See the original post to see what this is about.
Leithart says that the Bible speaks not only of spiritual things, but also hair, blood, sweat, entrails, menstruation, and genital emissions. Theologians on the other hand (except for perhaps Augustine) rarely make any mention of these. It’s a blanket statement intended to shock, of course, but is it true nonetheless? Are theologians from another planet? Let’s find out…
In this round: Marcus Borg (1942- )
According to Google Books, these words occur X number of times in his printed works:
- hair – 5
- sweat – 6
- entrails – 0
- menstruation – 1
- genital emissions – 2
Borg likes his Jesus to be very spiritual, not physical, so it’s no surprise he doesn’t score well in our challenge.
“Hair” shows up several times in his book Jesus and Buhdda: The Parralell Sayings. Unfortunately, it’s nearly always Buhdda who is saying it. Hmmmm.
As we’ve seen in our previous theologians, almost nobody ever uses the word “sweat” unless they are quoting Genesis 3:19. Borg’s use of the word is no exception. Apparently, it just doesn’t show up very often in our English vocabulary in recent centuries.
Still, Borg doesn’t completely strike out:
The menstrual cycle of a woman makes her impure, in the technical sense of the word, until she has undergone a ritual of cleansing and, of course, until the menses have stopped.
When [the Apostle] Mark says that all Jews washed their hands for purity reasons, it’s an exaggeration. The Bible commands only priests to do so, although the Pharisees advocated the ordinary people to take upon themselves priestly obligations.
Marcus Borg, Jesus at 2000, p.71
That was pretty short. Two more to guys to go!