The Marcus J. Borg Foundation is committed to exploring and articulating a meaningful and faithful Christianity for the 21st Century. I suggest the following three topics will be important for our conversation and “Seeing Christianity Again.”
The first is the fact of religious pluralism. This century will not be The Christian Century as some hoped the 20th century would be. Christianity is but one voice in a religiously pluralistic world; it is an important voice, but neither ultimate nor absolute. The late Krister Stendhal, Swedish Bishop of Stockholm and professor at Harvard Divinity School, put it this way: we can sing our love songs to Jesus without dismissing the love songs of others. He also urged that we dialogue with other traditions and live in appreciation and admiration for their wisdom hoping that ours is of equivalent value.
A second topic is the role of doctrine and dogma in Christian identity. Like other great traditions we take pride in our lineage. Our doctrines and dogma have played a critical role throughout time in our self-definition, discernment and formation. But I am concerned that many of our doctrinal and dogmatic claims now function as a closed self- justifying system. I suggest we reexamine some of our traditional claims and define ourselves anew in light of a 21st century world and cosmic view.
A third topic is our understanding of “God,” “the More,” “the Sacred,” “that within which we live and move and have our being.” In wondering about “God” we tend to default to “The God of Supernatural Theism.” But we now share knowledge to re-imagine “God” informed by the discoveries and suggestions of physics, quantum mechanics, and cosmology. We can now see “God” and ourselves in a context that is more vast and realistic. It is necessary to examine the language and images we use to express our experience. Re-imagining God in the 21st century is essential and consequential if we are to live a meaningful faith and narrative.
Christianity at its core is a liberating, transformative and healing wisdom tradition. Its story is intended to provide vision and hope and suggest a way of living that is compassionate, just, and sustainable. The Marcus J. Borg Foundation is committed to exploring and articulating a meaningful and faithful Christianity for the 21st Century. We are also dedicated to working with others to achieve a viable, peaceful, and secure world for countless generations to come.
Marianne, I am so very happy to know that the Foundation is up and running! This wonderful website has kept me reading, watching videos, looking at photographs, and remembering for more than two hours this afternoon. You may know that Matthew Lawrence has just become Canon for Spiritual Formation at Trinity. At his first Forum last Sunday, he spoke with great admiration of you and the work you did at Trinity with the Christianity in the 21st Century program. I got to Portland too late for that experience, but with the resources coming from the Foundation, I hope to catch up and become a post-Newton theologian. I am grateful to have you back in my spiritual sphere, even if only in a cyberly way. Mariane Schaum
Mariane. So glad to reconnect. Look forward to continuing the conversation with you.