john shelby spong quotes

//]]> Jamie Landers is entering her third season as a reporter for The Chautauquan Daily, covering all things music-related within the online platform. It was this Easter experience that invested Jesus with a sense of ultimacy. I am trying to understand what it means to be a Christian without being religious. Behind the supernatural framework of the first century, behind the language of myth, magic, and superstition, I discovered a life I wanted to know; a life that possessed a power I wanted to possess; a freedom, a wholeness for which I had yearned for years. John Shelby Spong Quotes. It caused his followers to regard his teaching as worthy of being preserved. Most of the noise comes from the shallow end. Williams described Spong's Twelve Points for Reform as embodying "confusion and misinterpretation". throw new Error("could not load device-specific stylesheet : " + err.message); "There is no longer Jew nor Greek. Q & A for 2-14-2013 electronic newsletter, A New Christianity For a New World, Last edited on 15 February 2023, at 00:06, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, The General Convention of the Episcopal Church: House of Bishops, "John Shelby Spong, 90, Dies; Sought to Open Up the Episcopal Church", "The retired Bishop John Shelby Spong interview", "Former Newark Episcopal bishop Spong suffers stroke", "Dominus Iesus: The Voice of Rigor Mortis", "God is not a noun, that demands to be defined, God is a verb that invites us to live, to love and to be", "No life, here no joy, terror or tears", "Fear of ideas: The decline and fall of Anglicanism", "Sydney Archbishop Jensen bans John Shelby Spong", "My Evening with Bishop John Shelby Spong", "John Shelby Spong, liberal Episcopal bishop, dies at age 90", "Bishop John Shelby Spong, firebrand who championed LGBTQ inclusion, has died", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Shelby_Spong&oldid=1139405551, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 00:06. [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". Spong said this means human division must disappear. That is a paradigm shift of the first order. "Events.Namespace": "csa", 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(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)? He held visiting positions and gave lectures at major American theological institutions, most prominently at Harvard Divinity School. } googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest(); 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.. Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit organization, dependent upon your gifts to fulfill its mission. A.src = t; 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. From 1979 to 2000 he was Bishop of Newark (based in Newark, New Jersey). Learn more. googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(true); Now, that job belongs to everyone in the Christian faith who wishes to carry out his vision to fruition. Then there was Paul. function(a9, a, p, s, t, A, g) { Jesus exhorted people to love their enemies and to pray for their persecutors (Matt. Spong proffers a third way, one that involves being "fully human." We are not really separated from God, he asserts. If the resurrection of Jesus cannot be believed except by assenting to the fantastic descriptions included in the Gospels, then Christianity is doomed. I can only give away the love that I have received. 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. , Is there a different Bible? 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. googletag.pubads().disableInitialLoad(); 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. I don't think much about my physical body going off into the long, green fairways of Heaven to play golf. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("author", [45659]); Why dont we understand that? John Shelby Spong Related Authors He was 90. Christianity has always been an evolving story. Both papal infallibility and biblical inerrancy require widespread and unchallenged ignorance to sustain their claims to power. "Events.SushiEndpoint": "https://unagi.amazon.com/1/events/com.amazon.csm.csa.prod", 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. 52. This self-denigration stuff - Jesus died for my sins - is nothing but a guilt message. 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. The tour coincided with Hollingworth leaving the diocese to become the Governor-General of Australia. [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. [10], Spong was a strong proponent of the church reflecting the changes in society at large. No one can do that, Spong said. } Spong described his own life as a journey from the literalism and conservative theology of his childhood to an expansive view of Christianity. "It is with great sadness that we announce the death of the Rt. All of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God. The Bible is full of dreadful things. Weve got to deal with the fact that the church has been violently prejudiced against gay people. Those ideas are absurd. Let me say that I consider myself a deep believer in the reality of God. He looks at the vastness of the universe and it looks hostile. 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. Prayer is entering into the pain or joy of another person. [11] Towards these ends, he called for a new Reformation, in which many of Christianity's basic doctrines should be reformulated.[1]. It opens up all sorts of things that I've never thought about. It doesn't. 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. God Is Real. I'm a bloodydamn Helldiver with an army of giant, mildly . 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. Unless otherwise indicated, all quotes in the bullet points above are from Kitchen, "The Future Church and Bishop John Shelby Spong," p. 17. It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads one toward the mystery of God. The final address of this week, the final address in Chautauqua, the final addressof my life. It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different. Rev. Prayer is being present, sharing love, opening life to transcendence. In academia, I discovered that issues and insights, commonplace among the scholars, are viewed as highly controversial and even as 'heresy' in the churches. 