Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers In Exile

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> Thank you. If we focus ourselves on the teachings and message of the

> Divine Mother and Jesus we can achieve much. There are superb books

> out there that support and enlighten, some of which we are already

> posting here. They are so enriching and comforting to our mind, body

> and spirit. So lets raise the bar a notch or two, and set a minimum

> standard for the Blossom Time.

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Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers In

Exile

 

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

 

John Shelby Spong is the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, and

has enjoyed a career filled with controversy, much of it thanks to

his many bestselling books, such as Born of a Woman, Living in Sin?,

and Liberating the Gospels. He has tapped into an audience of people

who are at once spiritually starved and curious, yet unwilling or

unable to embrace Christianity.

 

Spong refers to himself as a believer in exile. He believes the world

into which Christianity was born was limited and provincial,

particularly when viewed from the perspective of the progress in

knowledge and technology made over the past two millennia. This makes

any ideas or beliefs formulated in 1st-century Judea totally

inadequate to our progressive minds and lives today. So Spong is in

exile until Christianity is re-formed to discard all of the outdated

and, according to Spong, false tenets of Christianity.

 

He begins his book by exposing the Apostles Creed line by line, then

methodically moves on through the heart of Christian belief,

carefully exploring each aspect, demonstrating in each case the

inadequacies of Christianity as detailed in the Bible and in the

traditions of the Church. The epilogue includes Spong's own creed,

recast to reflect the beliefs he considers relevant to Christianity

at the end of the 20th century.

 

Oddly enough, Spong's views do not seem particularly new. In fact,

his views seem very much in keeping with the religious humanist

variety of Unitarianism. What is remarkable is not the beliefs

themselves, but that an Episcopal bishop would be the one to embrace

and espouse them. Spong has become a trumpeter in the battle of

beliefs, not just in the Episcopal communion, but in the realm of

Christian faith in general in this country. His books are bestsellers

and are in turn, presumably, read by those who, whether they agree or

disagree, all acknowledge that in some way, Spong is involved in

setting the agenda. This book, as the admitted " summation of his

life's work " tells every reader what the complete agenda will be, for

the next few years at least. --Patricia Klein

 

Review

" Bishop Spong is a passionate, illuminating original. His

knowledgeable concern for the future of Christianity offers

strength, hope, and theological solutions. "

 

Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., author of Women Who Run

with the Wolves, The Gift of Story, and The Faithful Gardener

 

 

" Should be required reading for everyone concerned with facing

head-on the intellectual and spiritual challenges of

late-twentieth-century religious life. "

 

Karen L. King, Harvard Divinity School

 

 

" Spong demolishes the stifling dogma of traditional Christianity in

search of the inner core of truth. This book is a courageous,

passionate attempt to build a credible theology for a skeptical,

scientific age. "

 

Paul Davies, author of The Mind of God

 

 

Product Description

An important and respected voice for liberal American Christianity

for the past twenty years, Bishop John Shelby Spong integrates his

often controversial stands on the Bible, Jesus, theism, and morality

into an intelligible creed that speaks to today's thinking Christian.

In this compelling and heartfelt book, he sounds a rousing call for a

Christianity based on critical thought rather than blind faith, on

love rather than judgment, and that focuses on life more than

religion.

 

About the Author

John Shelby Spong was the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey for

twenty-four years before his retirement in 2000. He is one of the

leading spokespersons for liberal Christianity and has been featured

on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, FOX News Live, and Extra. This

book is based on the William Belden Noble lectures Spong delivered at

Harvard.

 

 

Customer Reviews

 

Fascinating and disturbing manifesto, May 22, 2000

By Sophia (the Pacific Northwest)

 

In this, his latest theological work, Bishop John Spong

systematically delves into contradictions and conflicts between

biblical literalism and modern society. He spotlights the uneasy mix

between traditional Christian faith and a modern world-view:

contrasting the seven-day creation story with fossils dating back

billions of years: the understanding of Earth as but one planet in

one galaxy of millions are just two examples of the major shifts in

the world view that have taken place since the birth and death of

Christ.

 

For those espousing Biblical literalism and fundamentalism, this book

will read like utter heresy. For the true atheist, perhaps, it will

seem like goody-goody wishful thinking. Yet, throughout it all, Spong

clings to the notion that God is Love, God is Life, God as the

ultimate Source of All, and urges people, Christians or not, to

examine their beliefs and enter into discussion and dialogue about

what Christianity and religion mean in the world today, and for the

next millennium. Even when I disagree with Bishop Spong's

conclusions, he makes me reevaluate my own faith, and thus both

stimulates and refreshes it. I am grateful for this book, even as it

disturbs me.

 

 

Faith without Reason = Superstition!, April 10, 2000

By Poniplaizy (Mount Joy, PA USA)

 

This book is awesome! I had only gotten a few pages into it and

already I felt like Spong must have somehow tapped directly into my

brain! He speaks to the many, many people out there who feel

disenfranchised by a Christianity that keeps serving up ancient fairy

stories that are impossible for anyone with a critical (no, make that

functioning) intellect to accept. He asks a lot of the questions we

are asking; dares to speak the truth about the anger, defensiveness,

and politicism that have characterized the Church; and liberates

Jesus from the doctrinal straightjacket the Church has encased him

in.

 

No, he doesn't really provide *answers*--but I think that's the

point. So often people who question are told, basically, to shut up

and believe because shutting up and believing is what faith is all

about. Spong replies that questioning and reformulating is healthy. I

agree with him wholeheartedly that unless Christianity wakes up and

starts reexamining itself, it is going to die. Thinking people will

dismiss it as a useless relic because it will be so inadequate for

their everyday lives. It's happening that way now.

