Marcus Borg

Marcus Borg

Former president, Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars

Marcus J. Borg holds the Hundere Chair in Religion and Culture in the Philosophy Department at Oregon State University. A fellow of the Jesus Seminar, he has served as 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. The “On Faith” panelist is the author of 14 books, including Jesus: A New Vision, The God We Never Knew, God at 2000, The Heart of Christianity and the best-selling Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. Borg also is a regular columnist for www.beliefnet.com. His work has been translated into nine languages. His latest book, Jesus: The Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary, was published in November, 2006. Close.

Marcus Borg

Former president, Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars

Marcus J. Borg holds the Hundere Chair in Religion and Culture in the Philosophy Department at Oregon State University. A fellow of the Jesus Seminar, he has served as 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. more »

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Sexism more Acceptable; Racism runs Deeper

There are many conservative Protestant churches whose official position teaches the subordination of women to men and who refuse to ordain women. I know of no church body today whose official position teaches the subordination of people of color or that refuses to ordain people of color.

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All Comments (10)

Paul:

Non-ordination of women is not sexist. Non-ordination of people of a different race would be racist. The difference here is that the Bible defines most ordained positions in the church as being for men. There is no mention of race. Therefore, if a church did not ordain on racial grounds, it would be racist, because there if nothing in the Bible that would justify such a restriction. However, not ordaining women is evidence that a church is trying to conform to the standards set forth in the Bible.

kermit the borg:

"Your comment deserves a D minus."

So now the writing assignments at liberal seminaries have degenerated to blog comments instead of papers? Not surprising, since they only care about the party line and new age fluff theology as opposed to faithfulness to God and his Word, and critical thought. I guess that's why theological liberals tend to resort to name calling when you challenge them on their position.

These institutions would probably also give D's to Sproul, Mohler or MacArthur for not towing the Party Line, so I'd be proud to stand in such company. The SBC was right to clean house.

Kermit:

Your comment deserves a D minus. Now go and sit in the back of the bus.

garyd:

Nice stretch there begone. Sorry it doesn't hold this time. Japan is not the First Century near East, and your inability to recognize any change that is not literally earth shattering does not mean small incremental changes do not take place. There is no question that the wide spread dissemination of Christianity in the 1st to 5th centuries AD on the whole improved the lot of both women and the poor in regions where Christianity held sway. Of course it didn't bring them up to standards that we would find acceptable today but it was none the less an improvement over what had previously existed.

kermit the borg:

non-ordination of women is not "sexist". The Bible specifies different roles for men and women. Are you sure you're a theologian?

BGone:

garyd:

Are you sure about that "women simply weren't as free to go and do the things a pastor or elder had to do."? Maybe women were more settled with their gods and simply rejected...

"Husband of but one wife" is the way to end polygamy? Come now, many cultures that never heard of Jesus either never had or ended polygamy. And that did not elevate women in many of their worlds. Imperial Japan for example where women stood so any man could occupy the last seat on the train.

The law of the land is the only historically accurate means of elevating anyone. Groups are determined by wealth. Individuals have always managed to wiggle from one group into a higher one. Napoleon was a corporal and so was Hitler before the rise to glory.

Religion, all religions tend to hold members of societies in place. The rich stay rich and get richer while the poor are promised their reward in heaven for doing what the rich dictate.

"The poor you will have with you always" said Jesus and repeats the disciple.

Religion is the great enemy of progress for religion claims that all is known, cut and dried. The good life is doing what the faith dictates which leads to eternal bliss in heaven.

Jesus also said, "What profit the man who gains the whole world and loses his immortal soul"?

What profit a man that attempts to save his immortal soul worshiping and sacrificing all he has to Devil calling Him God? One can be a religious agnostic and say God doesn't care. Any other reason God won't punish?

http://www.hoax-buster.org/sellyoursoul says religion is not the solution to the problem, its the problem. The reason we are trying to answer the ism question is because of religion for without religion, a certain ministry there would be nothing to worry about. Devil never rests.

BGone:

How could a candidate challenge the "n-word?" It's been canceled and removed from the dictionary. Unless of course the cadidate demanded to know how to spell it and what it meant.

No one ever speaks the "n-word" word so how can we know what it is?

Do you know who's in charge of canceling words? I have a couple I would like to have canceled myself but I have no idea how to go about it.

Paganplace:

Hillary Clinton was heckled, “Iron my shirts.”

I'd have said, "OK. Stand still. :)"

garyd:

Good grief. To date I see a great deal of evidence that the main reason God restricted the the Pastorate and the Elders but clearly not the Deacons to men was two fold. First it had to do with time and place. At the time Paul wrote there were almost no societies in which women were not largely second class citizens when they ranked that high which largely meant that women simply weren't as free to go and do the things a pastor or elder had to do.

It should also be noted that Paul's statement that a Pastor or an elder should be the Husband of but one wife probably did more to end the practice of polygamy in the west than any other single statement in history. Which in turn likely did more to elevate the position of women in society than anything before it.

2nd On the whole I think women are more in tune with the spiritual side of things than are men but that men tend to be somewhat better in leadership positions because they more easily get beyond personalities and tend to be not as inclined to take things personally.

VICTORIA:

mr borg- as i've come to expect from your articles- elegant and concise.

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