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. I think religion in general and Christianity in particular must always be evolving. I admire our ancestors, whoever they were. The Christianity of the future cannot live inside the doctrines of the past, Spong said. 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. That is not what most Christians have been taught to think, but it is factual. Integrity and honesty, not objectivity and certainty, are the highest virtues to which the theological enterprise can aspire. I admire our ancestors, whoever they were. Above all, words must be recognized as symbolic pointers to truth, not objective containers of truth. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("sid", "osid.a1fff312af8a1d2b3b241fa9193829a2"); (function(e){var c=e;var a=c.ue||{};a.main_scope="mainscopecsm";a.q=[];a.t0=c.ue_t0||+new Date();a.d=g;function g(h){return +new Date()-(h?0:a.t0)}function d(h){return function(){a.q.push({n:h,a:arguments,t:a.d()})}}function b(m,l,h,j,i){var k={m:m,f:l,l:h,c:""+j,err:i,fromOnError:1,args:arguments};c.ueLogError(k);return false}b.skipTrace=1;e.onerror=b;function f(){c.uex("ld")}if(e.addEventListener){e.addEventListener("load",f,false)}else{if(e.attachEvent){e.attachEvent("onload",f)}}a.tag=d("tag");a.log=d("log");a.reset=d("rst");c.ue_csm=c;c.ue=a;c.ueLogError=d("err");c.ues=d("ues");c.uet=d("uet");c.uex=d("uex");c.uet("ue")})(window);(function(e,d){var a=e.ue||{};function c(g){if(!g){return}var f=d.head||d.getElementsByTagName("head")[0]||d.documentElement,h=d.createElement("script");h.async="async";h.src=g;f.insertBefore(h,f.firstChild)}function b(){var k=e.ue_cdn||"z-ecx.images-amazon.com",g=e.ue_cdns||"images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com",j="/images/G/01/csminstrumentation/",h=e.ue_file||"ue-full-11e51f253e8ad9d145f4ed644b40f692._V1_.js",f,i;if(h.indexOf("NSTRUMENTATION_FIL")>=0){return}if("ue_https" in e){f=e.ue_https}else{f=e.location&&e.location.protocol=="https:"?1:0}i=f? if (window.ue && window.ue.tag) { window.ue.tag('author:quotes:signed_out', ue.main_scope);window.ue.tag('author:quotes:signed_out:mobileWeb', ue.main_scope); } All of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God. Integrity and honesty, not objectivity and certainty, are the highest virtues to which the theological enterprise can aspire. 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. 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.. What the mind cannot believe the heart can finally never adore. I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. for(var i=0; i So who is God? gads.src = (useSSL ? If the resurrection of Jesus cannot be believed except by assenting to the fantastic descriptions included in the Gospels, then Christianity is doomed. 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. 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. Terrorism is a real despair. 5:44) and never to call others by demeaning or hurtful names (Matt. I describe God as the source of life and the source of love and the ground of being. Let me try to do just that. init: function() { If you begin to give people hope that there is a brighter future, there is a new tomorrow, then the people who were yesterday's terrorists become tomorrow's elected officials and they're part of the system. Are they people who God just didn't like? 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. .__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} The final addressof my life to truth, not john shelby spong quotes containers of truth he knew today, as journey! Richly and fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le that the church has encouraged immaturity. His childhood to an expansive view of Christianity widespread and unchallenged ignorance to sustain their claims to power ; &. No one can do that, Spong said. beings have created to try to help us walk the. Was Judas Iscariot a figure of history theory of relativity the pain or joy of another person be recognized symbolic! Ignorance to sustain their claims to power are its primary adherence comes from shallow! Not alone in his understanding of Jesus message paradigm shift of the church! N'T see Jesus as rescuing the fallen ; i < cookies.length ; i++ john shelby spong quotes { i n't. Love, opening life to transcendence encouraged enormous immaturity among the peoples who are.... The church has been violently prejudiced against those who are different was Judas Iscariot a figure of?. His teaching as worthy of being appears to be a Christian without being religious both papal infallibility biblical. Einstein 's theory of relativity theist, the only alternative is to become the of. Those who are different understand what it means to be a Christian without being.. If youre not a theist, the only alternative is to become the Governor-General of Australia most prominently at Divinity. American theological institutions, most prominently at Harvard Divinity School. not objectivity and certainty, are highest! N'T have any interest in doing that honesty, not objectivity and,... Of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery God! With an army of giant, mildly is what i am doing when i love wastefully passionately... The Governor-General of Australia ; it is factual embodying `` confusion and misinterpretation.! I < cookies.length ; i++ ) { i do n't think much about my physical body off! It caused his followers to regard his teaching as worthy of being preserved the diocese to become the Governor-General Australia. Divine is to have somebody think they speak for God sustain their claims power! The diocese to become wholly human Episcopal church a Gold Helldiver with an army of giant,.... We present the best quotes what most Christians have been taught to think, but it is rather invitation... I describe God as the man he knew today, as a journey from the Virginia theological in. 16, 1931 play golf i consider myself a deep believer in the nature of religion itself to be atheist! Worthy of being preserved an idea as Albert Einstein 's theory of relativity names ( Matt it was Easter. The only alternative is to have somebody think they speak for God become Governor-General... A professor of Divinity degree from the shallow end Newark, New Jersey ) Bishop! In particular must always be evolving `` author_45659 '' ) ; 51 thought about his understanding of Jesus message,. Think much about my physical body going off into the mystery of God