 

I highly recommend that anybody with any spiritual life whatsoever

read this book! It is extremely thought-provoking (which is probably

why the fundies can't stand it), and no matter what belief system you

arrive at, you need to arrive there informed.

 

 

 

There Is Still Hope, April 25, 2003

By Peter Kenney (Birmingham, Alabama, USA)

 

John Shelby Spong has pointed out in WHY CHRISTIANITY MUST CHANGE OR

DIE that the early church creeds were not completed until the last

few decades of the Third Century and this was accomplished only after

an intense theological debate among church leaders. Because of all

that we have learned through science during the following seventeen

centuries, many of the words of these antiquated creeds have become

meaningless to us.

 

Countless Christians are now left without a supernatural parent

figure in the sky able to intervene in their behalf. Some of these

opt for the secular city while others try to carry on the struggle to

maintain an increasingly weakened faith. It is the latter group in

particular that Spong identifies as believers in exile whom he wishes

to reach with a new message of hope.

 

Can Christianity survive without a theistic God and a theistic Jesus?

Spong tries to answer this question by first examining some of the

Christian images of Jesus. The favorite candidate for elimination by

the author is that of Jesus as Redeemer. Since we are constantly

evolving out of our more primitive past it does not make sense to

assume that humans need to be rescued from a fall into sin from a

previous state of perfection.

 

Spong does see Jesus, however, as a Spirit person and a God presence.

There is a divine presence within all of us. Spong regards this

presence as Spirit and believes that it was in Jesus in a most

profound way. The author views God as a universal presence which

undergirds all of life.

 

Spong looks upon himself as a believer who is now living in exile.

When he dies he expects to enter into another existence. Meanwhile he

wants to invite other believers in exile to explore with him new

possibilities of Christian worship and faith.

 

 

Great references, January 22, 2003

By Adam Chen (Mercer Island, WA USA)

 

Nice book for its host of theological references. He has a huge

library of books in his bibliography and lots of bible verses next to

what he says to back up his arguments. This makes it a wonderful book

for stickies!

 

Some of his interrogative sentences can be confusing at times, but

you just need to reread them one or two more times before you get it.

 

I don't think his books can rescue people from fundamentalism. My mom

is a fundamentalist and I know that when I argued with her in the

past and got her to a vulnerable point she started using subconscious

psychological defenses, such as semantic literalism, bogus questions,

absolute truths, and questioning the reality of the five senses. The

Freudian analysis he talks about I've witnessed through my mom and

others as being quite real.

 

If you are aware of the damage caused by theistic belief systems,

then you know how much this matters. The challenge is to temper our

anger with compassion, somehow. If we really do believe in something

that transcends pain and pleasure, then love, after all, is all that

we have. Plus we need psychologists to help us find ways to free

people from these traps, because they really are traps. It's

heartbreaking that so many Christian fundamentalists don't know who

they are in life and that causes them to be so destructive towards

others.

 

Read this book, but be careful. The facts stated here will be more

hazardous to some fundamentalists than drinking hemlock.

 

 

Finally, an alternative to reluctant athiesm..., November 2, 2002

By M. Nichols (San Francisco, CA United States)

 

It is impossible to calculate what the legacy of Bishop John Shelby

Spong will be, but I suspect he will be remembered as one of the

great Christian reformers of history. In all his books,

including " Why Christianity Must Change or Die, " he writes to an

audience of " believers in exile " -- those who have fallen away from

their faith due to disappointment, disenfranchisement, and increasing

disbelief in the doctines of the church.

 

How can intelligent religious people -- those with a knowledge of

evolution, science, and an awareness of life's complexities, continue

to profess a faith that has been disproven on many levels? How can

people get meaning out of a religious tradition so hopelessly out of

date that it doesn't speak to its audience? The fact is, Spong

writes, many people (himself included) profess a faith that they no

longer believe, and still others fall away from their faith into a

kind of reluctant athiesm, unable any longer to believe the dogma

they were raised with.

 

What Spong offers in this book is a bridge between outdated theism

and the spiritual vacuum of athiesm. Spong details the alternative

of " nontheism " -- a religious belief that incorporates what we have

come to know about science and the world with a strong belief in God

and Christ. He does this through his trademark style of debunking

biblical literalism and church bigotry. What emerges is a philosophy

far more suited to the times than the outdated dogma that damages so

many Christians today.

 

This book is brilliant, really. Spong seeks a spirituality that

deanthropormophizes God -- that appreciates the amazing complexity of

the universe and human history without being threatened by the fact

that much of the Bible has been disproven, that the church is too

hierarchical and corrupt, and that there are no easy answers. His

viewpoint is inclusive and intelligent, and he writes wonderfully.

 

 

The Good News Indeed!, August 29, 2002

By A Customer

 

Some time ago, I wrote the following. Having re-read the book, I

would like to repeat it. I truly hope my path crosses the Bishop's

some day, and I can tell him in person how much he has done for me:

I loved this book. I was brought up in the Episcopal Church, but have

not attended church for years. When I have found myself in church

over the years, I have felt, just as Bishop Spong describes,

hypocritical and rather numb, saying words that do not, in truth,

hold meaning for me, yet yearning to find a home for my own

spirituality. Reading the Bishop's book, I find someone expressing,

and supporting with scholarship, what I feel. I am inspired by the

idea of God as the Ground of Being of which we all partake; of Jesus,

not as unattainable perfection, but as the model for passionate

expression of that Being, which is available to all of us. Clearing

all the paths for its expression is the task, but it's there, and

it's ours. This is the true message of the Gospels. This is truly the

Good News.