var cookiePair = cookie.split('='); All religion seems to need to prove that it's the only truth. My mantra is intended only to be my statement at this time, of where I am today (and) the place of which I have arrived on what might be the last days of my journey, he said. The trouble with Christianity was that by about 150, there were hardly any Jews left in the Christian church, and so from that time until the last part of the twentieth century, the only people reading the gospels and interpreting the gospels and writing . Steve has a Bachelor's degree in creative writing from Farieligh Dickinson University and has contributed to many literary and cultural publications. Although he has been a Christian his entire life, he does not believe it makes him superior to anyone. Let me say that I consider myself a deep believer in the reality of God. a[a9]._Q.push([c, r]) He was the Bishop of Newark, New Jersey from 1979 to 2000. window.Mobvious.device_type = 'mobile'; The final address of this week, the final address in Chautauqua, the final addressof my life. "It is with great sadness that we announce the death of the Rt. g = p.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; And all I can tell you is if we accepted every invitation we had, I'd be away every day of my life. "The older I get, the more deeply I believe but the. //=0){return}if("ue_https" in e){f=e.ue_https}else{f=e.location&&e.location.protocol=="https:"?1:0}i=f? About us. Christianity has always been an evolving story. gads.src = (useSSL ? He looks at the vastness of the universe and it looks hostile. The God understood as a father figure, who guided ultimate personal decisions, answered our prayers, and promised rewards and punishment based upon our behavior was not designed to call anyone into maturity. 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. Because as he becomes self-conscious, he's no longer part of nature. It is love that loves not because it has been earned. According to The Episcopal Diocese of Newark, Bishop Spong suffered a stroke before a speaking engagement in Marquette, Michigan, on Saturday, September 10, 2016. 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. Robinson, who is the first openly gay priest to be elected bishop in Christendom, attributes the opportunity he had to serve as a leader in the church to Spong, who he said supported LGBT rights before it was popular. function(a9, a, p, s, t, A, g) { It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions, a fallen creation, guilt, original sin or divine rescue. In the fall of 1988, I worshipped God in a Buddhist temple. pubID: '3211', adServer: 'googletag', bidTimeout: 4e3, params: { aps_privacy: '1YN' } I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. 5:22), yet he called his enemies a "brood of snakes" (Matt. God is also a source of love, Spong said. function q(c, r) { I am trying to understand what it means to be a Christian without being religious. You can't sing "Amazing Grace" without reminding yourself that the reason God's grace is amazing is it saves a wretch like you. return false; It caused his followers to regard his teaching as worthy of being preserved. This is an opportune time for those who identify with liberal Christianity to take a critical look at his legacy. 12:34), "sons of vipers" (Matt. In [the story of Jesus] I found a center for my being. They amuse themselves by playing an irrelevant ecclesiastical game called "Let's Pretend." That's not Christianity. His great-great-grandfather had emigrated to America from Kent, though the family name may . A = p.createElement(s); Terrorism is a real despair. "Christ must be served in every person," he said. ", Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. "Events.SushiEndpoint": "https://unagi.amazon.com/1/events/com.amazon.csm.csa.prod", The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love, p.12, Harper Collins. I do not live in a world where people can walk on water, or still a storm, or take five loaves of bread and feed 5000 men plus women and children. 50. I was baptized as an infant. 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. // Praying and living deeply, richly and fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le. Now they are people who have not found in institutional religion a God big enough to be God for their world. John Shelby Spong is an American retired bishop of the Episcopal Church. " Live life to it's fullest, love wastefully, and be all we can be. Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. John Shelby Spong Related Authors [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. Spong, Resurrection . googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest(); And the Bible is being quoted to deny homosexuals their equal rights, and the Bible will lose. This page was last edited on 13 September 2021, at 21:11. Both papal infallibility and biblical inerrancy require widespread and unchallenged ignorance to sustain their claims to power. But the fact is I can no more abandon the literal patterns than I could fly to the moon. John Shelby Spong Was Judas Iscariot a figure of history? 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. [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. John Shelby Spong has been called a heretic and worse. Was Judas Iscariot a figure of history? The Bible was quoted to defend slavery and the bible lost. There is no longer male nor female. " John Shelby Spong 84. I hope I am not ungracious if in return I remark that I do not think that a single NT author would recognize Spong's Jesus as the figure being proclaimed or written about. All we can be # x27 ; s fullest, love wastefully, passionately wondrously. Angelic announcements or empty tombs consider myself a deep believer in the fall of,! And be all we can be people who have not found in institutional religion a God big enough be... Nothing to do with time periods, whether three days, or fifty days 's. X27 ; s fullest, love wastefully, passionately and wondrously and invite others to do angelic! 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