Free Republic

On Saturday, June 4, 2005 the famous liberal theologian Marcus Borg is coming to central New York to give a public lecture and to speak to the clergy of the Episcopal Church. The Diocese is bringing him here. Marcus Borg is one of the founders of the Jesus Seminar in 1985. The Jesus Seminar is a group of liberal scholars who have decided that very little of what is portrayed in the Gospels is historically accurate. They say that they are in search of the “historical” Jesus, rather than the Jesus of “myth” as portrayed by the Church for the...

'I Am a Mystic' 'I never doubt,' says Bishop Spong. 'It's not that I'm getting older and cramming for finals. It's that God becomes more real.' Interview by Deborah Caldwell John Shelby Spong was the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, N.J., for 20 years before his retirement in 2000. Widely admired (and often scorned), Spong is a leader of the worldwide liberal Christianity movement. He has taught at Harvard, the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., and has lectured in North America, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific. He is the author of 15 books, including his latest, The Sins of...

May 15, 2005 Liberal Bible-Thumping By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Even aside from his arguments that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and that St. Paul was a self-hating gay, the new book by a former Episcopal bishop of Newark is explosive.John Shelby Spong, the former bishop, tosses a hand grenade into the cultural wars with "The Sins of Scripture," which examines why the Bible - for all its message of love and charity - has often been used through history to oppose democracy and women's rights, to justify slavery and even mass murder.It's a provocative question, and Bishop Spong...

O'Reilly has written a dustjacket blurb for Bishop Spong's new book: "The Sins of Scripture challenges Christians to look beyond the myths of their faith into the heart of the matter." I also got an email from a Spong-promoting outfit that says O'Reilly will have Spong on his show. Here's the Publishers Weekly review on amazon: Spong, a retired Episcopal bishop and prominent spokesperson for liberal Christianity, focuses this book on "terrible texts" which have been used to justify such "sins" as overbreeding, degradation of the environment, sexism, child abuse and anti-Semitism. These biblical texts, according to Spong, are not...

MUST CHRISTIANITY CHANGE OR DIE? A RESPONSE TO BISHOP SPONG BY THE REV. LEANDER S. HARDING, PH.D. The first of Bishop Spong’s Theses that we will take up is thesis number 1: Theism, as a way of defining God is dead. So most theological God-talk is today meaningless. A new way to speak of God must be found. Theism is the belief that there is a God who is distinct from and not dependent on the cosmos. Christian Theism is the belief that this God has revealed himself in creation and history and perfectly in the life, death and resurrection...

I know, I know, it's shooting fish in a barrel, but as long as John Spong keeps saying these silly things, there will be people who listen, so it's time once again to go red-herring hunting: "Sex without any sort of loving relationship is always wrong. It's appropriate only inside commitment. What's the level of commitment? For me, it's marriage." But for anyone else, it could be the commitment to go out to McDonald's tomorrow evening. And once they've made that bold step, it's time to hit the sack! The words of a conservative preacher? No. The words of super-liberal...

I recently listened to a series of insightful lectures on the American Civil War given by Dr. Gary Gallagher, a professor of History at the University of Virginia. Early on, Dr. Gallagher analyzed the failure of America's political leadership to find a compromise on slavery in the days and years leading up to secession and the catastrophic and bloody war. There was the careful attempt to admit to the Union, in tandem, one slave state and one free state to insure the balance of power in the Senate. Henry Clay of Kentucky, the "great compromiser" helped to work out the...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)—The teachings of the Bible are true for all people at all times and must not be modified to conform to popular thinking, R. Albert Mohler Jr. said in discussion on PAX television network’s “Faith Under Fire” with retired Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong, author of numerous books including, “Why Christianity Must Change or Die.” Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said those who attack the historicity of Scripture undermine the ability to know the truth about God and experience meaning in life. Noted author and apologist Lee Strobel hosted the Dec. 18 program. “Christians throughout the...

Just when you think it’s safe to take out the garbage, John Shelby Spong rises from the dead and writes more rubbish. This time he has decided to attack one of the great Christian gentlemen of the 20th century, John Stott. Actually, Spong’s article was written four years ago, but I have only now discovered it (biretta tip to Josh). But whether written yesterday or four years ago, this piece is a piece of garbage. Spong is one of the true embarrassments of the Episcopal Church, not simply because he is a bishop of the Church who spouts nonsense and...

The evidence that being gay is not a choice undermines the arguments of homophobes, writes John Shelby Spong. It was Professor Sarah Coakley, an Anglican theologian at Harvard University, who described the church as being something like a swimming pool. "Most of the noise," she said, "comes from the shallow end." That is exactly my sense when I listen to the debate over the issue of homosexuality taking place today in the Christian Church in general and within my Anglican communion in particular. The noise, and it is very loud, comes from those who define this issue as a moral...

The feeling is quite surreal. It is like being carried inexorably against your will. It elicits a sense of powerlessness. I search to find the words to utter a protest. They do not come easily. That is what I am experiencing as I watch my nation rush headlong toward war. My “disease” does not arise from a favorable view of Iraq. I am not unaware of the criminal behavior of Saddam Hussein. It comes, rather, from my great love for America and the ideals that I associate with this nation. So I have to state that none of the arguments...