Chris Starr

“Christmas is not about tinsel and mistletoe or even ornaments and presents, but about what means will we use toward the end of a peace from heaven upon our earth. Or is “peace on earth” but a Christmas ornament taken each year from attic or basement and returned there as soon as possible?”
― Marcus J. Borg, The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Say About Jesus's Birth

“Advent and Christmas are about a new world. They are thus intrinsically about eschatology. Recall what we said about this word in Chapter 3: eschatology is about the divine transformation of our earth. It is not about some mass immigration from a doomed world to a blessed heaven. Rather, it is about the end of this era of war and violence, injustice, and oppression. It is about the earth’s transformation, not about its devastation. It is about a world of justice and peace.”
― Marcus J. Borg, The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Say About Jesus's Birth

“God will not change us as individuals without our participation, and God will not change the world without our participation.”
― Marcus J. Borg, The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Say About Jesus's Birth

“Participatory eschatology involves a twofold affirmation: we are to do it with God, and we cannot do it without God. In St. Augustine’s brilliant aphorism, God without us will not; we without God cannot. We who have seen the star and heard the angels sing are called to participate in the new birth and new world proclaimed by these stories.”
― Marcus J. Borg, The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Say About Jesus's Birth