I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. 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. throw new Error("could not load device-specific stylesheet : " + err.message); Spong claimed that his writings evoked both great support and great condemnation from differing segments of the Christian church. . There are passages in the Gospels that portray Jesus of Nazareth as narrowminded, vindictive, and even hypocritical. if(cookiePair[0] === name) { 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. 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. He died peacefully in his sleep on Sunday morning," St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond . 51. 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 . googletag.pubads().setTargeting("gr_author", "false"); John Shelby Spong. Use them as an inspiration. John Shelby Spong Quotes. g.parentNode.insertBefore(A, g) [8], Spong's writings rely on Biblical and non-Biblical sources and were influenced by modern critical analysis of these sources (see especially Spong, 1991). About us. 5:44) and never to call others by demeaning or hurtful names (Matt. 50. Idolatry is religion pretending that it has all the answers. Inequality for gay and lesbian people is no longer a debatable issue in either church or state. I think one of the things we've got to look out for is human beings claiming that they know how God operates. })(); 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. -- John Shelby Spong #Giving "I go where I'm invited. I mean the kind of love that never stops to calculate, never stops to wonder whether the object of its love is worthy to its recipient. Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Spong was born in North Carolina in 1931. "[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. Those ideas are absurd. What the mind cannot believe the heart can finally never adore. A lot of people hear me attacking their certainty. The way you become divine is to become wholly human. With the need for constant evolution in mind, Spong created his personal mantra. That's magic, that's not God. } 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. 12:34), "sons of vipers" (Matt. We must move beyond the now irrelevant dualistic patterns and discover the holy at the heart of the human. I operate with an emotional fearlessness, and I really feel music; I really feel songs. 25:30)? Jesus exhorted people to love their enemies and to pray for their persecutors (Matt. The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love, p.12, Harper Collins. It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions, a fallen creation, guilt, original sin or divine rescue. 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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. It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different. Christ must be served in every person, he said. 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. } If I could not move my search beyond angelic messengers, empty tombs, and ghostlike apparitions, I could not say yes to Easter. page: {requestId: "TXPX0XF032R2WV9SNJQY", meaningful: "interactive"} 14 "John Shelby Spong" Quotes And Sayings. var node = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; } And the way they did it was to say, the Jews killed our hero too. And all I can tell you is if we accepted every invitation we had, I'd be away every day of my life. 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. George Stroumboulopoulos. A.src = t; That is not what most Christians have been taught to think, but it is factual. We've collected the best John Shelby Spong Quotes. 5:22), yet he called his enemies a "brood of snakes" (Matt. The Christian story did not drop from heaven fully written. window.Mobvious = {}; Every day we present the best quotes! He called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines. John Shelby "Jack" Spong (June 16, 1931 - September 12, 2021) was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church. John Shelby Spong Quote of the day Teach him to think for himself? [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. It calls us beyond our limits into the fullness of life - into a capacity to love people we are not taught to love - and into an ability to be who we are. Oh this age! Ibid., p. 288. He was 90 years old. There are passages in the Gospels that portray Jesus of Nazareth as narrow-minded, vindictive, and even hypocritical. return true; stylesheet.rel = "stylesheet"; And I have no reason to abandon it because it leads to where I want to go. Prayer is entering into the pain or joy of another person. John Shelby Spong is an influential public speaker, writer and media figure. How tasteless and ill-bred it is! A liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator, and author, he called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines.[1]. Are they people who God just didn't like? Prayer is being present, sharing love, opening life to transcendence. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. 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. (wikipedia) Born On June 16, 1931. 23:33), "blind fools" (Matt. There is no longer Jew nor Greek. It grew and developed year by year over a period of forty-two to seventy years. 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. You cant have a world where 50 percent of the people are dieting and 50 percent of the people are starving if you want stability. //]]> var url; John Shelby Spong Was Judas Iscariot a figure of history? ", Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. And so Christians began to define themselves over against the orthodox party of the Jews as a way of surviving against the Roman onslaught. I believe that is what the God experience does for us. I call this God by different words. 