Then there was Paul. It was this Easter experience that invested Jesus with a sense of ultimacy. I admire our ancestors, whoever they were. In [the story of Jesus] I found a center for my being. 1. "Whatever it was that people experience in Jesus has today come to be identified with medieval doctrines based on premodern assumptions that are no longer believable. Bishop John Shelby Spong, an Episcopal Church prelate whose liberal views rankled orthodox Episcopalians and others, died in his sleep Sunday morning, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Morris. John Shelby Spong (2009). Some people think prayer is telling God what to do. How tasteless and ill-bred it is! If you're really thinking prayer can stop rockets or bullets, you have to ask why some people do get hit by rockets or bullets. To me, neither option is worth pursuing. "Why We Must Reclaim The Bible From Fundamentalists". V. Gene Robinson was able to publicly thank the man he said are the shoulders on which (Robinson) stands.. It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads one toward the mystery of God. It is not by pitching the old insights out but by journeying deeply through them into new visions that we are able to change religion's direction. God is also a source of love, Spong said. [19][20] After Spong's book Jesus for the Non-Religious was published in 2007, Peter Jensen, the Archbishop of Sydney, banned Spong from preaching at any churches in his diocese. [CDATA[ if (window.csa) { googletag.pubads().enableAsyncRendering(); No one can finally say. "There is no longer Jew nor Greek. I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. Prayer is entering into the pain or joy of another person. 'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); Copyright 2018 Chautauqua Institution
"Another [book on Matthew] is Amy-Jill Levine, who is a Jewish woman who teaches New Testament at the Vanderbilt School of Religion. In the way Jesus, whether being praised with flattery or diminished by the threat of death, remained unchanged, Spong was moved to affirm his faith. //]]> Most of the noise comes from the shallow end. Because as he becomes self-conscious, hes no longer part of nature. var source = getCookieWithoutJQuery("source"); [22] Following Spong's death, Tooley told The Washington Times that "he [Spong] claimed that he was making religion relevant for a new generation who could not believe in the supernatural, often citing his daughters. He received his Master of Divinity degree from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1955. I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. My experience is my ability to perceive God, but the nature of God is beyond my ability to describe., The same thing is true of Christianitys fundamental doctrine, known as the Incarnation., That doctrine makes Jesus not unlike the comic strip character Clark Kent who turned out to be Superman in the skies, he said. session: { id: "242-2972433-4130551" }, There is no longer Jew nor Greek. I want to say something positively, something about the conclusion that I presently hold and bear witness to why I continue to be a member of this community.. John Shelby Spong Quotes. I know rather that the sun, around which my planet Earth revolves, is a middle sized star in a galaxy called the Milky Way that has over a hundred billion other suns or stars within it. If the resurrection of Jesus cannot be believed except by assenting to the fantastic descriptions included in the Gospels, then Christianity is doomed. [15], New Testament Catholic scholar Raymond E. Brown was critical of Spong's scholarship, referring to his studies as "amateur night". I can only give away the love that I have received. Integrity and honesty, not objectivity and certainty, are the highest virtues to which the theological enterprise can aspire. During Chautauquas nine-week summer season, the, Iconic Chita Rivera to provide Chautauquans with one of final Amp performances in 22, Incoming pastor Rt. I do not think so. Idolatry is religion pretending that it has all the answers. 5:22), yet he called his enemies a "brood of snakes" (Matt. It's a group of essays by mostly womanly scholars looking at Matthew's gospel through feminists' eyes - very exciting. "[24], Spong died in sleep at his home in Richmond, Virginia, on September 12, 2021, at the age of 90. Thats where I think God is made visible.. } Is there a different Bible? Spong said the only way his mission can be successful is if his mantra is carried out without any set of boundaries. They amuse themselves by playing an irrelevant ecclesiastical game called "Let's Pretend." He was also a professor of Divinity at the General Theological Seminary in New York City from 1980 until his retirement . Spong said this means human division must disappear. })(); Let me say that I consider myself a deep believer in the reality of God. The Christian story did not drop from heaven fully written. Death is ultimately a dimension of life through which we journey into timelessness. If I were a child of Tibet or of Arabia, I suspect the path I'd walk would be the Buddhist path or the Muslim path. Both are doomed as viable alternatives for the long- range future of anyone. .