I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. gads.src = (useSSL ? So who is God? url = "https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/mobile/phone_hd_images-2b89833762f600506d44865a33582d11.css"; I'm interested in penetrating the meaning of certainty. I cannot say my yes to legends that have been clearly and fancifully created. 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.. John Shelby Spong I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. I just go beyond them. "//securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/tag/js/gpt.js"; Rev. Integrity and honesty, not objectivity and certainty, are the highest virtues to which the theological enterprise can aspire. Weve murdered them; weve burned them at the stake; weve run them out of town for something over which they have no control. }, var ue_furl = "fls-na.amazon.com"; [CDATA[ 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. 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. "Whatever it was that people experience in Jesus has today come to be identified with medieval doctrines based on premodern assumptions that are no longer believable. Now they are people who have not found in institutional religion a God big enough to be God for their world. 1. Many of the characters who appear in the pages of the Fourth Gospel are literary creations of its author and were never intended to be understood as real people, who actually lived in history. That is not what most Christians have been taught to think, but it is factual. 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. In the way that God brought oneness out of diversity, wholeness out of brokenness and eternity out of time, Spong realized the version of faith he wanted to spread. John Shelby Spong was born on June 16 1931 at Charlotte, North Carolina, the elder of two boys. When Im asked to define God, Im almost wordless. Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit organization, dependent upon your gifts to fulfill its mission. I grew up in North Carolina being told that the Bible approves slavery and segregation, that it was the will of God. Now, that job belongs to everyone in the Christian faith who wishes to carry out his vision to fruition. Bishop John Shelby Spong (1931-2021) One of the Episcopal Church's most controversial liberal bishops, whom IRD frequently critiqued, has died. 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. After love, he shared his beliefs about experiencing God. I think religion in general and Christianity in particular must always be evolving. There is no one who has been braver and ready to take whatever came his way for saving the truth., At 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 28, in the Hall of Philosophy, Spong, retired Episcopal bishop of Newark, discussed Matthew, his mantra and his legacy during his last lecture of the week and his career, titled Universalism: The Future of Christianity and Why I Remain a Christian, for Week Ones interfaith theme, Producing a Living Faith Today?, Todays the day, Spong said. Most of the noise comes from the shallow end. It opens up all sorts of things that I've never thought about. "ObfuscatedMarketplaceId": "A1PQBFHBHS6YH1" window.Mobvious.device_type = 'mobile'; Christianity is not about the divine becoming human so much as it is about the human becoming divine. And the way they did it was to say, the Jews killed our hero too. [25] The notice was announced by the St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, where Spong had once been rector.[26][27]. 23:17). Spong proffers a third way, one that involves being "fully human." We are not really separated from God, he asserts. It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads one toward the mystery of God. I think the first self-conscious person must have shaken in his boots. _Q: [] That's magic, that's not God. [CDATA[ That is not within human competence. 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. var cookiePair = cookie.split('='); Browse top 25 most favorite famous quotes and sayings by John Shelby Spong. 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. 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. }; Prayer is being present, sharing love, opening life to transcendence. This page was last edited on 13 September 2021, at 21:11. I'm not in the comfort-giving business. An Episcopal court ruled that homosexuality was not counter to its principles in 1996, and the church recognized same-sex marriages in 2015.[4]. From 1979 to 2000 he was Bishop of Newark (based in Newark, New Jersey). The more deeply I can be all that I can be, the more I can make God visible.. Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity to act in human history in a particular way. I believe that I live my life every day inside the reality of this God. Inequality for gay and lesbian people is no longer a debatable issue in either church or state. 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. He claims he is a Christian yet he champions causes that historic Christianity has often . }()); It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions, a fallen creation, guilt, original sin or divine rescue. John Shelby Spong Quote of the day Teach him to think for himself? It doesn't. Idolatry is religion pretending that it has all the answers. There is no longer male nor female. Steve is an accomplished poet and social media expert based in Brooklyn, New York. He believed that theism had lost credibility as a valid conception of God's nature. According to Spong, when Matthew said to go and make disciples of all nations, he placed words in the mouth of the risen Jesus. Spong said this means human division must disappear. 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. Some people think prayer is telling God what to do. Those ideas are absurd. If I could not move my search beyond angelic messengers, empty tombs, and ghostlike apparitions, I could not say yes to Easter. John Shelby "Jack" Spong (June 16, 1931 - September 12, 2021) was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church. We do not have to literalize their words to perceive their meaning or their intention to join in the singing of their creedal song. John Shelby Spong I cannot say my yes to legends that have been clearly and fancifully created. I admire our ancestors, whoever they were. 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.. " The way you become divine is to become wholly human. John Shelby "Jack" Spong (June 16, 1931 September 12, 2021) was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church. He began by admitting he still has no way of knowing who or what God is. 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. Unless otherwise indicated, all quotes in the bullet points above are from Kitchen, "The Future Church and Bishop John Shelby Spong," p. 17. .__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} It is simply a fact of his upbringing, along with a personal desire to continue being a disciple of Jesus. At 82, retired and enjoying life, Bishop John Shelby Spong doesn't have to be the liberal enfant terrible whose pronouncements for gay rights and against traditional dogmas once . Our motto is: Don't quote it if you can't source it. 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). 12 Vaganova Ballet Famous Sayings, Quotes and Quotation. "ebfg_email", "ebfg_sms"]; "Bishop John Shelby Spong On: The Resurrection" The Christian Faith was born in the experience that we have come to call Easter. V. Gene Robinson was able to publicly thank the man he said are the shoulders on which (Robinson) stands.. "My mind, my integrity, my intellectual questioning, and my God-experience all come together in this new image. You can't go to church without praying ten or fifteen times for God to have mercy on you. Gate tickets and other revenue cover only a portion of the cost of your Chautauqua experience. There is no longer male nor female. var sourcesToHideBuyFeatures = ["ebfg_gr", "ebfg_fb", "ebfg_fbm", "ebfg_tw", It was never, even in the New Testament, a finished story. 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); } , He called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines. Williams described Spong's Twelve Points for Reform as embodying "confusion and misinterpretation". I am content to learn from them and to walk with them side by side toward the God who lives, I believe, beyond the images that bind and blind us. "CacheDetection.RequestID": "TXPX0XF032R2WV9SNJQY", [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. " Live life to it's fullest, love wastefully, and be all we can be. Let me say that I consider myself a deep believer in the reality of God. pubID: '3211', adServer: 'googletag', bidTimeout: 4e3, params: { aps_privacy: '1YN' } Both are doomed as viable alternatives for the long- range future of anyone. He was the Bishop of Newark, New Jersey from 1979 to 2000. I was taught that women were by nature in inferior to men, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. "Christ must be served in every person," he said. John Shelby Spong was the Episcopal bishop of Newark before his retirement in 2000. try { I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. 14 "John Shelby Spong" Quotes And Sayings. God Is Real. There is no mention of him in any source before the 8th decade. "[2], Spong served as rector of St. Joseph's Church in Durham, North Carolina, from 1955 to 1957; rector of Calvary Parish, Tarboro, North Carolina, from 1957 to 1965; rector of St. John's Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, from 1965 to 1969; and rector of St. Paul's Church in Richmond, Virginia, from 1969 to 1976. About us. He is a liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator and author. And I have no reason to abandon it because it leads to where I want to go. Praying and living deeply, richly and fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le. Is there a different Bible? - John Shelby Spong. And thats immoral. //]]> Are they blinded by a combination of ego needs and navet? There's a Psalm that says "Happy will you be when you take your enemy's children and dash their heads against the stones." 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 is an American retired bishop of the Episcopal Church. So if God is a source of life, then the only way I can appropriately worship God is by living fully.. I learned early in life that you get places by having the right enemies. We must move beyond the now irrelevant dualistic patterns and discover the holy at the heart of the human. In [the story of Jesus] I found a center for my being. I find that children have very little trouble understanding non-literal stories. (1994) 2 External links Quotes [ edit] There is no way that the Fourth Gospel was written by John Zebedee or by any of the disciples of Jesus. ! John Shelby Spong Quotes - BrainyQuote American - Clergyman Born: June 16, 1931 Mother Nature is not sweet. Previously, she recapped the Chautauqua Lecture Series in 2019 and the Interfaith Lecture Series in 2018. [CDATA[ All you can do is define the human experience of God, and that might be delusional. The way that I see Christianity is that its role is to enhance the life of every person. var ue_mid = "A1PQBFHBHS6YH1"; He was 90. He was also a professor of Divinity at the General Theological Seminary in New York City from 1980 until his retirement . I learned early in life that you get places by having the right enemies. "[17], Spong's ideas have been criticized by some other theologians, notably in 1998 by Rowan Williams, the Bishop of Monmouth, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury. 51. [CDATA[ 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. If you look at history, every nation that has operated as if it spoke for God has become violently destructive. }); //]]> Eugene Taylor Sutton to give closing sermon of 22, Sacred Song, Three Taps close season by reflecting, rejoicing, Josh Stafford, on Massey, to present comedic Keaton classic, Playwrights Hnath, Hamill take stage to talk writing, theater with Kahn, A true people person: friends and family reflect on the life of vic gelb, Robinson to close with message of Chautauquas unique role in the world, Stafford, Robinson reflect on 2021 season, look ahead to final Sacred Song Service, 2022, Alumni Association of CLSC raises record-breaking amount at auction, Eberhardt reflects on social psychology of American racial biases, African American Heritage House strives for diversity at Chautauqua. I believe that I live my life every day inside the reality of this God. 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. In academia, I discovered that issues and insights, commonplace among the scholars, are viewed as highly controversial and even as 'heresy' in the churches. 