Was Jesus the Son of God? For Some Christians, Easter Holds the Answer

Below is an excerpt from a series of commentaries from "On Faith," an Internet feature sponsored by The Washington Post and Newsweek. Each week, more than 50 figures from the world of faith engage in a conversation about religion.

This week's topic: Do you believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God? If so, what exactly does that mean? If not, who was he?

"In shorthand that I often use, the gospels are about both the pre-Easter Jesus (Jesus as a figure of history before his death) and the post-Easter Jesus (what Jesus became after his death).

" . . . I see the pre-Easter Jesus as a Jewish mystic who knew God, and who, as a result, became a healer, wisdom teacher and prophet of the kingdom of God. The latter led to his being killed by the authorities who ruled his world. But I do not think he proclaimed or taught an extraordinary status for himself. The message of the pre-Easter Jesus was about God and the kingdom of God, and not about himself.

"Rather, I see the grand statements about Jesus -- that he is the son of God, the Light of the World and so forth -- as the testimony of the early Christian movement. These are neither objectively true statements about Jesus nor, for example in this season, about his conception and birth. To speak of him as the son of God does not mean that he was conceived by God and had no biological human father. Rather, this is the post-Easter conviction of his followers."

-- Marcus J. Borg, Hundere chair in religion and culture in the philosophy department at Oregon State University

To see more "On Faith" online commentary, hosted by Jon Mecham and Sally Quinn, go tohttp://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith.