That is what Jesus meant and thats what the original Christ experience was, before we became Scripture defenders, and before the creeds became the essence of our faith.. -- John Shelby Spong #Giving "I go where I'm invited. "The older I get, the more deeply I believe but the. I live on the other side of Charles Darwin and I can no longer see human light as having been created perfect and falling into sin, I see us rather emerging into higher and higher levels of consciousness and higher and higher levels of complication. www.huffingtonpost.com. John Shelby Spong, whose books have sold more than a million copies, was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2001. He has also lectured at universities, conference centers, and churches in North . "Events.SushiEndpoint": "https://unagi.amazon.com/1/events/com.amazon.csm.csa.prod", It is not necessarily words addressed heavenward. Integrity and honesty, not objectivity and certainty, are the highest virtues to which the theological enterprise can aspire. There are passages in the Gospels that portray Jesus of Nazareth as narrow-minded, vindictive, and even hypocritical. stylesheet.href = url; And the way they did it was to say, the Jews killed our hero too. Because as he becomes self-conscious, he's no longer part of nature. Rather "we are part of what God is and we are at one with all that God is." We. The Bible was written between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago, and it's filled with the knowledge that people had in that period of time, some of which you and I rejected long ago. Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit organization, dependent upon your gifts to fulfill its mission. He looks at the vastness of the universe and it looks hostile. Is there a different Bible? Whatever diminishes life is evil, and whatever enhances life is good. And all I can tell you is if we accepted every invitation we had, I'd be away every day of my life." -- John Shelby Spong #Accepted #Invitations "When I grew up in the South, I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. Rev. Christianity is not about the divine becoming human so much as it is about the human becoming divine. Every day we present the best quotes! Integrity and honesty, not objectivity and certainty, are the highest virtues to which the theological enterprise can aspire. John Shelby Spong 26. He is also Bishop of Newark in New Jersey [Ed. } For that view of resurrection is not believable, and if that is all there is, then Christianity, which depends upon the truth and authenticity of Jesus' resurrection, also is not believable. .__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} For that view of resurrection is not believable, and if that is all there is, then Christianity, which depends upon the truth and authenticity of Jesus' resurrection, also is not believable. var gads = document.createElement("script"); (function () { It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads one toward the mystery of God. The biblical texts that we Christians have used for centuries to justify our hostility toward the Jews need to be banished forever from the sacred writings of the Christian church. var url; (function() { 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. Papal infallibility and biblical inerrancy are the two ecclesiastical versions of this human idolatry. var cookiePair = cookie.split('='); 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.. My religious schizophrenia is at an end. [9], A prominent theme in Spong's writing was that the popular and literal interpretations of Christian scripture are not sustainable and do not speak honestly to the situation of modern Christian communities. Are they hopelessly misinformed? return false; True religion is not about possessing the truth. It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions, a fallen creation, guilt, original sin or divine rescue. It is love that loves not because it has been earned. I cannot possibly conceive of my planet Earth as the centre of a three-tiered universe. url = "https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/mobile/phone_images-9e9093f0cfddba8c2b1e815375d976a3.css"; He claims he is a Christian yet he champions causes that historic Christianity has often . I was taught that women were by nature in inferior to men, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. }); The final address of this week, the final address in Chautauqua, the final addressof my life. 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. The former Episcopal Bishop of Newark (N.J.) has been writing for years for those he calls "believers in exile," people who feel like modern versions of Christianity demand blind faith and require adherents to check their brains at the door. The way that I see Christianity is that its role is to enhance the life of every person. It is not necessarily words addressed heavenward. You learn that you either are going to have a police state where you dont have any freedom left, or youre going to build a world that doesnt create terrorists and that means a whole different way of getting along.. I think the worst way to go is to have somebody think they speak for God. "//securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/tag/js/gpt.js"; There is no mention of him in any source before the 8th decade. 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. Because that's when you get religious wars and persecutions and burning heretics at the stake. Prayer is being present, sharing love, opening life to transcendence. [11] Towards these ends, he called for a new Reformation, in which many of Christianity's basic doctrines should be reformulated.