John Shelby Spong
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:21 pm
I'm not sure this is the right forum, but I wonder if any of you have read any of Spong's books. What kind of a Christian is he? What you you think of him?
The following article is from an Atheist' Site:
http://www.christianity-revealed.com/cr ... ction.html
Small clip:
John Shelby Spong, the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey believes in Jesus. That is not newsworthy. What is newsworthy, in his book “Liberating the Gospels” in which he denounces the New Testament.
Bishop Spong asks the question; DID IT REALLY HAPPEN? He wrote:
“To journey into the content of this book is to entertain some unusual ideas and possibilities. A literal view of the Gospels becomes untenable (indefensible, flawed).
There might well have been no such events as:
The story of Joseph, the spouse of Mary
No literal shepherds - No angels - No guiding star - No magi - And no flight into Egypt.
There was not even a journey to Bethlehem by one who was “great with child.”
Then Bishop Spong declares: “But to dismiss these parts of the biblical tradition as nonhistorical legends is not particularly radical. That has been done hundreds of times before, including once by this author. That has become almost tolerable, even among religious conservatives. The birth narratives are not the heart of the Gospel.”
Bishop continues by suggesting that there was:
No Temptation during forty days in the wilderness - Nor did Jesus ever preach the Sermon on the Mount”
******
Read the rest of the article in the link.
He sounds like a radical liberal to me.
Thanks.
The following article is from an Atheist' Site:
http://www.christianity-revealed.com/cr ... ction.html
Small clip:
John Shelby Spong, the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey believes in Jesus. That is not newsworthy. What is newsworthy, in his book “Liberating the Gospels” in which he denounces the New Testament.
Bishop Spong asks the question; DID IT REALLY HAPPEN? He wrote:
“To journey into the content of this book is to entertain some unusual ideas and possibilities. A literal view of the Gospels becomes untenable (indefensible, flawed).
There might well have been no such events as:
The story of Joseph, the spouse of Mary
No literal shepherds - No angels - No guiding star - No magi - And no flight into Egypt.
There was not even a journey to Bethlehem by one who was “great with child.”
Then Bishop Spong declares: “But to dismiss these parts of the biblical tradition as nonhistorical legends is not particularly radical. That has been done hundreds of times before, including once by this author. That has become almost tolerable, even among religious conservatives. The birth narratives are not the heart of the Gospel.”
Bishop continues by suggesting that there was:
No Temptation during forty days in the wilderness - Nor did Jesus ever preach the Sermon on the Mount”
******
Read the rest of the article in the link.
He sounds like a radical liberal to me.
Thanks.