__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.__prevent_empty_css_file{width:0}.authorModuleDropdownMenu{width:180px;border-left:1px solid #D8D8D8;border-right:1px solid #D8D8D8;border-top:1px solid #D8D8D8}.authorModuleDropdownMenu__dropdownLink,.authorModuleDropdownMenu__dropdownLink:hover{display:block;text-align:left;padding:12px;font-family:"Lato", "Helvetica Neue", "Helvetica", sans-serif;font-size:14px;color:#000000;cursor:pointer}#authorInfo{display:-webkit-box;display:-moz-box;display:-ms-box;display:box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-moz-flex;display:-ms-flex;display:flex;padding:10px 10px 5px 10px}#authorInfo .authorInfoGroup{-webkit-box-flex:1;-moz-box-flex:1;-ms-box-flex:1;box-flex:1}#authorInfo .authorPhotoGroup{-webkit-box-flex:0;-moz-box-flex:0;-ms-box-flex:0;box-flex:0;margin-right:10px}#authorInfo .authorFollow{display:flex}#authorInfo .authorFollow .authorDropdownContainer{border-radius:3px;border:1px solid #D6D0C4;font-family:"Lato", "Helvetica Neue", "Helvetica", sans-serif;font-size:14px;-moz-appearance:none;-o-appearance:none;-webkit-appearance:none;appearance:none;cursor:pointer;display:inline-block;text-decoration:none;color:#333333;background-color:#F4F1EA;line-height:1;padding:8px 12px;font-size:16px;padding:12px 24px;box-sizing:border-box;text-align:center;margin-left:0px;padding:0px;min-width:38px;height:32px;background-image:url(/assets/down-caret.png);background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;float:right}#authorInfo .authorFollow .authorDropdownContainer:disabled{border-color:#DDDDDD}#authorInfo .authorFollow .authorDropdownContainer:hover{color:#333333;background-color:#ede6d6;text-decoration:none}#authorInfo .authorFollow .authorDropdownContainer:active{background-color:#D6D0C4}#authorInfo .authorFollow .authorDropdownContainer:disabled{background-color:#F3F3F3;color:#cccccc}@media (max-width: 540px){#authorInfo .authorFollow .authorDropdownContainer{min-width:20px;width:27px}}#authorBooks{*zoom:1}#authorBooks:after{content:"";display:table;clear:both}#authorBooks .sectionTitle{border-top:1px solid #CCCCCC;padding:10px 10px 0 10px;margin:0}.accordionContent{padding:0 10px}.authorBio{padding:0 10px;margin-bottom:10px}.authorBooksMeta{color:#999999;font-family:"Lato", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;padding:0 10px}.authorBooksMeta a{color:#00635D}.authorBooksTotalReviewCount:before,.authorBooksTotalRatingCount:before{content:"\00b7"}.authorDetailsList dt,.authorDetailsList dd{display:inline;margin:0}.authorDetailsList dd:after{content:'\A';white-space:pre}.authorDetailsList dt{font-weight:bold}.authorDetailsList dd{color:#999999;font-family:"Lato", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;margin-bottom:15px}.authorDetailsList dd a{color:#00635D}.authorSimilarAuthorsLink{padding:0 10px}.authorDistinctWorksLink{padding:0 10px;display:block;margin-bottom:10px}.authorFansLink{font-weight:bold}.authorInterviewsList{list-style-type:none;margin:0;padding:0}.authorInterviewsList .authorInterview{margin-bottom:15px}.authorInterviewsList .authorInterviewAt{color:#999999;font-family:"Lato", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif}.authorInterviewsList .authorInterviewAt a{color:#00635D}.authorInterviewsList .authorInterviewTitle{display:block}.authorName{margin-bottom:10px}.authorShortBio{color:#999999;font-family:"Lato", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif}.authorShortBio a{color:#00635D}.authorQuotesLink{margin-bottom:15px}.quotesList{border-top:1px solid #CCCCCC;margin-top:15px}.quotesPage{margin-left:10px}.noQuotes{margin-top:15px} [10], Spong was a strong proponent of the church reflecting the changes in society at large. It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("grsession", "osid.a1fff312af8a1d2b3b241fa9193829a2"); 50. That's sort of fourth-century Christianity that got turned into doctrines and dogmas that we've never been able to escape. I think the best way to view the Gospels is to view them as a magnificent portrait being painted by Jewish artists to try to capture the essence of a God experience that they believe they had with Jesus of Nazareth. In the first gospel, Mark, the risen Christ appears physically to no one, but by the time we come to the last gospel, John, Thomas is invited to feel the nail prints in Christ's hands and feet and the spear wound in his side. Jerry Falwell says, on Pat Robertson's program, that the reason we got attacked on 9/11 is that we were accommodating the ACLU and abortion and homosexuals and feminists in America, so God smacked us down. The Rt. He retired in 2000. From 1979 to 2000, he was the Bishop of Newark, New Jersey. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("resource", "author_45659"); Because that's when you get religious wars and persecutions and burning heretics at the stake. Jesus exhorted people to love their enemies and to pray for their persecutors (Matt. He has also lectured at universities, conference centers, and churches in North . Top John Shelby Spong Quotes. -- John Shelby Spong #Giving "I go where I'm invited. So I ask you where hope is located, and you say, "You can't locate it.". Forcing the evolution is the dialog between yesterday's words and today's knowledge. I think the first self-conscious person must have shaken in his boots. I admire our ancestors, whoever they were. He claims he is a Christian yet he champions causes that historic Christianity has often . Praying and living deeply, richly and fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le. I am trying to understand what it means to be a Christian without being religious. Learn more. Plenty of people out there think of me as the Antichrist or the devil incarnate because I do not affirm the literal patterns of the Bible. The God of the Hebrews is a God that human language, we're not even supposed to speak the holy name. The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed. What Im trying to do is develop a language that will enable us to talk about God beyond the, what I think, are sterile categories of theism and atheism. //]]> It caused his followers to regard his teaching as worthy of being preserved. var node = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; And this came after I had written a book called "Living In Sin" on the whole gay. I don't have any interest in doing that. Idolatry is religion pretending that it has all the answers. When the dust settles and the pages of history are written, it will not be the angry defenders of intolerance who have made the difference. John Shelby Spong is an influential public speaker, writer and media figure. Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends, There is a mistake in the text of this quote. A liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator, and author, he called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines. All religion seems to need to prove that it's the only truth. I am content to learn from them and to walk with them side by side toward the God who lives, I believe, beyond the images that bind and blind us. var useSSL = "https:" == document.location.protocol; ! It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different. All you can do is define the human experience of God, and that might be delusional. It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different. All religion seems to need to prove that it's the only truth. He was 90 years old. // page settings It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads one toward the mystery of God. I was baptized as an infant. I think the best way to view the Gospels is to view them as a magnificent portrait being painted by Jewish artists to try to capture the essence of a God experience that they believe they had with Jesus of Nazareth. I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. The way that I see Christianity is that its role is to enhance the life of every person. For the reformation to work, Spong said creeds can no longer be used to bring Christians together. "ObfuscatedMarketplaceId": "A1PQBFHBHS6YH1" } The Christians tried to separate themselves from the Jewish crowd so they wouldn't be the recipients of the persecution of the Romans. I could not believe that anyone who has read this book would be so foolish as to proclaim that the Bible in every literal word was the divinely inspired, inerrant word of God. a[a9]._Q.push([c, r]) www.huffingtonpost.com. (function () { Our English language really says if you're not a theist, the only alternative is to be an atheist. John Shelby Spong Quote of the day Teach him to think for himself? It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions, a fallen creation, guilt, original sin or divine rescue. Prayer is what I am doing when I love wastefully, passionately and wondrously and invite others to do so. Now they are people who have not found in institutional religion a God big enough to be God for their world. 30 Quotes By "John Shelby Spong" For People Who Know Exactly How It Feels To Be Cheated On.The best 30 Quotes Of "John Shelby Spong" That Will Help Through Your Entire Damn Life. He sees himself against nature. pubID: '3211', adServer: 'googletag', bidTimeout: 4e3, params: { aps_privacy: '1YN' } Prayer is being present, sharing love, opening life to transcendence. True religion is not about possessing the truth. It is love that loves not because it has been earned. "[17], Spong's ideas have been criticized by some other theologians, notably in 1998 by Rowan Williams, the Bishop of Monmouth, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury. for(var i=0; i
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