[1]. JOHN SHELBY SPONG: The first homosexual person that I ordained knowingly was a man named Robert Williams. The Rt. As I look at the history of religion, I observe that new religious insights always and only emerge from the old traditions as they begin to die. There is no longer male nor female. "Another [book on Matthew] is Amy-Jill Levine, who is a Jewish woman who teaches New Testament at the Vanderbilt School of Religion. Jesus exhorted people to love their enemies and to pray for their persecutors (Matt. As a leading spokesperson for an open, scholarly, and progressive Christianity, Bishop Spong has taught at Harvard and at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. I describe God as the source of life and the source of love and the ground of being. It has not only to do with erasing human divisions, but about revitalizing our most cherished beliefs.. It doesn't. John Shelby Spong Buddhist, Prayer, Believe Praying and living deeply, richly and fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le. " We walk into the mystery of God; we do not define that mystery. God is a presence that I can never define but I could never deny. function isShowingBuyableFeatures() { "CacheDetection.RequestID": "TXPX0XF032R2WV9SNJQY", }); I do not think so. The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love, p.12, Harper Collins. "[13], Spong debated Christian philosopher and apologist William Lane Craig on the resurrection of Jesus on March 20, 2005.[14]. He retired in 2000. [10], Spong was a strong proponent of the church reflecting the changes in society at large. He has had honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees conferred on him by Virginia Theological Seminary and Saint Paul's College, Virginia, as well as an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters conferred by Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. "[2], Spong served as rector of St. Joseph's Church in Durham, North Carolina, from 1955 to 1957; rector of Calvary Parish, Tarboro, North Carolina, from 1957 to 1965; rector of St. John's Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, from 1965 to 1969; and rector of St. Paul's Church in Richmond, Virginia, from 1969 to 1976. return null; If you look at history, every nation that has operated as if it spoke for God has become violently destructive. setDisplayBids: function() {}, Paul tried to explain to the Galatians what it meant to put on Christ in the verse that reads, For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.. "ebfg_email", "ebfg_sms"]; I don't have any interest in doing that. There can be no one regarded as unclean, no prejudice allowed to operate inside this vision of Christianity., Since then, he has answered the call to try to transform the world so that every person living in it will have a better opportunity to live fully, love wastefully and be all each of them was created to be.. Death is ultimately a dimension of life through which we journey into timelessness. He was a liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator and author. February 7, 2019 You learn that you either are going to have a police state where you don't have any freedom left, or you're going to build a world that doesn't create terrorists - and that means a whole different way of 'getting along.' John Shelby Spong/ freedom page: {requestId: "TXPX0XF032R2WV9SNJQY", meaningful: "interactive"} But the fact is I can no more abandon the literal patterns than I could fly to the moon. I think the first self-conscious person must have shaken in his boots. The more deeply I can be all that I can be, the more I can make God visible.. "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. When charting a new reformation, we must engage in a task of getting even deeper into the vision of universalism, he said. At 82, retired and enjoying life, Bishop John Shelby Spong doesn't have to be the liberal enfant terrible whose pronouncements for gay rights and against traditional dogmas once . I can only give away the love that I have received. It is because of that early work that he did and all of the work that built on it that lets me wear a purple shirt today, said Robinson, who currently serves as Chautauquas vice president of religion and senior pastor. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I cannot say my yes to legends that have been clearly and fancifully created. All human beings bear God's image and must be respected for what each person is. In 2000, Spong was a critic of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Roman Catholic Church's declaration Dominus Iesus, because it reaffirmed the Catholic doctrine that the Roman Catholic Church is the one true Church and that Jesus Christ is the one and only savior for humanity. function(a9, a, p, s, t, A, g) { Matthew was not alone in his understanding of Jesus message. '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 John Shelby Spong Quotes. Oh, my God, teach him rather to think like other people! I honor my tradition, I walk through my tradition, but I don't think my tradition defines God, I think it only points me to God. True religion is not about possessing the truth. John Shelby Spong Quotes. When I grew up in the South, I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. You can't go to church without praying ten or fifteen times for God to have mercy on you. 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. John Shelby Spong died this past summer at the age of 90. The primary reason the old idea of rescuing the fallen is no good is that there never was a time when we fell from perfection into sin. It grew and developed year by year over a period of forty-two to seventy years. Every day we present the best quotes! If that is a requirement of my commitment to Jesus, I . The tour coincided with Hollingworth leaving the diocese to become the Governor-General of Australia. ! John Shelby Spong Quotes 1. var source = getCookieWithoutJQuery("source"); 5:22), yet he called his enemies a "brood of snakes" (Matt. I find that children have very little trouble understanding non-literal stories. A.async = !0; " John Shelby Spong 84. Matthew was sounding the call to a universal humanity, Spong said. He was 90 years old. 1. a[a9] = { A = p.createElement(s); That is not within human competence. . googletag.pubads().setTargeting("gr_author", "false"); According to Spong, when Matthew said to go and make disciples of all nations, he placed words in the mouth of the risen Jesus. g.parentNode.insertBefore(A, g) 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. I don't think so. //]]> In the fall of 1988, I worshipped God in a Buddhist temple. window.Mobvious.device_type = 'mobile'; It calls us beyond our limits into the fullness of life - into a capacity to love people we are not taught to love - and into an ability to be who we are. But the irony was that as he was making his case, modernity was ending and postmodernity starting, and his rationalist perspective became pass. The question must also be raised as to whether we have the actual words of Jesus in any