Rating: 
Summary: A desperate and sad attempt to kill God
Review: In short, the 'God is dead' theology of the 1960's is here unearthed, repackaged, and slightly reworked. Because John Shelby Spong's writing is clear and his research is well documented I have given him an extra star. However, because of unfairness, illogical conclusions, and a glaring bias I have pulled three stars. If you want the shortened version skip to point number 10.Here are my top ten disappointments with, "Why Christianity Must Change or Die." 1. The idea that propositional statements should not be used in relationship to God is argued. However, Spong turns around and describes his god in propositional statements. (ground of all being, source of life, source of love) 2. It is suggested that people should turn from the God of theism to a non-theistic god. To be non-theistic is to no longer be god. By definition, it is not possible to retain godhood while being non-theistic. 3. Spong reinterprets Bonhoeffer's 'religionless Christianity' into a Christianity without God. This is unfair to Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was contrasting religion with relationship and describing how religion or man's attempts can get in the way of a right relationship with God through Christ. 4. The statement, 'theological explanations can never be literally true' is made. However, the Bishop then goes on to make numerous theological statements/explanations, especially in the last three chapters. 5. Spong accurately describes Augustine's theological beliefs, but then suggests that Augustine was the originator of doctrines like the atonement and original sin. These were both clearly articulated by Paul hundreds of years earlier. 6. The Bishop attempts to undercut God's existence by pointing out similarities between the mythical figure of Santa and God. If anything, these similarities are secondary and superficial. 7. It is argued that God cannot be thought of in terms of 'who', or a personal being. If this is true, Spong cannot talk of God in terms of being the source of love since love is volitional. 8. The author's desire to retain heaven apart from a personal God is not only weakly argued, but is truly sad. 9. Spong clings tenaciously to the title of 'believer' while dismantling belief in anything objective. If he were to be honest, he is no longer a believer because he has nothing to believe in. 10. The title of the book is "Why Christianity Must Change or Die". After reading the book and seeing Spong's arguements I think a better title would be "Why Christianity must Die". The changes Spong proposes are so extreme and final that if Christianity did in fact experience those changes it would truly die for it would no longer be Christianity. I think this desire of Spong's (to kill Christianity) is very revealing. He rejects it not because it is illogical, untrue, or unfounded, but because he is offended by it. Perhaps an even more accurate title would be "Why Bishop Spong is not a Christian". He could then expound the religion he wishes existed, which he does so well in this book. What is described is not Christianity it is Spongianity for he makes a religion after his own heart and in his image. Maybe that's the best title of all, "Spongianity" by Spong.
Rating: 
Summary: Proved Wrong Two Centuries Ago
Review: In the late 1700's, Voltaire, a militant French atheist, predicted that, within 50 years of his death, Christianity will die and pass into history. This was supposed to happen as a result of all the advances in science, technology, etc. Instead, it is Voltaire who passed into history. So will Bishop Spong. Furthermore, if Christianity is to "save itself from modern thought" by becoming essentially a clone of humanism, then why have Christianity at all?
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Summary: Christianity will outlive Spong and all Bibliosceptics!
Review: Why were more trees wasted on yet another book by this man? How boring to find more of the same anti-Christian attacks, self-refuting 'logic', appeals to authority, nauseating political correctness, and dishonest twisting of terms. If he had any integrity, he would resign from his Bishopric and join the local Humanist Society. Instead, he still drew a salary paid by people who expect their leaders to defend the faith, as they promise in their ordination vows to defend. When a politician breaks all the promises on which he is elected, but still draw on the perks of office, the secular media have a field day (and rightly so). But somehow this is OK when it's a churchian leader doing just this, but instead the anti-Christian media call such people 'enlightened', 'courageous' and other such fawning. Much to his chagrin, real Biblical Christianity is growing very fast, while in his own diocese of Newark, half the people voted with their feet! Fortunately it shows that most people have the good sense to realise that atheists in Christian costume and using Christian terminology aren't worth listening to. I should point out that as a Ph.D. scientist, it's almost amusing to see these liberals pontificating about 'science' when it's clear they haven't a clue. The craziness of his fawning towards Darwin is shown in my book _Refuting Evolution_, available from Amazon. Also, Spong writes: "Albert Einstein (1879-1955) destabilized both time and space by seeing them not as external properties, but as significantly related aspects of existence. He also introduced relativity as something present in all things, including that which human beings had once called 'eternal and unchanging truth.'" (p. 39) If Spong knew the first thing about relativity, he would realise that a key foundation is that the velocity of light is *constant* for all observers! That is, Einstein replaced absolute space and time with absolute velocity of light. Einstein himself preferred to call his theory the *invariance* theory, but the name 'relativity' stuck. And he commits an elementary blunder in ethical theory known as the *naturalistic fallacy*. Even if he were right about relativity on scientific grounds, moral relativism simply doesn't follow. And as in his other books, he's too blind to see the self-refuting nature of his claims about ethics. If moral relativism (i.e. no absolute right and wrong) were really true, then he has no basis for condemning the Bible and 'fundamentalists' (his favorite religious swear word) as absolutely wrong!
