John Shelby Spong

The Once and Future Jesus Conference took the quest of the historical Jesus to a new level. At this unprecedented gathering, leading thinkers turned their attention from the past to the future and asked: What do new understandings of Jesus mean for the church, the faith, and the world of tomorrow? Their answers can be found in the pages of this book.

Den andliga hemlösheten breder ut sig över hela västvärlden. De etablerade kyrkorna står oförmögna att bemöta den på ett sätt som fungerar för den moderna människan. I den här boken presenterar biskop Spong ett motmedel; ett samlingsrop för en ny och radikal reformation för en ny tid. Genom att gå bortom det bokstavliga i mirakelberättelser och trosbekännelser visar han hur vi kan fortsätta hitta en djup och livsavgörande mening i den kristna traditionen. Med stor lidelse erbjuder han läsaren en vision av Gud som tillvarons grund och kärlekens källa, samt av Kristus som vår vägvisare till en kärleksfull, inkluderande och samhälleligt relevant gemenskap. John Shelby Spong (1931-2021) var biskop i den episkopala kyrkan i USA. Han var en ledande talesperson för otaliga troende och tvivlande människor som idag lever i religiös exil. I över 60 år arbetade Spong konsekvent för en öppen, inkluderande och vetenskaps-positiv kristendom och var bland mycket annat en tidig förkämpe för HBTQ-personers rättigheter i den amerikanska kristenheten. Han hann skriva mer än tjugo böcker som sålt i miljontals exemplar i den engelskspråkiga världen.

Five hundred years after Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses ushered in the Reformation, bestselling author and controversial bishop and teacher John Shelby Spong delivers twelve forward-thinking theses to spark a new reformation to reinvigorate Christianity and ensure its future.At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Christianity was in crisis--a state of conflict that gave birth to the Reformation in 1517. Enduring for more than 200 years, Luther's movement was then followed by a "revolutionary time of human knowledge." Yet these advances in our thinking had little impact on Christians' adherence to doctrine--which has led the faith to a critical point once again.Bible scholar and Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong contends that there is mounting pressure among Christians for a radically new kind of Christianity--a faith deeply connected to the human experience instead of outdated dogma. To keep Christianity vital, he urges modern Christians to update their faith in light of these advances in our knowledge, and to challenge the rigid and problematic Church teachings that emerged with the Reformation. There is a disconnect, he argues, between the language of traditional worship and the language of the twenty-first century. Bridging this divide requires us to rethink and reformulate our basic understanding of God.With its revolutionary resistance to the authority of the Church in the sixteenth century, Spong sees in Luther's movement a model for today's discontented Christians. In fact, the questions they raise resonate with those contemplated by our ancestors. Does the idea of God still have meaning? Can we still follow historic creeds with integrity? Are not such claims as an infallible Pope or an inerrant Bible ridiculous in today's world? In Unbelievable, Spong outlines twelve "theses" to help today's believers more deeply contemplate and reshape their faith. As an educator, clergyman, and writer who has devoted his life to his faith, Spong has enlightened Christians and challenged them to explore their beliefs in new and meaningful ways. In this, his final book, he continues that rigorous tradition, once again offering a revisionist approach that strengthens Christianity and secures its relevance for generations to come.

By popular demand--study guides to two of Bishop John Shelby Spong's bestselling and controversial works, including questions, reflections, and summaries for group and individual use.

The Episcopal bishop serves up his unique vision for the Christian church, arguing that traditional expressions of the faith are dying while a new paradigm emerges.

A global and pioneering leader of progressive Christianity and the bestselling author of Why Christianity Must Change or Die and Eternal Life explains why a literal reading of the Gospels is actually heretical, and how this mistaken notion only entered the church once Gentiles had pushed out all the Jewish followers of Jesus.A man who has consciously and deliberately walked the path of Christ, John Shelby Spong has lived his entire life inside the Christian Church. In this profound and considered work, he offers a radical new way to look at the gospels today as he shows just how deeply Jewish the Christian Gospels are and how much they reflect the Jewish scriptures, history, and patterns of worship. Pulling back the layers of a long-standing Gentile ignorance, he reveals how the church s literal reading of the Bible is so far removed from these original Jewish authors intent that it is an act of heresy.Using the Gospel of Matthew as a guide, Spong explores the Bible s literary and liturgical roots its grounding in Jewish culture, symbols, icons, and storytelling tradition to explain how the events of Jesus life, including the virgin birth, the miracles, the details of the passion story, and the resurrection and ascension, would have been understood by both the Jewish authors of the various gospels and by the Jewish audiences for which they were originally written. Spong makes clear that it was only after the church became fully Gentile that readers of the Gospels took these stories to be factual, distorting their original meaning.In Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy, Spong illuminates the gospels as never before and provides a better blueprint for the future than where the church s leaden and heretical reading of the story of Jesus has led us one that allows the faithful to live inside the Christian story in the modern world."

Rescuing John's Gospel from Its Creedal CaptivityJohn Shelby Spong, bestselling author and popular proponent of a modern, scholarly, and authentic Christianity, argues that this last gospel to be written was misinterpreted by the framers of the fourth-century creeds to be a literal account of the life of Jesus when in fact it is a literacy, interpretive retelling of the events in Jesus' life through the medium of fictional characters, from Nicodemus and Lazarus to the "Beloved Disciple." The result of this intriguing study not only recaptures the original message of this gospel, but also provides us today with a radical new dimension to the claim that in the humanity of Jesus the reality of God has been met and engaged.

The Fourth Gospel by John Shelby Spong has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

God In Us is a radical representation of the Christian faith for the 21st century. Following the example of the Old Testament prophets and the first-century Christians it overturns received ideas about God. God is not an invisible person 'out there' somewhere, but lives in the human heart and mind as 'the sum of all our values and ideals' guiding and inspiring our lives. This new updated edition includes a foreword by Bishop John Shelby Spong and an afterword from the author.

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.

By popular demand-study guides to two of Bishop John Shelby Spong's bestselling and controversial works, including questions, reflections, and summaries for group and individual use.

Many ideas once thought to be foundational to Christianity are now known to be false due to scientific discoveries regarding the nature of the universe and historical findings about how Christianity began. Is Christianity doomed to irrelevance or even extinction? How might Christianity reinvent itself so that it can address the real concerns of people in today's world? This collection of essays from such leading thinkers as Karen Armstrong and John Shelby Spong addresses questions such as life after death, the meaning of God, apocalypticism, and the significance of Jesus' death.Contributors: Karen Armstrong, Don Cupitt, Arthur J. Dewey, Robert W. Funk, Lloyd Geering, Roy W. Hoover, Robert J. Miller, Stephen J. Patterson, Bernard Brandon Scott, John Shelby Spong

For twenty years, Episcopal Bishop John Spong, wrote a monthly column in his diocesan newspaper, The Voice. Throughout the years, he used the paper as a pulpit for his progressive views about faith, dogma, tradition, and human rights. Compiled and edited by his daughter, Christine, this collection serves as an excellent introduction to Spong's breathtaking breadth of interest and capability as one of the century's leading voices for religious and human inclusivity.

In this boldest book since Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, Bishop John Shelby Spong offers a compelling view of the Gospels as thoroughly Jewish tests.Spong powerfully argues that many of the key Gospel accounts of events in the life of Jesus-from the stories of his birth to his physical resurrection-are not literally true. He offers convincing evidence that the Gospels are a collection of Jewish midrashic stories written to convey the significance of Jesus. This remarkable discovery brings us closer to how Jesus was really understood in his day and should be in ours.