john shelby spong quotesjohn shelby spong quotes

Thats where I think God is made visible.. Christianity is not about the divine becoming human so much as it is about the human becoming divine. } He looks at the vastness of the universe and it looks hostile. "The older I get, the more deeply I believe but the. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("signedin", "false"); "[24], Spong died in sleep at his home in Richmond, Virginia, on September 12, 2021, at the age of 90. 14 "John Shelby Spong" Quotes And Sayings. "Walking into the Mystery of God" by John Shelby Spong, www.uua.org. You can't go to church without praying ten or fifteen times for God to have mercy on you. 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. googletag.cmd.push(function() { 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. var cookies = document.cookie.split('; '); The Christ path is the path I've walked all my life, so it's normal and natural. John Shelby Spong You can't have a world where 50 percent of the people are dieting and 50 percent of the people are starving if you want stability. There is no way that the Fourth Gospel was written by John Zebedee or by any of the disciples of Jesus. And I have no reason to abandon it because it leads to where I want to go. Spong said the only way his mission can be successful is if his mantra is carried out without any set of boundaries. Christianity is not about the divine becoming human so much as it is about the human becoming divine. That is what Jesus meant and that's what the original Christ experience was, before we became Scripture defenders, and before the creeds became the essence of our faith." Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity to act in human history in a particular way. Above all, words must be recognized as symbolic pointers to truth, not objective containers of truth. 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. Prayer is entering into the pain or joy of another person. John Shelby Spong died this past summer at the age of 90. The Christian story did not drop from heaven fully written. John Shelby Spong Quotes 1. Previously, she recapped the Chautauqua Lecture Series in 2019 and the Interfaith Lecture Series in 2018. return cookiePair[1]; " True religion is not about possessing the truth. He looks at the vastness of the universe and it looks hostile. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("grsession", "osid.a1fff312af8a1d2b3b241fa9193829a2"); Weekly mailing, September 5, 2007. [CDATA[ And all I can tell you is if we accepted every invitation we had, I'd be away every day of my life. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. Browse top 25 most favorite famous quotes and sayings by John Shelby Spong. When Im asked to define God, Im almost wordless. All of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God. I think that's not only tough, but ultimately disappointing to most people. According to The Episcopal Diocese of Newark, Bishop Spong suffered a stroke before a speaking engagement in Marquette, Michigan, on Saturday, September 10, 2016. if (window.Mobvious === undefined) { This page was last edited on 13 September 2021, at 21:11. It's a group of essays by mostly womanly scholars looking at Matthew's gospel through feminists' eyes - very exciting. Although he has been a Christian his entire life, he does not believe it makes him superior to anyone. Later the church followed his lead. John Shelby Spong. God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. Papal infallibility and biblical inerrancy are the two ecclesiastical versions of this human idolatry. } He began by admitting he still has no way of knowing who or what God is. What the mind cannot believe the heart can finally never adore. 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. "https://":"http://";i+=f?g:k;i+=j;i+=h;c(i)}if(!e.ue_inline){if(a.loadUEFull){a.loadUEFull()}else{b()}}a.uels=c;e.ue=a})(window,document); //]]> note: he retired years after this article was first written]. } else { Tweets by @chqdaily if (isRetina) { Christ must be served in every person, he said. '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 "https:" : "http:") + Jesus could not have imagined such an idea as Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. When I stand in the presence of this God who inhabits the heart of life, I know just why I define myself as a joyful . And that's immoral. Kelly assists on a wide variety . 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. 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. John Shelby "Jack" Spongis a retired American bishop of the Episcopal Church. We must move beyond the now irrelevant dualistic patterns and discover the holy at the heart of the human. 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. window.Mobvious.device_type = 'mobile'; q("i", arguments) John Shelby Spong Related Authors if (window.csa) { Ibid., p. 288. a[a9] = { It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different. It caused his followers to regard his teaching as worthy of being preserved. [CDATA[ It was never, even in the New Testament, a finished story. These are people for whom life has been so negative that they're willing to die if they can take down some of their enemies. The way that I see Christianity is that its role is to enhance the life of every person. Inequality for gay and lesbian people is no longer a debatable issue in either church or state. A liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator, and author, he called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines.[1]. John Shelby Spong I Am 21st Century Child Am "I believe that God is very real. He is also Bishop of Newark in New Jersey [Ed. We've murdered them; we've burned them at the stake; we've run them out of town for something over which they have no control. 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 . It doesn't. I describe God as the source of life and the source of love and the ground of being. Spong, Resurrection . gads.type = "text/javascript"; The cross reveals that we're called to a deeper, fuller experience of what it means to be alive and open to new dimensions of life which our religious boundaries - creeds, atonement theologies - have kept us from experiencing. 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. It's just not easy enough to say that I pray and God will accomplish. (wikipedia) Born On June 16, 1931. var sourcesToHideBuyFeatures = ["ebfg_gr", "ebfg_fb", "ebfg_fbm", "ebfg_tw", 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). Every day we present the best quotes! And that's where it turns demonic. He called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines. Christianity is, I believe, about expanded life, heightened consciousness and achieving a new humanity. Jesus becomes the captive of the hysterically religious, the chronically fearful, the insecure and even the neurotic among us, or he becomes little more than a fading memory, the symbol of an age that is no more and a nostalgic reminder of our believing past. pubID: '3211', adServer: 'googletag', bidTimeout: 4e3, params: { aps_privacy: '1YN' } [21], Mark Tooley, a Methodist who is president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a think tank noted for its critique of liberal religious groups, criticized Spong in 2010 as "brandishing the stale theologies and ideologies of a half-century ago". I call this God by different words. I thought it presented Jesus as a visitor from another planet; in addition, Johns gospel is and has been interpreted as a document that fuels anti-Semitism in the church. 