Borg is a prominent Jesus scholar and a member of the Jesus seminar. In his Meeting Jesus Again for the
First Time, which has sold 250,000 copies, and in his other recent books, Borg identifies three overarching or
“macro-stories” of Scripture. The first of these is Israel’s primal narrative, the story of the exodus from Egypt.
Walter Brueggemann, another top scholar, says the exodus story is the most simple, elemental, and non-
negotiable story line that lies at the heart of Biblical faith. Borg says the exodus story sees the human condition
as bondage and slavery. Pharaoh is a metaphor for what holds us in bondage and slavery. Life in Egypt is a life
of oppression and powerlessness.
This story is not merely historical or quasi-historical or mythical. It’s a story of the divine-human relationship in
the present. After the Passover meal, modern-day Jews tell us through prayer that it wasn’t just their fathers and
mothers who were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but “all of us gathered here tonight.”
Tonight as I reflect on what’s going on in our church—the sex scandals, the bankruptcies, the parish closings—I
am in spiritual solidarity with the Jews. I see Pharaoh as a metaphor for both the bishops and the Pope, and I
see Egypt as a metaphor for both Rome and the chancery here in Tucson. I feel strongly, oppressively the
bondage, the slavery of authoritarianism, clericalism, and a mindless loyalty to the church. We need an Exodus.
We need the hope of a Promised Land. A Land where rights and freedom, not bondage and slavery, reigns.
October 18, 2004