* ‘Because I see myself as a nonspecialist, I do not see this book as a scholarly discussion of God but as an accessible exposition of some quite general insights about the importance of how we think about God’ (vii)

* God to Moses: ‘I am who I am’. Martin Buber: the Hebrew verb ehyeh means ‘being there, being present’… So: ‘I will be present as I will be present’ (35)

* ‘I find the evidential value of religious experience to be more interesting and suggestive than the traditional “proofs” of God’s existence, which I am convinced do not work’ (45)

* Patriarchy (produces) the monarchical model of God. God as a male monarch legitimates the domination of men over women. As Mary Daly put it over two decades ago, when God is male, the male is God (69)

* The emergence of feminist theology [is] the single most important development in theology in my lifetime (70)

* Historically speaking, ‘the Jews’ did not reject Jesus. Responsibility for his execution rests with Roman authority and a narrow circle of Jewish ruling elites who, far from representing the Jewish people [were their] oppressors (89)

* Variant on the widely-used ‘Jesus Prayer’ –

‘Lord Jesus Christ, you are the light of the world:

Fill my mind with your peace,

and my heart with your love…’

(Can be used as a mantra or a centering prayer).

* ‎’GOD in three persons’? ‘Person’ in modern English suggests a separate being (thus the ‘Trinity’ is like a committee of three separate beings). But ‘person’ in Latin and Greek – in the ancient texts – refers to the mask worn by actors in Greek and Roman theaters. Masks were not for concealment but corresponded to roles (Marcus Borg, The God We Never Knew 98).

* Jesus died as a martyr, and not a victim; a martyr is executed because he or she stands for something, whereas a victim is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time (102)

* A congregation whose worship service is not experienced as a mediator of the sacred is unlikely to survive very long. Churches that are full of God are likely to find their pews full of people (122)

* Stop thinking for one minute (only one in fifty report being able to turn off the words)

* Throughout history the economic gulf between the urban elites and the rural peasants has been enormous. Elites (less than 10%) acquired two thirds of society’s annual production of wealth, with about half going to the top 1 to 2 percent. Rural peasants (90% of the population) made do with the remaining one-third (115) Now elites can be good people… and systemic evil is not necessarily intended by some who benefit from it. The issue: some sleep on beds made of ivory while others end up being sold for the price of a pair of sandals (141)

* Marcus Borg to college classes: ‘American values’?

Be all that you can be

Just do it

You only go around once

Work hard and you’ll succeed

Government is bad

Be slender (ie. fit, strong, sensitive)

Enjoy yourself

Nice guys finish last

Seek fame and fortune…

(So what’s wrong with that?)

Borg: None of these is a community value. ‘Occasionally my students will suggest the Golden Rule, or love your neighbor as yourself, but that’s about it. Nothing about working for a just society, or having an obligation to future generations, or building the kingdom of God on earth’ (146-7).

* American (right-wing) Christians tend to be individualistic… Many issues involve sexuality: abortion, pornography, homosexuality. The issue of ‘welfare mothers’ often becomes an issue of sexual morality, so the welfare debate becomes a debate about family values… an individualistic politics of righteousness, not a communal politics of compassion’ (Borg, God, 147)

* Until about 165 BC we have little or no evidence that the people of ancient Israel believed in life after death… ‘Salvation’ for all these centuries had nothing to do with an after-life (157). Does the after-life begin at the moment of death or at the end of time (after the last judgment)? Christians have believed both. For roughly the first thousand years, the dominant Christian belief was that the dead are simply dead until the last judgment. In the early Middle Ages that belief began to be replaced by the belief that judgment occurs for each individual immediately after death (172)

* Related question: Are those who will participate in a blessed hereafter many or few? Scripture can be quoted in support of both notions, and Christians have believed both. Some: universal salvation (nothing can ultimately resist the will of God… or the logic of grace). At the other end, some Christians (JWs – 144,000) believe only a few will be saved. ‘Most are in between these two extremes and are content (properly, it seems to me) not to have a position’ (173). Luther: we can know as much about life beyond death as a fetus traveling down the birth canal and about to be born can know about the world it is about to enter. How much is that? Nothing. Yet the analogy affirms that there is something at the end of the journey (175)

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Comment from a Facebook friend:

“Borg actually desires greater integration of Christian streams of believing (Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, 2001). But observes the Bible contains different “voices”. We are, he says, “socialized” to various systems (right AND left, western AND marginal) [pp.298-299]. We find and adhere to the “voices’ that speak to our situations and understandings. He says “subjectivity in this arena is unavoidable”. BUT Borg goes on to say cohesion can be found in God himself, rather than any particular set of “religious rules” [left OR right] . Borg says, “God is not only real, but knowable…[he] transcends all of our domestications of reality.” Our lives are made “whole” and “right” by living in a conscious relationship with the Lord. It is all about a covenant relationship, he says. “”We are not simply to become conscious of it; we are to become intentional about deepening the relationship.” :-)”