Gospel. From 1979 to 2000 he was Bishop of Newark (based in Newark, New Jersey). He is representative of a stream of thought with roots in the medieval universalism of Peter Abelard and the existentialism of Paul Tillich, whom he called his favorite theologian. From 1979 to 2000, he was the Bishop of Newark, New Jersey. Jamie Landers is entering her third season as a reporter for The Chautauquan Daily, covering all things music-related within the online platform. if (window.csa) { if (a[a9]) return; We were told in the Second Commandment we could make no images of this God, and I don't think that means just building idols, I think that means also trying to believe you've captured God in your words, in the Creeds, in the Scriptures. We must move beyond the now irrelevant dualistic patterns and discover the holy at the heart of the human. We've collected the best John Shelby Spong Quotes. Prayer is entering into the pain or joy of another person. Idolatry is religion pretending that it has all the answers. Forcing the evolution is the dialog between yesterday's words and today's knowledge. John Shelby Spong I Am 21st Century Child Am "I believe that God is very real. session: { id: "242-2972433-4130551" }, Inequality for gay and lesbian people is no longer a debatable issue in either church or state. It is simply a fact of his upbringing, along with a personal desire to continue being a disciple of Jesus. All of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God. This page was last edited on 13 September 2021, at 21:11. var node = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; John Shelby Spong is an American retired bishop of the Episcopal Church. //]]> It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different. He was 90. 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. Most of the noise comes from the shallow end. And I don't mind saying that I don't invalidate any of those paths. He is as radically liberal as it is possible to be and still maintain a nominal identification with the name "Christian.". When the Gospel of Luke was being written, the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples of Jesus and all the world. The Christian story did not drop from heaven fully written. Giving It All Quotes Page 34 Part 2 of the giving it all quotations list about premature-birth and baby-shower sayings citing John Shelby Spong, Eve Ensler and Milo Ventimiglia captions Now, the fourth gospel says that the moment that Jesus is glorified is the moment he's put to death on the cross, not the resurrection. "There is no longer Jew nor Greek. John Shelby Spong has long been known as the "nightmare" of the more conservative element of the Anglican Church in America. In academia, I discovered that issues and insights, commonplace among the scholars, are viewed as highly controversial and even as heresy in the churches. Christianity is, I believe, about expanded life, heightened consciousness and achieving a new humanity. 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. It was for me a holy moment for I was certain that I was kneeling on holy ground.I will not make any further attempt to convert the Buddhist, the Jew, the Hindu or the Moslem. Was Judas Iscariot a figure of history? 25:30)? John Shelby Spong Quotes "God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. var ue_mid = "A1PQBFHBHS6YH1"; By popular demand, here are his conservations with Tapestry from 2007 and 2009. I do not think of God theistically, that is, as a being, supernatural in power, who dwells beyond the limits of my world. I think the first self-conscious person must have shaken in his boots. Incarnation will never give us that.. So I ask you where hope is located, and you say, "You can't locate it.". Later the church followed his lead. He stated that he was a Christian because he believes that Jesus Christ fully expressed the presence of a God of compassion and selfless love and that this is the meaning of the early Christian proclamation, "Jesus is Lord" (Spong, 1994 and Spong, 1991). It's like that crazy man down in Alabama who wanted to put the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. If God is the ground of being, then the only way I can worship God is by having the courage to be all that I can be, Spong said. " John Shelby Spong 83. document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(stylesheet); [15], New Testament Catholic scholar Raymond E. Brown was critical of Spong's scholarship, referring to his studies as "amateur night". }); It is not necessarily words addressed heavenward. }, //]]> It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different. There is no way that the Fourth Gospel was written by John Zebedee or by any of the disciples of Jesus. window.Mobvious = {}; However, there was one last thing he wanted to add. John Shelby Spong 2 I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. He believed in a more nuanced approach to scripture, informed by scholarship and compassion, which can be consistent with both Christian tradition and contemporary understandings of the universe. I might define God quite differently from the way some people in the Christian faith would do so, but I do not doubt the reality of that experience. "[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. I'm a bloodydamn Helldiver with an army of giant, mildly . Tweet. The priesthood in many ways is the ultimate closet in Western civilization, where gay people particularly have hidden for the past two thousand years. An Episcopal court ruled that homosexuality was not counter to its principles in 1996, and the church recognized same-sex marriages in 2015.[4]. function getCookieWithoutJQuery(name) { [8], Spong's writings rely on Biblical and non-Biblical sources and were influenced by modern critical analysis of these sources (see especially Spong, 1991). //S.Gr-Assets.Com/Assets/Mobile/Phone_Images-9E9093F0Cfddba8C2B1E815375D976A3.Css '' ; by popular demand, here are his conservations with Tapestry from and. Which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the of. '': `` https: //s.gr-assets.com/assets/mobile/phone_images-9e9093f0cfddba8c2b1e815375d976a3.css '' ; by popular demand, here are his conservations Tapestry. Narrow-Minded, vindictive, john shelby spong quotes whatever enhances life is evil, and churches in North thing he to... 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