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A Brief Review of Putting Away Childish Things: By Marcus J. Borg. Buy now: [ ChristianBook.com ] Reviewed By William Mills. |
If you are interested in progressive Christianity and a how to live a life of faith in Jesus that is authentic and modern then look no farther than Putting Away Childish Things by Marcus Borg. Borg is professor emeritus in the department of philosophy at Oregon State University where he held the Hundere Chair in Religion and Culture. In addition to his teaching career, Borg is a prolific author and has published seventeen books, most recently Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, The Heart of Christianity, and The Last Week of Jesus. While Borg is most known for his academic and scholarly work on the historical Jesus and early Christian studies, Putting Away Childish Things is his first book of fiction. As Borg says in the preface, Putting Away Childish Things is the result of a life-long search for an authentic faith in Jesus that is free from false piety and religion and is the culmination of his thirty years teaching, preaching and writing.
Borg introduces us to Kate, a religious studies professor at Wells College, a small liberal arts college located somewhere in the Midwest. Tension ensues when Kate, a committed Christian who attends St. Columba Episcopal Church and who prays daily and keeps a regular rule of prayer, is thrust into debate with some of her students who self-identify as being “born again” and who are active in The Way, an on campus evangelical ministry. We also find out that among the faculty in the religious studies department, Kate is the sole “true believer” while most of the other professors are not committed Christians. One scene in particular is amusing when one of Kate’s colleagues actually questions her regular Church attendance as, “do you really attend St. Columba’s parish?,” as if they cannot believe it!
The narrative continues as Kate deals with her own mini-spiritual crisis as she discern her future. Kate receives a one year invitation to teach at Scudder Divinity School, a mainline Protestant liberal divinity school that wants Kate to serve a one year replacement position which may or may not turn into a tenure track position. This spiritual crisis allows Kate to open up and share her thoughts about Jesus, Christianity, and vocation with her friend Geoff who is homosexual and Fredericka, her parish priest at St. Columba. With these two additional characters, Borg opens up the narrative to discuss moral and ethical issues involving the role of women and gays in the Church. Putting Away Childish Things is a smart and highly creative way to introduce readers to real life issues such as spiritual discernment, the role of women in the Church, homosexuality, as well as the Christian culture wars. In many ways Putting Away Childish Things is not too much different than the second century Christian author and philosopher Justin the Martyr’s series of writings called, Dialogue With Trypho where Justin elaborates on the nature of God and Christian beliefs to his made-up friend Trypho.
Putting Away Childish Things would serve for an excellent parish book club reading or even as a supplementary reading for a college level course on Christian Spirituality or Christian Spiritual Formation. I found the book very readable and the Reading Guide in the back is a good resource for initiating conversation. I admire Borg for taking a stab at fiction and having some faith, putting away his academic work in order to reach a wide audience.
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
 Reading for the Common Good From ERB Editor Christopher Smith "This book will inspire, motivate and challenge anyone who cares a whit about the written word, the world of ideas, the shape of our communities and the life of the church." -Karen Swallow Prior Enter your email below to sign up for our weekly newsletter & download your FREE copy of this ebook! |
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