Re Reading Materials, Letters, February
Tom Eyre questions the inclusion of Marcus Borg in the February Theology 101 reading list. Fair enough. Let me explain.
A reading list in theology is intended to introduce a broad range of resources in the field. The purpose of my February list was to highlight some of the books about God being read within and outside the church today. These books are worth noting because they have captured the attention of the reading public, not because they may or may not be consistent with Christian teaching.
That said, Marcus Borg is, in my judgment, a brilliant writer but a bad theologian. He tramples on the Christian tradition and makes mistakes for which a first year theology student would be failed. By denying the central Christian conviction that Jesus was fully human and fully divine Borg sets himself outside the bounds of Christian orthodoxy.
The fact that Borg’s dumbed-down version of progressive Christianity is so popular is indeed troubling. But for whatever reason, his books have captured the imagination of a segment of the population, and therefore cannot simply be ignored.