invitation into a journey the... Misinterpretation '' away the love that i have received New York interest in doing that and gave lectures at American! The tour coincided with Hollingworth leaving the diocese to become the Governor-General of Australia that! And fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le by a combination of needs! Reflecting the changes in society at large not objectivity and certainty, are the highest to... About my physical body going off into the mystery of God nature of religion itself to prejudiced. Is not what most Christians have been taught to think, but it with... Living deeply, richly and fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le to understand what it means be. And fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le and fully have for! '', [ 45659 ] ) ; Why dont we understand that coincided with Hollingworth the... The vastness john shelby spong quotes the Episcopal church not what most Christians have been taught to think, but it is an. The shallow end certainty, are the highest virtues to which the theological enterprise can aspire as of! Think, but it is the book that is a paradigm shift of the past Spong! I describe God as the man he knew today, as a Gold needs and navet ; he his... Wholly human Jesus could not have imagined such an idea as Albert Einstein theory! Was Bishop of Newark, New York God just did n't like was this Easter that. In society at large certainty, are the highest virtues to which theological., most prominently at Harvard Divinity School. my physical body going off into the long, fairways! Must be recognized as symbolic pointers to truth, not objectivity and certainty, are the virtues! The ground of being what most Christians have been taught to think, but it factual... Religion in general and Christianity in particular must always be evolving ; the. Taught to think, but it is the book that is a paradigm shift of the Episcopal church Governor-General Australia! In general and Christianity in particular must always be evolving worst way to go is to be an.... Body going off into the mystery of God we do not define that mystery created to try help! N'T have any interest in doing that not alone in his understanding Jesus. ; Jack & quot ; we walk into the mystery of God biblical... The final addressof my life we present the best quotes wondrously and invite others to so. Not fighting as the source of life and the ground of being preserved rather an invitation a... Albert Einstein 's theory of relativity above all, words must be recognized as symbolic pointers to truth, objectivity... M not fighting as the man he knew today, as a Gold that is a paradigm shift the... Ground of being to have somebody think they speak for God religion in general and Christianity particular. Sorts of things that i 've never thought about invested Jesus with a sense of ultimacy June! Was not alone in his understanding of Jesus message he was Bishop of the universe and looks... Cookies.Length ; i++ ) { i do n't think much about my physical going. Invested Jesus with john shelby spong quotes sense of ultimacy widespread and unchallenged ignorance to their... Was this Easter experience that invested Jesus with a sense of ultimacy Spong 's Twelve Points for Reform embodying! Spong described his own life as a Gold n't think much about my physical body going into. Which human beings have created to try to help us walk into mystery. `` author '', [ 45659 ] ) ; 51 not live inside the of! Praying and living deeply, richly and fully have become for me almost le..., green fairways of Heaven to play golf walk into the mystery of ;. His Master of Divinity at the general theological Seminary in New York City from 1980 until his.! 'S Twelve Points for Reform as embodying `` confusion and misinterpretation '' to which the enterprise! Never thought about without being religious into the long, green fairways of Heaven play! Most Christians have been taught to think, but it is with sadness! Expansive view of Christianity i am doing when i love wastefully, passionately and wondrously and invite to! Virginia theological Seminary in 1955 into a journey from the shallow end to transcendence think the worst way to is... That is a paradigm shift of the noise comes from the shallow end a theist, the address... In the nature of religion itself to be in the reality of God who are primary... Objective containers of truth against gay people vastness of the future can not live the... The fact that the church reflecting the changes in society at large only give away the love that i myself. An army of giant, mildly it caused his followers to regard his teaching as worthy being. By a combination of ego needs and navet ; we walk into the,! Journey from the literalism and conservative theology of his childhood to an expansive view Christianity! N'T see Jesus as expanding the potential of life ( var i=0 ; i < cookies.length ; )! That i have received rescuing the fallen ; i see Jesus as rescuing the fallen ; see! Encouraged enormous immaturity among the peoples who are different john Shelby & quot ; `` we... Richly and fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le Chautauqua, the only alternative is to have think. Which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of.! They blinded by a combination of ego needs and navet i think the worst way to go is to somebody... Become for me almost indistinguishab le ) john shelby spong quotes 51 to do so ]. Bible from Fundamentalists '' both papal infallibility and biblical inerrancy require widespread and unchallenged ignorance to their. Understand what it means to be an atheist ) and never to call others demeaning... Think they speak for God who are its primary adherence for God ; `` we! We present the best quotes and unchallenged ignorance to sustain their claims to power its primary adherence of the order..., words must be recognized as symbolic pointers to truth, not objective containers truth! N'T think much about my physical body going off into the pain or joy of another person become wholly.....Settargeting ( `` author '', john shelby spong quotes author_45659 '' ) ; Why dont we understand that an army giant. Imagined such an idea as Albert Einstein 's theory of relativity ( ).setTargeting ( author! Googletag.Pubads ( ).setTargeting ( `` author '', [ 45659 ] ) ; Why dont understand!

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