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. 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. var stylesheet = document.createElement("link"); 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. It's a group of essays by mostly womanly scholars looking at Matthew's gospel through feminists' eyes - very exciting. 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. gads.src = (useSSL ? I don't think much about my physical body going off into the long, green fairways of Heaven to play golf. The priesthood in many ways is the ultimate closet in Western civilization, where gay people particularly have hidden for the past two thousand years. During Chautauquas nine-week summer season, the, Iconic Chita Rivera to provide Chautauquans with one of final Amp performances in 22, Incoming pastor Rt. I just go beyond them. There are more than 14 quotes written by John Shelby Spong on our site. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I believe that God is very real. John Shelby Spong Buddhist, Prayer, Believe Praying and living deeply, richly and fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le. 23:33), "blind fools" (Matt. googletag.pubads().enableAsyncRendering(); John Shelby Spong (born November 29, 1935) is an American Episcopal priest and author. Prayer is what I am doing when I love wastefully, passionately and wondrously and invite others to do so. He claims he is a Christian yet he champions causes that historic Christianity has often . According to Spong, when Matthew said to go and make disciples of all nations, he placed words in the mouth of the risen Jesus. The Bible was quoted to keep women silent, and the Bible lost. John Shelby Spong died this past summer at the age of 90. 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. He has also lectured at universities, conference centers, and churches in North . I admire our ancestors, whoever they were. 52. Perhaps the most telling witness against the claim of accurate history for the Bible comes when we read the earliest narrative of the crucifixion found in Mark's gospel and discover that it is not based on eyewitness testimony at all. No one can do that, Spong said. So who is God? We were told in the Second Commandment we could make no images of this God, and I don't think that means just building idols, I think that means also trying to believe you've captured God in your words, in the Creeds, in the Scriptures. [CDATA[ "Christ must be served in every person," he said. Spong proffers a third way, one that involves being "fully human." We are not really separated from God, he asserts. Favorite John Shelby Spong Quotes. a[a9] = { Let me say that I consider myself a deep believer in the reality of God. Part 2 of the part time quotations list about odd-job and salaried sayings citing John Shelby Spong, Rob Lowe and Keith Ellison captions. In the way Jesus, whether being praised with flattery or diminished by the threat of death, remained unchanged, Spong was moved to affirm his faith. Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends, There is a mistake in the text of this quote. "Application": "GoodreadsMonolith", John Shelby Spong has been called a heretic and worse. 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. John Shelby Spong (2009). 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." As a retired bishop, he was a member of the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops. From this perspective, all human claims to possess objectivity, certainty, or infallibility are revealed as nothing but the weak and pitiable pleas of frantically insecure people who seek to live in an illusion because reality has proved to be too difficult. 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. However, there was one last thing he wanted to add. Spong described his own life as a journey from the literalism and conservative theology of his childhood to an expansive view of Christianity. It caused his followers to regard his teaching as worthy of being preserved. Top John Shelby Spong Quotes. googletag.pubads().disableInitialLoad(); var sourcesToHideBuyFeatures = ["ebfg_gr", "ebfg_fb", "ebfg_fbm", "ebfg_tw", 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 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. "Events.Namespace": "csa", [7] Spong was the cousin of the United States Senator from Virginia William B. 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Browse top 25 most favorite famous quotes and sayings by John Shelby Spong. return false; 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 . The Rt. 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. I believe that I live my life every day inside the reality of this God. Are they hopelessly misinformed? John Shelby Spong Quotes. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("grsession", "osid.a1fff312af8a1d2b3b241fa9193829a2"); document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(stylesheet); url = "https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/mobile/phone_hd_images-2b89833762f600506d44865a33582d11.css"; "The older I get, the more deeply I believe but the. John Shelby Spong 1 Mother Nature is not sweet. } Why dont we understand that? It has been a wonderful trip, and I am sad it is coming to an end.. [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. (1994) 2 External links Quotes [ edit] God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. From 1979 to 2000 he was Bishop of Newark (based in Newark, New Jersey). 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). for(var i=0; i
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