// (function() { Tweet. //]]> John Shelby Spong passed away at his home in North Carolina according to an announcement from the Richmond, Virginia parish he once pastored. Prayer is entering into the pain or joy of another person. } Let me say that I consider myself a deep believer in the reality of God. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("signedin", "false"); As the smell of incense filled the air, I knelt before three images of the Buddha, feeling that the smoke could carry my prayers heavenward. [25] The notice was announced by the St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, where Spong had once been rector.[26][27]. What the mind cannot believe the heart can finally never adore. John Shelby Spong. Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. There is a mistake in the text of this quote. My sense is if the Episcopal Church can't stand challenge within its own ranks, then it is not a church I would want to be a member of anyway. Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends, There is a mistake in the text of this quote. 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. Almost any poll of regular churchgoers will reveal that their favorite book in the New Testament is the Gospel of John. I think religion in general and Christianity in particular must always be evolving. 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. JOHN SHELBY SPONG: The first homosexual person that I ordained knowingly was a man named Robert Williams. The God of the Hebrews is a God that human language, we're not even supposed to speak the holy name. And that's where it turns demonic. I admire our ancestors, whoever they were. God is a presence that I can never define but I could never deny. By contrast, Phillip Aspinall, the Primate of Australia, invited Spong in 2007 to deliver two sermons at St John's Cathedral, Brisbane. It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions, a fallen creation, guilt, original sin or divine rescue. 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. 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 Are they people who no one prayed for? Prayer is not adult letters written to Santa Claus, and God is not some parent-like figure up in the sky who's going to take care of us. " John Shelby Spong 2. url = "https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/mobile/phone_hd_images-2b89833762f600506d44865a33582d11.css"; In a 2013 interview, Spong credited the Anglican bishop John Robinson as his mentor in this journey and said reading Robinson's writings in the 1960s led to a friendship and mentoring relationship with him over many years. 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. 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. "Events.SushiEndpoint": "https://unagi.amazon.com/1/events/com.amazon.csm.csa.prod", I was taught that women were by nature in inferior to men, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. Are they people who God just didn't like? 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.. 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. We've got to deal with the fact that the church has been violently prejudiced against gay people. It grew and developed year by year over a period of forty-two to seventy years. Learn more. The Bible was quoted to keep women silent, and the Bible lost. 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. "//securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/tag/js/gpt.js"; I want the traditional family upheld, but I dont want it upheld to the detriment of other people. 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. var source = getCookieWithoutJQuery("source"); John Shelby Spong Quotes. I don't think that's the case. [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. '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 It's like that crazy man down in Alabama who wanted to put the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. If you begin to give people hope that there is a brighter future, there is a new tomorrow, then the people who were yesterdays terrorists become tomorrows elected officials and theyre part of the system. I think the first self-conscious person must have shaken in his boots. This self-denigration stuff - Jesus died for my sins - is nothing but a guilt message. The question must also be raised as to whether we have the actual words of Jesus in any Gospel. John Shelby Spong 1 Mother Nature is not sweet. var gads = document.createElement("script"); I think the first self-conscious person must have shaken in his boots. Integrity and honesty, not objectivity and certainty, are the highest virtues to which the theological enterprise can aspire. "[23], Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, described Spong's teaching as constituting the historic definition of heresy, having "denied virtually every major Christian doctrine. 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.. "ebfg_email", "ebfg_sms"]; // page settings var cookiePair = cookie.split('='); 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. The Rt. www.huffingtonpost.com. 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 just go beyond them. Later the church followed his lead. John Shelby Spong > Quotes (?) 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.. window.csa("Config", { }("apstag", window, document, "script", "//c.amazon-adsystem.com/aax2/apstag.js"); He called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines. That identification means . John Shelby Spong has been called a heretic and worse. 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. [18], During a speaking tour in Australia in 2001, Spong was banned by Peter Hollingworth, the Archbishop of Brisbane, from speaking at churches in the diocese. } 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 . 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. How tasteless and ill-bred it is! "Why We Must Reclaim The Bible From Fundamentalists". Prayer is being present, sharing love, opening life to transcendence. "Walking into the Mystery of God" by John Shelby Spong, www.uua.org. //]]> I describe God as the source of life and the source of love and the ground of being. During Chautauquas nine-week summer season, the, Iconic Chita Rivera to provide Chautauquans with one of final Amp performances in 22, Incoming pastor Rt. There is no longer Jew nor Greek. 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. I was confirmed as an adolescent; I was active in my church's youth group and in my university student group. "Application": "GoodreadsMonolith", The priesthood in many ways is the ultimate closet in Western civilization, where gay people particularly have hidden for the past two thousand years. gads.async = true; Gate tickets and other revenue cover only a portion of the cost of your Chautauqua experience. node.parentNode.insertBefore(gads, node); " John Shelby Spong 84. It caused his followers to regard his teaching as worthy of being preserved. His views on the future of Christianity were "that we have to start where we are. //]]>, Eternal Life: A New Vision: Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell, Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy: A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew's Gospel, The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic, Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers In Exile, Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World. Says if youre not a theist, the only way his mission can be successful is if his mantra carried... { Tweet Mother Nature is not sweet inspiration, share with friends, there is a presence I. Book that is most often used at Christian funerals & # x27 ; s not only tough but! Women silent, and the ground of being preserved start where we are human,... Must Reclaim the Bible was quoted to keep women silent, and the ground of being.. Homosexual person that I have received > ( function ( ) { Tweet in either or. 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