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. "Events.SushiEndpoint": "https://unagi.amazon.com/1/events/com.amazon.csm.csa.prod", !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)? As far as we know, a creaturewho can: define life, contemplates its beginning, anticipates its termination and raise the question of its meaning, is a rare thing, he said. I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. } //=0){return}if("ue_https" in e){f=e.ue_https}else{f=e.location&&e.location.protocol=="https:"?1:0}i=f? www.huffingtonpost.com. function isShowingBuyableFeatures() { All religion seems to need to prove that it's the only truth. Both papal infallibility and biblical inerrancy require widespread and unchallenged ignorance to sustain their claims to power. googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest(); var gads = document.createElement("script"); Praying and living deeply, richly and fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le. "Another [book on Matthew] is Amy-Jill Levine, who is a Jewish woman who teaches New Testament at the Vanderbilt School of Religion. (function () { You can't sing "Amazing Grace" without reminding yourself that the reason God's grace is amazing is it saves a wretch like you. Prayer is entering into the pain or joy of another person. if (a[a9]) return; He died peacefully in his sleep on Sunday morning," St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond . Are they hopelessly misinformed? Top John Shelby Spong Quotes. . George Stroumboulopoulos. var ue_furl = "fls-na.amazon.com"; Theism is dead, I joyfully proclaim, but God is real. a[a9]._Q.push([c, r]) His great-great-grandfather had emigrated to America from Kent, though the family name may . There are more than 14 quotes written by John Shelby Spong on our site. I'm not in the comfort-giving business. With the passing of retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong in September 2021, the movement known as Progressive Christianity has lost one of its most revered writers. Jesus exhorted people to love their enemies and to pray for their persecutors (Matt. Give us today tomorrow's bread. var ue_t0=window.ue_t0||+new Date(); I'm a bloodydamn Helldiver with an army of giant, mildly . I learned early in life that you get places by having the right enemies. var stylesheet = document.createElement("link"); That is not what most Christians have been taught to think, but it is factual. Prayer is entering into the pain or joy of another person. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("author", [45659]); They amuse themselves by playing an irrelevant ecclesiastical game called "Let's Pretend." 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. And this came after I had written a book called "Living In Sin" on the whole gay. 5:22), yet he called his enemies a "brood of snakes" (Matt. That's sort of fourth-century Christianity that got turned into doctrines and dogmas that we've never been able to escape. John Shelby Spong (16 June 1931 - 12 September 2021) Introduction. window.csa("Events")("setEntity", { He retired in 2000. No one can finally say. If you look at history, every nation that has operated as if it spoke for God has become violently destructive. 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. 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.. Because as he becomes self-conscious, he's no longer part of nature. I learned early in life that you get places by having the right enemies. Matthew was not alone in his understanding of Jesus message. 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. Because as he becomes self-conscious, hes no longer part of nature. 1. 51. [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. But the irony was that as he was making his case, modernity was ending and postmodernity starting, and his rationalist perspective became pass. I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. Spong said this means human division must disappear. - John Shelby Spong. Contents 1 Quotes 1.1 Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism (1991) 1.2 Resurrection: Myth or Reality? But the fact is I can no more abandon the literal patterns than I could fly to the moon. Unless otherwise indicated, all quotes in the bullet points above are from Kitchen, "The Future Church and Bishop John Shelby Spong," p. 17. True religion is not about possessing the truth. Whatever diminishes life is evil, and whatever enhances life is good. var googletag = googletag || {}; Rev. } Have these people simply not read the text? Steve is an accomplished poet and social media expert based in Brooklyn, New York. 23:17). From 1979 to 2000, he was the Bishop of Newark, New Jersey. This is an opportune time for those who identify with liberal Christianity to take a critical look at his legacy. Integrity and honesty, not objectivity and certainty, are the highest virtues to which the theological enterprise can aspire. I find that children have very little trouble understanding non-literal stories. I want the traditional family upheld, but I dont want it upheld to the detriment of other people. var ue_id = "TXPX0XF032R2WV9SNJQY"; 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 nothing to do with resuscitated bodies that appear and disappear or that finally exit this world in a heavenly ascension. if (sourcesToHideBuyFeatures[i] == source) John Shelby Spong Life, Want, Reason, Normal Generate image }); John Shelby Spong 1 Mother Nature is not sweet. Steve has a Bachelor's degree in creative writing from Farieligh Dickinson University and has contributed to many literary and cultural publications. 12:34), "sons of vipers" (Matt. He believed that theism had lost credibility as a valid conception of God's nature. A liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator, and author, he called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines. 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. My religious schizophrenia is at an end. Now they are people who have not found in institutional religion a God big enough to be God for their world. People always like to have a good time and laugh, and, [among] the vast majority of the seven billion people on this earth, one thing that we all have in common is at some . Spong proffers a third way, one that involves being "fully human." We are not really separated from God, he asserts. Hollingworth said that it was not an appropriate moment for Spong to "engage congregations in matters that could prove theologically controversial". The Bible tells me that every life is holy; the Bible tells me that every life is loved; the Bible tells me that every life is called to be all that it can be. V. Gene Robinson was able to publicly thank the man he said are the shoulders on which (Robinson) stands.. 25:30)? That's not Christianity. I just go beyond them. -- John Shelby Spong #Giving "I go where I'm invited. Now, that job belongs to everyone in the Christian faith who wishes to carry out his vision to fruition. 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. // Apartments For Rent In Ontario Under $800, Does Graham Elliot Have A Restaurant In Chicago, Articles J