Jesus vs Christianity

This is the strongest consensus among today's Jesus scholars.  Whatever else can be said about the pre-Easter Jesus, he was a teacher of wisdom - a sage, as teachers of wisdom are called...
   

The way of Jesus also challenges many common forms of Christianity... In particular, it invites us to move from "secondhand religion" to firsthand religion.  Secondhand religion is a way of being religious based on believing what one has heard from others.  It consists of thinking that the Christian life is about believing what the Bible says or what the doctrines of the church say.  Firsthand religion, on the other hand, consists of a relationship to that to which the Bible and the teachings of the church point - namely, that reality that we call God or the Spirit of God.  

~ Marcus Borg, "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time", excerpts from Chapter Four
  
TALK ABOUT IT

• Why is Christianity built more on dogma (subscribing to truth statements) than most religions?  
• How do we rise above that level of religion?  
• What practices help to build a firsthand relationship with God? 

     
CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY: WISDOM AND PRACTICE: CHURCH OF RECONCILIATION