Marcus J. Borg is a member of the Jesus Seminar, Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion at Oregon State University, and author of the best-selling Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. N. T. Wright is an outspoken critic of the Jesus Seminar, Dean of Lichfield Cathedral in England, and author of Jesus and the Victory of God. Borg, a practicing Episcopalian, and Wright, a prominent Anglican clergyman, both obtained their doctorates in New Testament at Oxford University. They agree that Jesus is the Christian messiah and preached the Kingdom of God. However, they have divergent views over critical matters for history and faith.
This ambitious volume advances the cause of ecumenical dialogue as the two scholars discuss the divinity of Jesus, the virgin birth, the meaning of the crucifixion, the truth of the resurrection, and the second coming. Borg at one point celebrates Jesus as the wisdom teacher: "I see him as inviting his hearers to a way of being in relationship to God that was not dependent upon convention or institutions." Wright, on the other hand, concludes: "The early church was not reticent about saying that Jesus was messiah, that his death was God's saving act, and that he and his Father belonged together within the Jewish picture of the one God. I see no reason why the contemporary church should be reticent about this, either."