The legacy of Marcus Borg, a leading theologian in the English-speaking world and the "popular theologian."
A theological memoir, or theological testament, laid out through a long life journey

One of the most widely known "popular theologians" and New Testament scholars in the English-speaking world, Marcus J.
Borg's last work.
This is a memoir and theological will left by a man who spent his entire life contemplating the Bible, Jesus, and the meaning of faith.
In this book, he confesses the faith he has cultivated throughout his life and invites those who wish to rethink today's church and faith into the world he has discovered.
In this book, Borg outlines his own journey of faith within three frameworks: memory, conversion, and conviction.
After carefully examining the struggles he faced along the way – the period of pure faith he experienced in the Lutheran church during his childhood, the period of being shaken by modern skepticism during his college years, and the period of conviction he built upon his accumulated thoughts and reflections as a theologian – he confesses.


Faith is not about adhering to a specific correct answer, but rather a way of living in a new way in the world, and engraving a new sense of how we view God, our neighbors, and the world.
God is not a transcendent being, but a reality that embraces this world; the Bible is not a literal, infallible record, but a sacred story written in human language; and Jesus is not a moral teacher or a refuge, but the manifestation of God who opens a new reality.
This conviction is not just a theory; it provides a new language for renewing our faith and life today.
In that sense, this book can be said to be his most personal confession, as well as his most pastoral book, a book that contains the essence of Borg's thinking.
It will offer deep insight to those seeking a faith that is accompanied by intelligence, a new beginning to those who feel they have lost their faith, and sincere companionship to those who are still in the church but have many questions.

This book is a deeply personal story, yet it also contains a story that goes beyond the personal.
On a personal note, this book is the result of a reflection on my life at age seventy, focusing on the milestones of my life: memories, conversions, and the convictions formed through those conversions.
But the reason this book is not just a personal story is because I believe that the beliefs that have become established in my life through those processes can also have important meaning for Christians today, especially American Christians.
---p.9

Now that I'm seventy, I realize life is too short.
There's no time to be worried, grumpy, or sullen.
When you turn seventy, there are unexpected changes.
Surprisingly, an unknown power arises.
I felt an urge to talk about the most important things I've learned in life, the most important truths.
Of course, there are also things to be careful about.
Seventy years of experience does not guarantee wisdom or give you the license to be dogmatic.
It's so easy to become a stubborn old fool.
As I prepared my Lenten sermons, three central axes emerged in my mind that would shape this book: memory, conversion, and conviction.
First, there is ‘memory’.
These memories include memories from my childhood as well as scenes from my life accumulated over the decades that followed.
And among them, there were 'conversions', turning points that changed the direction of my life, and experiences that changed my understanding of 'what it means to be a Christian.'
And through all that process, a 'confidence' has taken root within me, a fundamental perspective on life that is not easily shaken and that is how I see the world now.
Whether we are conscious of it or not, I believe that these three things—memory, conversion, and conviction—are intertwined and flow together to shape our entire lives.
---p.15~16

The word 'conversion' has both impersonal and personal meanings.
One of the impersonal meanings has to do with money.
When we exchange money from one currency to another, we say 'conversion'.
Perhaps this meaning is what characterizes our times.
In American football, this term is also used to refer to extra points after a touchdown.
But what I'm interested in is the personal meaning of this word.
As can be seen from the Latin word 'convertere', 'conversion' means 'to turn around', to drastically change or shift the direction of one's life.
Conversion is a 'big change,' but big changes in life do not necessarily lead to conversion.
Divorce, job loss, the death of a loved one, or an unexpected or premature death from a terminal illness are life-changing events, but they are not conversions in and of themselves.
It could be a catalyst for conversion, though.

When we use the word 'conversion' in a personal sense in English today, it is associated with religion.
We call it conversion when a person becomes religious (or vice versa), when he or she changes religion from one religion to another (a Buddhist becomes a Christian), when he or she changes denominations within a religion (a Protestant becomes a Roman Catholic), or when his or her faith deepens within a given tradition (a conventional Christian becomes a passionately committed Christian).
Conversion can be sudden and dramatic (as happened to Paul on the road to Damascus or the life of St. Francis turned around), but more often it is gradual and layered.

Besides the religious meaning, there can be various forms of conversion in the intellectual and political spheres.
Like religious conversion, this transition can be sudden or gradual.
In any case, what these transitions have in common is that they involve a fundamental shift in our orientation toward life.
How you see the world, what you think and how you live, what reality is like, what is truly important, what you are passionate about, what you are dedicated to and loyal to.
To get ahead of the story a little, conviction flows from conversion.

---p.47~48