God at 2000

by Marcus J. Borg, Ross Mackenzie (editor)

"How do your personal experiences, your study, and your faith perspective influence the way you, as an individual, see God?" That was the question posed to these seven renowned authors and scholars. Representing a wide variety of faith perspectives Karen Armstrong, Diana Eck, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Joan Chittister, Lawrence Kushner, Desmond Tutu, and Marcus Borg explore the ways in which their life experiences have shaped their personal understanding of God. Originally given as lectures at the God at 2000 conference in February, 2000, each presentation has been rewritten for a reading audience. Conversation starters, based on the questions asked at the conference itself, are included, making this an excellent resource for small group study. An introduction, written by Marcus Borg, provides readers with a frame of reference that will help them explore the issues raised in the book, and become clear about their own personal understanding of God.

Genres: Religion, Theology, Spirituality, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

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

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

SEVEN SPEAKERS FROM A TELEVISION SYMPOSIUM

The Introduction to this 2000 book states, “This book is the result of ‘God at 2000,’ a nationally-televised symposium that took place at Oregon State University in February 2000… [It] featured seven well-known religious thinkers and authors from the three major western religions… Karen Armstrong, Marcus Borg, Joan Chittister, Diana Eck, Lawrence Kushner, Seyyed Hossein Hasr, and Desmond Tutu… The chapters in this book are not an exact transcript of what was said at ‘God at 2000.’ The speakers had the opportunity to revise their talks for publication. The book also includes the question-and-response session that followed each lecture, a chapter reporting the panel discussion at the end of the event, and a concluding epilogue in which we, as the editors of this volume, share some impressions…

“‘God at 2000’ had two premises. The first is that how we think about God matters. Our ideas about God… shape our sense of the reality or unreality of God, our sense of God’s character, and our perception of what life with God is about. The second is that how we think and talk about God changes over time. We refer not simply to how our ideas about God change in the course of our individual journeys… How people thought about God in the year 1000 was significantly different from how people think about God in the year 2000… ‘God at 2000’ seeks to describe, among other things, the changing ways in which we think and talk about God at the beginning of the 21st century.”

In an essay, Marcus Borg states, “I am a strong advocate of [panentheism] with its robust affirmation of both transcendence and immanence. There are three compelling reasons. First, it is intellectually far more satisfactory than supernatural theism… Second, it is biblical as well as orthodox Christianity---orthodox, because it affirms both the transcendence and immanence of God… Third and finally… because of the evidence from religious experience… I take such experiences very seriously indeed… And if God can be experienced, then God is in some sense ‘right here,’ accessible, all around us, as well as more than right here.” (Pg. 8)

In the Q&A session, Borg replies, “I think prayer has many purposes within a non-interventionist model… I practice intercessory prayer myself… for me to refuse to do intercessory prayer because I don’t believe in interventionism would be to claim to know too much… I think paranormal healings happen, and I think they sometimes happen in response to prayer. But I refuse to use interventionism as the explanation, just as I refused to use psychosomatic explanations. Both explanations claim to know too much.” (Pg. 18-19)

Diana Eck wonders, “What is it in our tradition that gives us the confidence to say we alone know the fulness of God? Where did our religious humility go? Can we really say that we know God completely even from what we know of God in Christ and from our experience of the Holy Spirit? Can we really affirm that ‘our God’ is God in God’s fulness? [The] ‘inclusivist’ view presumes that everything we encounter in the world of faith can be included under the great, wide tent of our own tradition.” (Pg. 35)

Joan Chittister observes, “Not to be able to think about God is only to make God unthinkable; it is not to make God unreal. The great spiritual truth, I learned over the years, is that, indeed, we cannot think God. We can only know God. And when we do think God into some single, separate, stultifying shape, it is only a sign that we now run the risk of knowing God less and less.” (Pg. 63-64)

Karan Armstrong states, “when people have applied themselves seriously to the rites and disciplines of religion, they have discerned a sacred dimension of existence. They have called this transcendence ‘God,’ ‘Nirvana,’ or ‘Brahman.’ … The traditions all insist that we can never define this transcendence. It is ineffable and indescribable. It cannot be confined within any doctrinal system…. But because men and women have learned to discern this sacred dimension of existence, it is germane to our humanity and part of our human experience.” (Pg. 104)

In the Q&A session, she says, “I am not at the moment able to pray. I have such bad memories of all those years when I tried and failed. I feel tired and exhausted at the thought of speaking to God. That may change because my life has changed so much… In the quest one is always seeking, always moving on.” (Pg. 112)

Desmond Tutu observes, “The divine can erupt anywhere and be mediated by anyone or anything. Each person is indeed a God carrier. Even the unlovely and repellent can be sites of the divine, because Jesus said, ‘Just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.’… Wonderfully, most of the servants of this God were not paragons of virtue. They were flawed… They carry this treasure in earthenware vessels, for the transcendent glory belongs only to God!” (Pg. 130)

Borg summarizes, “Three shared conclusions emerged. The first is what I would call a mystical understanding of God… The second shared conclusion: Religious traditions are pointers to the sacred… Our third shared conclusion: The central ethical value flowing from this way of thinking about God is compassion.” (Pg. 159)

This was an excellent selection of panelists, and this book will be of great interest for liberal/progressive thinkers about religion.

[Sharon Neufer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book, put it down for some reason and picked it back up several months later. My second attempt found me wondering just why I had failed to finish the book. A couple of the authors (speakers at the conference from which this book comes) left me unimpressed, though, so I didn't finish their chapters. However, after deciding that I wanted to complete what I had started, I found that one of them was actually excellent! (The other had some good points, also). I would certainly recommend this book for anyone wanting to come to a better understanding of who/what they believe God to be.

[J. Ewbank · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book exceeded my expectations. Normally when a book is composed of short articles by different authors I am not impressed with the book. This is the exception.

This is a strong book, written from different religions and different perspectives but there are many points that they have in common.

The epilogue is worth reading alone.

J. Robert Ewbank, author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

[Jill Buckley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good thoughts on the evolution of mainline theology. Will probably return to it later but not good enough to hold my attention through the end.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

The talks by the various participants from the Abrahamic religions provide interesting insights into how those with a more inclusive viewpoint view divinity and religion.

[Joe Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the Introduction: “This book is the result of ‘God at 2000,’ a nationally-televised symposium that took place at Oregon State University in February 2000… [It] featured seven well-known religious thinkers and authors from the three major western religions… Karen Armstrong, Marcus Borg, Joan Chittister, Diana Eck, Lawrence Kushner, Seyyed Hossein Hasr, and Desmond Tutu… The chapters in this book are not an exact transcript of what was said at ‘God at 2000.’ The speakers had the opportunity to revise their talks for publication. The book also includes the question-and-response session that followed each lecture, a chapter reporting the panel discussion at the end of the event, and a concluding epilogue in which we, as the editors of this volume, share some impressions."

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent information on what scholars ponder about God. Good information and good dialogue between the various scholars representing various religions. Truly remarkable seminar which leads to grappling with the concept of God between different religions - mostly monotheistic approaches. For the most part easy to read and understand.