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Marcus J. Borg, a scholar who popularized a liberal intellectual approach to Christianity with his lectures and books about Jesus as a historical figure, died on Wednesday at his home in Powell Butte, Ore. He was 72. His publisher, HarperOne, said the cause was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Professor Borg was among a group of scholars, known as the Jesus Seminar, who set off an uproar with its very public efforts to discern collectively which of Jesus’ acts and utterances could be confirmed as historically true, and which were probably myths.

Why would a Christian denomination pay a lecturer to speak at their events who does not believe Jesus physically rose from the dead? Why would the same denomination recommend and use that lecturer's teaching resources when he doesn't even believe God exists? Those are good questions every lay person should be asking the leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The lecturer I am referring to is John Dominic Crossan, co-founder of the Jesus Seminar (read about it here) and popular New Testament scholar. Let me first show you the multitude of ways the ELCA has sought Crossan and...

Introduction: Five Points That Should Make Both Trinitarians & Unitarians Aghast At Paul As anyone reading this website knows, I do not believe Paul is inspired. I wish now to prove to those who are either Trinitarian or Unitarian, that you cannot believe Paul is inspired and hold to your beliefs. Either you must give up Trinitarianism or Unitarianism, or you must give up Paul. It is an "either/or" decision for you.Commentators know the problem, and thus never isolate Paul just to study only his views on Christ's nature. The reason why will become obvious on this page. For when...

The authors of the books discussed in this year’s survey are senior scholars who have distinguished themselves through many years of teaching and lecturing, original contributions to biblical research and proven ability to communicate their learning to the general public. Their recent publications offer reliable and accessible points of entry to important areas within the biblical field. What do today’s biblical scholars do? What should they do? In The Nature of Biblical Criticism (Westminster John Knox), John Barton, professor of the interpretation of holy Scripture at Oxford University, contends that the main task of biblical criticism is to read texts...

According to John Dominic Crossan, a noted Jesus scholar who will be in Nebraska next month, Jesus was a member of the downtrodden class, preaching hope to people living under Roman oppression. His message wasn't primarily about personal salvation, Crossan says, but about replacing a social system of status and power with one based on justice and equality. He will speak April 5 at Doane College in Crete and April 6 at First-Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln. He also will lead a seminar April 15-17 at First United Methodist Church in Omaha. (Crossan)...clearly identifies Jesus as a political figure. "(Jesus)was...

February 16, 2005 -- The Jesus Seminar will hold its Spring 2005 meeting, March 2 to 5, at the Flamingo Hotel in Santa Rosa, California. The program will focus on questions about God and the place of the historical Jesus in contemporary Christianity. Fellows of the Jesus Seminar will be joined on the program by colleagues from the U.S., Canada, England, New Zealand, and Australia.

With just one semester of coursework at the University of Texas completed, Blake Helm stepped unwittingly into a religious minefield. Coming from a theologically conservative background, Mr. Helm had signed up for Professor L. Michael White's "Rise of Christianity" course, only to find out in the first class that the subject matter was the fall of Christianity. "He started out with, ‘Why aren't they [the Gospels] in chronological order?' and went on from attack to attack," Mr. Helm said. Mr. Helm dropped the class after one day, but others stay on: Some, Mr. Helm says, "won't think about questioning what...

Posted on Sat, Jun. 07, 2003 Support for authenticity of book of Matthew comes from an unlikely place By NEIL ALTMAN Special to The Star Buried in ancient texts of Jewish historical works are fragments of evidence that appear to show the first book of the New Testament actually was written by one of Jesus' apostles. One of these texts also challenges a long-held assertion that no ancient text except the Bible mentions Jesus' birth. Taken together, the information lends support to the claims of some Christian scholars that Matthew actually wrote the Gospel bearing his name, a Gospel that...