This Holy Week, I've been reading Marcus Borg's "Reading the Bible Again For the First Time," an intriguing approach to the Bible that advocates seeing the Bible as largely metaphorical rather than historical (in the modern sense). Borg, who spoke last year in Barton College's Sprinkle Lecture series, distinguishes between what is actually true and what is factually true. Parables, allegories, poetry and fiction can be actually true; that is, they can convey lessons that are entirely true, without being factually true. When such literary devices contain such truth, it doesn't matter whether they are factually true. Was Jesus' Parable of the Good Samaritan based on an actual incident, on historical fact? It doesn't matter (and we have no reason to think it was) because the parable conveys the truth Jesus intended, the truthful answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Borg's approach renders irrelevant arguments over the six-day creation of the world or the biblical miracles. I had previously read Borg's "The Heart of Christianity," which has a similar theme. Whether you agree with him or not, Borg's perspective (he counts himself a Christian and sees Jesus of Nazareth as truly the son of God, though he has doubts about many of the supernatural feats the Gospels attribute to Jesus) is interesting and enlightening.
This Good Friday is also my mother's birthday. Had she lived, she would have been 91 today. She died three years ago the day after her birthday. I clearly recall her explanation, when I was 8 or 10 years old, why the day of Jesus' execution would be called "good." April 10 and April 11 shall never pass without my remembering her.
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