This self-denigration stuff - Jesus died for my sins - is nothing but a guilt message. It meant to go beyond the boundaries of your religion, to go beyond your security system, to go beyond your fears. I live on the other side of Copernicus and Galileo; I can no longer conceive of God as sort of above the sky, looking down and keeping record books. He sees himself against nature. I learned early in life that you get places by having the right enemies. He claims he is a Christian yet he champions causes that historic Christianity has often . [CDATA[ 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. The Bible was quoted to keep women silent, and the Bible lost. googletag.pubads().disableInitialLoad(); Prayer is being present, sharing love, opening life to transcendence. It meant go beyond the boundaries that you directed in your biologically driven search for survival.. 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. So who is God? 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. 5:22), yet he called his enemies a "brood of snakes" (Matt. [Religion News Service] Retired Newark Bishop John Shelby Spong, a bestselling author and cleric known for his progressive theology and his support of LGBTQ+ clergy in The Episcopal Church, has died. Are they hopelessly misinformed? If that is a requirement of my commitment to Jesus, I find it difficult to stretch my mind outside the capacities of my world view. !function(){function n(n,t){var r=i(n);return t&&(r=r("instance",t)),r}var r=[],c=0,i=function(t){return function(){var n=c++;return r.push([t,[].slice.call(arguments,0),n,{time:Date.now()}]),i(n)}};n._s=r,this.csa=n}(); gads.src = (useSSL ? It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads one toward the mystery of God. 23:17). John Shelby Spong (2009). John Shelby Spong (16 June 1931 - 12 September 2021) Introduction. Jesus exhorted people to love their enemies and to pray for their persecutors (Matt. 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. 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. }()); " J.B. Heller Quotes James Whitfield Thomson Quotes Jeanne A. Estes Quotes John Shelby Spong Quotes Julien Temple Quotes Lenny Kravitz Quotes Merrell Fankhauser Quotes Nicole Green Quotes Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn Quotes Priya Rawal Quotes S. Andrew Swann Quotes Scott F. Gilbert Quotes _Q: [] 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. googletag.pubads().enableAsyncRendering(); I do not think of God theistically, that is, as a being, supernatural in power, who dwells beyond the limits of my world. In a 2013 interview with Religion News Service, Spong spoke about his own spirituality and beliefs, which he said had grown deeper as he aged. I call this God by different words. The priesthood in many ways is the ultimate closet in Western civilization, where gay people particularly have hidden for the past two thousand years. I call this God by different words. John Shelby Spong 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. return true; Recipient of many awards, including 1999 Humanist of the Year,[6] Spong was a contributor to the Living the Questions DVD program and was a guest on numerous national television broadcasts (including The Today Show, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, Dateline, 60 Minutes, and Larry King Live). And all I can tell you is if we accepted every invitation we had, I'd be away every day of my life. A liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator, and author, he called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines.[1]. Now, that job belongs to everyone in the Christian faith who wishes to carry out his vision to fruition. He was a liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator and author. 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. Even in the widest variety of our humanity, in our deepest set of beliefs, there is no outcast in this community, he said. The God of the Hebrews is a God that human language, we're not even supposed to speak the holy name. It has nothing to do with resuscitated bodies that appear and disappear or that finally exit this world in a heavenly ascension. 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 By contrast, Phillip Aspinall, the Primate of Australia, invited Spong in 2007 to deliver two sermons at St John's Cathedral, Brisbane. John Shelby Spong (born November 29, 1935) is an American Episcopal priest and author. Although he has been a Christian his entire life, he does not believe it makes him superior to anyone. Are they people who God just didn't like? But the fact is I can no more abandon the literal patterns than I could fly to the moon. '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 I think the first self-conscious person must have shaken in his boots. It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different. An Episcopal court ruled that homosexuality was not counter to its principles in 1996, and the church recognized same-sex marriages in 2015.[4]. Favorite John Shelby Spong Quotes. All you can do is define the human experience of God, and that might be delusional. 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. [3], Spong was one of the first American bishops to ordain a woman into the clergy, in 1977, and he was the first to ordain an openly gay man, Robert Williams, in 1989. I want the traditional family upheld, but I dont want it upheld to the detriment of other people. 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. Every day we present the best quotes! That is not within the capacity of the human mind to embrace the nature of God.. window.csa("Config", { googletag.pubads().setTargeting("surface", "mw"); 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. 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. It was this Easter experience that invested Jesus with a sense of ultimacy. He called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines. 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. I find that children have very little trouble understanding non-literal stories. //]]> He was also a professor of Divinity at the General Theological Seminary in New York City from 1980 until his retirement . 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. Spong claimed that his writings evoked both great support and great condemnation from differing segments of the Christian church. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. Our English language really says if you're not a theist, the only alternative is to be an atheist. Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit organization, dependent upon your gifts to fulfill its mission. His views on the future of Christianity were "that we have to start where we are. John Shelby Spong Quotes. How divine is the message that says for your finite failings you will be cast into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. [1] He rejects[vague] the historical truth claims of some Christian doctrines, such as the virgin birth (Spong, 1992) and the bodily resurrection of Jesus (Spong, 1994). He held visiting positions and gave lectures at major American theological institutions, most prominently at Harvard Divinity School. }); }, shortquotes.blog 1,000,000++ Short Quotes About us. } Last edited on 13 September 2021, at 21:11, "Why We Must Reclaim The Bible From Fundamentalists", https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=John_Shelby_Spong&oldid=3004716. 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). Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism (1991), Remarkable Last Words (or Near-Last Words), Why Christianity Must Change or Die (1998), A New Christianity for a New World (2001), The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic (2013). It has been a wonderful trip, and I am sad it is coming to an end.. Jesus could not have imagined such an idea as Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Don't read that to me on Sunday morning and say "This is the word of the Lord." Ibid., p. 288. The Bible interprets life from its particular perspective; it does not record in a factual way the human journey through history. It's like that crazy man down in Alabama who wanted to put the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. q("i", arguments) (function() { Christianity is, I believe, about expanded life, heightened consciousness and achieving a new humanity. Rev. 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. 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. A liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator, and author, he called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines. That is a paradigm shift of the first order. googletag.enableServices(); I believe that I live my life every day inside the reality of this God. Tweets by @chqdaily 12:34), "sons of vipers" (Matt. document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(stylesheet); 23:17). How divine is the message that says for your finite failings you will be cast into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. John Shelby Spong, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture . Use them as an inspiration. I rather experience God as the source of life willing me to live fully, the source of love calling me to love wastefully and to borrow a phrase from the theologian, Paul Tillich, as the Ground of being, calling me to be all that I can be. I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. To me, neither option is worth pursuing. Our English language really says if youre not a theist, the only alternative is to be an atheist. } I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. 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. googletag.cmd.push(function() { var source = getCookieWithoutJQuery("source"); John Shelby Spong God, Thinking, People 57 Copy quote I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. stylesheet.href = url; When the Gospel of Luke was being written, the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples of Jesus and all the world. I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. var cookies = document.cookie.split('; '); Both papal infallibility and biblical inerrancy require widespread and unchallenged ignorance to sustain their claims to power. And thats immoral. God Is Real. Part 2 of the all things quotations list about every-one and in-its-entirety sayings citing Jay Baruchel, David Frum and David Frum captions. 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