Not a great work of fiction but an excellent conversation starter. Borg serves the struggles of faith in a very friendly and unthreatening way. Although I do not agree with all the theology presented in the book or the way that conservative fundamentalism is a bit under represented, or perhaps not as richly or deeply portrayed as the progressive people in the book.

I would also like to have seen some alternative progressive views (N.T. Wright, Wolf, Mclaren etc) alongside the views of Borg himself (echoing at least in part some of the Jesus Seminars findings).

All in all a great book to introduce the troubling journey from conservative fundamentalism to a critical / postmodern faith. ( )

Didactic is the word the author and many reviewers used to describe this novel. Marcus Borg is a great theologian and not a novelist, however the book provides an introductory review of progressive Christian theology. The characters are used to provide examples of how people accept, reject, or analyze progressive Christianity. The story telling is good enough to keep the reader engaged. The characters can seem self absorbed with little character development aside from Kate the main character. While the theology is sometimes heavy handed, the novel is an interesting reprieve from similarly themed non fiction books. I would recommend this book to someone struggling with denser nonfiction on the topic. ( )

Interesting book picked up at a used book store when traveling. Kate, a single 30 something religion professor, must make a career choice. Should she stay at the small school where she is almost guaranteed tenure or should she chance a year at a seminary, one with personal values more in line with her beliefs. Faith and trust become over riding issues. An interesting read with lots of religious references and morality. ( )

I enjoyed this book, though I suspect it's destined for a limited readership. It's really an apologetic for progressive Christianity (of which I am an adherent) in the guise of a novel. In a preface, Borg explains that this is exactly what he is doing, more-or-less admitting that he's not really a novelist but an academic. That allows the reader (at least, it allowed me) to give him some leeway, because as a novel, it really is pretty clunky, the characters being more "types" than fully-fleshed realizations, and much of the dialogue being pretty stilted. But I like a good theological presentation, and Borg certainly knows how to make one in an accessible, popular way. ( )

Very pedantic, but I didn't mind. I found it very interesting and thought provoking. Easy way to learn Marcus Borg's philosophy. ( )