Before the 1600s “believe” almost always had a person as a direct object; after, it often had a statement as direct object. Believing moved from meaning “committed to” to meaning “agreeing with, giving assent to.”
We see the difference in the idioms “believe that” and “believe in.”
- I believe that Hitler lived.
- I believe in Jesus Christ.
Borg points out an old form of the word was something like “belove.” That still survives, by the way, in the word “beloved.” It involves a whole lot more than accepting a set of factual statements about Jesus.
Habakkuk’s “the righteous will live by faith [believing]” doesn’t mean “agreeing with” doctrinal statements.
Borg moves on to words for faith, three of them.
- Assensus, intellectual agreement.
- Fidelitas, faithfulness.
- Fiducia, trust.
The latter mean living in faithful relationship and risking your life on.
Genuine Christianity requires the second and third. But since the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on science, and the Reformation, on doctrine, the first meaning “agree with” has become ascendant.
Real faith means living in God-confidence, not anxiety and fear.
I find Borg’s thought exciting. I accept the possibility of the miracles being factually as well as symbolically true more than he does. But it’s unimportant because he clearly has a living relationship with God.
Photo by Mary Fran