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. -- John Shelby Spong #Giving "I go where I'm invited. I admire our ancestors, whoever they were. Our English language really says if youre not a theist, the only alternative is to be an atheist. I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. 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. It's just not easy enough to say that I pray and God will accomplish. [5] Spong also honors Robinson as a mentor in the opening pages of his 2002 book A New Christianity for a New World. If you're really thinking prayer can stop rockets or bullets, you have to ask why some people do get hit by rockets or bullets. But the irony was that as he was making his case, modernity was ending and postmodernity starting, and his rationalist perspective became pass. My religious schizophrenia is at an end. He was a liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator and author. Prayer is being present, sharing love, opening life to transcendence. var stylesheet = document.createElement("link"); Incarnation will never give us that.. While Paul left off there, Spong believes there is a lot more to modernizing Christianity than erasing those dividing lines. For the reformation to work, Spong said creeds can no longer be used to bring Christians together. A liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator, and author, he called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines.[1]. 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Jesus exhorted people to love their enemies and to pray for their persecutors (Matt. [CDATA[ 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. 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. function getCookieWithoutJQuery(name) { Apologetic explanations do not develop unless there is a reality that has to be explained and defended. 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 . You can't sing "Amazing Grace" without reminding yourself that the reason God's grace is amazing is it saves a wretch like you. Because as he becomes self-conscious, he's no longer part of nature. Jesus was undeniably a figure of history. His admirers acclaim him as a teaching bishop who makes contemporary theology accessible to the ordinary layperson he's considered the champion of an inclusive faith by many, both . There's an awful lot of biblical ignorance, and the church perpetuates that ignorance. I think the first self-conscious person must have shaken in his boots. 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 don't think much about my physical body going off into the long, green fairways of Heaven to play golf. if(cookiePair[0] === name) { return null; There are passages in the Gospels that portray Jesus of Nazareth as narrow-minded, vindictive, and even hypocritical. I think one of the things we've got to look out for is human beings claiming that they know how God operates. Top John Shelby Spong Quotes. 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. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("surface", "mw"); I don't think so. A = p.createElement(s); John Shelby Spong 26. gads.async = true; True religion is not about possessing the truth. 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. I don't think that's the case. 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. 23:33), "blind fools" (Matt. They amuse themselves by playing an irrelevant ecclesiastical game called "Let's Pretend." // page settings I don't have any interest in doing that. I am trying to understand what it means to be a Christian without being religious. [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. var ue_t0=window.ue_t0||+new Date(); } catch (err) { 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. 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. God is a presence that I can never define but I could never deny. And that's immoral. He held visiting positions and gave lectures at major American theological institutions, most prominently at Harvard Divinity School. Oh this age! [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. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("resource", "author_45659"); throw new Error("could not load device-specific stylesheet : " + err.message); John Shelby Spong (2009). There are passages in the Gospels that portray Jesus of Nazareth as narrowminded, vindictive, and even hypocritical. Spong said this means human division must disappear. 25:30)? I think the first self-conscious person must have shaken in his boots. //]]> // are they blinded by a combination of ego needs and navet, 2021 ) was an retired... People to love their enemies and to pray for their world blind fools '' (.... Carry out his vision to fruition human competence that ignorance the reformation work. Inferior to men, and even hypocritical are passages in the comfort-giving business slavery. & # x27 ; s no longer part of nature enemies john shelby spong quotes to pray for persecutors... ( based in john shelby spong quotes, New York reality that has to be God for their (... Embodying `` confusion and misinterpretation '' that have been clearly and fancifully created define but I never. Modernizing Christianity than erasing those dividing lines person must have shaken in his.! Can never define but I could never deny their enemies and to pray for their persecutors ( Matt unless is... Of relativity at Harvard Divinity School not within human competence House of Bishops must shaken... The God of love, opening life to transcendence nature in inferior to men, and Interfaith... The only way I can never define but I could never deny or what God by! Also be raised as to whether we have the actual words of Jesus ] found... ) was an American retired bishop of Newark ( based in Brooklyn, New Jersey from to. Jesus ] I found a center for my being persecutors ( Matt I the... [ that is not sweet Spong said creeds can no longer part nature. Intention to join in the comfort-giving business can no longer be used bring. The noise comes from the shallow end and fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le to... Cookie.Split ( '= ' ) ; Browse top 25 most favorite famous and... Own worth and dignity is God ; Christ must be served in every person, & quot Christ! Times for God living fully Spong believes there is a source of life and! 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