Rating: 
Summary: New wisdom for old?
Review: Yes, I believe that Christianity not only MUST change, but that it IS changing... However, I disagree strongly with the title of this book. I realize that Spong himself didn't choose it (his publishers changed the name of all but one of his books), but his name on the cover endorses it all the same. The notion that mainstream Christianity is "dying" is belied not only by the fundamentalist factions Spong opposes but by the many Roman Catholics in America who insist that they are still believers -- however much they disagree with their church's teachings on such issues as birth control. These are not "believers in exile," as Spong's title suggests, but rather the believers who would be most receptive to his message if the title was not so immediately offputting. Don't get me wrong here. Spong has much of value to say, if you can get past the title. But although belligerence may sell copies, it does not appeal to the psyche of the Christian who is already committed and sincerely searching for answers. Spong's new understanding is not only for those who reject the "old" one; it's for those who seek reconciliation as well. This book is an important EXTENSION of classic Christian wisdom, but in no way supplants it. There's a song my mother used to sing: "Make new friends, but keep the old... one is silver, the other gold." You'd be pretty dumb to put your grandmother's gold jewellery out with the trash just because you've read Spong's book. Rather, I believe his truer purpose is to ADD to believers' Christian heritage without subtracting its unique and distinctive essence.
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Summary: Is Changed Christianity Christian?
Review: Dr. Spong is articulate and experienced in church life, but lacking in the wisdom of God which fears changing His words in the face of cultures which are ashamed and even despise His truth. How much can one modify before the modified doesn't resemble the real thing? Thanks be to God that Spong is not a spokesman for the Christian faith.
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Summary: Why a "Christianity" that changes is already dead
Review: Synopsis/paraphrase: Fallen man hates the God of Christianity, finds the Gospel offensive, and thinks that e.g. declaring acts of homosexuality to be sinful somehow indicates hatred of gays. Therefore Christianity is in deep trouble, but fallen man isn't. And worse: when Christians declare that their God has saved them not on account of their own merit but by an act of pure Grace, the sinful world thinks Christians are saying ~they themselves~ are "better" than everybody else. This misunderstanding causes people's feelings to be hurt. The cure? Let's keep adjusting Christianity to the standards of the non-Christian world until there's nothing left of it. What a relief! Why, the Kingdom is practically here already! Yawwwwwwwwwwwwn. Didn't J. Gresham Machen blow this nonsense out of the water in _Christianity and Liberalism_?
Rating: 
Summary: VERY FLAWED, BUT STILL GREAT
Review: This is an important book, and one that totally convinced me that there is probably no God at all. But while there probably is no God of any kind (and certainly no theistic God that cares about human life), Jesus is still the central character in all of human history, since he brought to the Western mind a "God-image" that is radically enlightening and liberating. Despite this, Spong's book suffers from some huge flaws. His view of science is waaaaaaay off base. He doesn't seem to understand that science is a sort of religion too (see Against Method by Feyerabend). The revolution in the philosophy of science over the past 50 years (i.e., Feyerabend, Kuhn) has demonstrated that science really isn't all that "scientific." Thus, Spong's reliance on Carl Segan and the like is totally misplaced. Okay so science can't give us any answers and neither can religion. So where are we? "In exile." Should we still go to church? Should we try to create our own churches for christian atheists? Spong doesn't give any hints. Nor does he address the question of biblical truth with any senstivity to the honest (although misguided) faith that many good people have in it. The religious world view has supported people who have had to deal with the normal human tragedies, deaths miscarriages, personal moral failings, and so on. Thus, I think it would have been better if Spong had gently dissovled it rather than taken out his hammer. So why did I give this book five stars? Well, for years I've had to maintain a tension. On one hand there was my knowlege of other religions, physics, and Freud. On the other was religion that required that I ignore all of that and have "blind faith." Jesus was left in midair while I tried to resolve this. This book sliced through that tension like the Gordian knot. Like Alexander's stroke, it was a very clumsy and painful cut, but it worked.
Rating:
Summary: An alternative look at Christianity
Review: Bishop Spong presents a compelling case for looking at the Jesus experience through the eyes of a twenty-first century inhabitant rather than as a denizen of the third or fourth century. Those of us with less than a doctorate in theology will find his history of the "invention" (my term) of Christianity (by St. Paul, the four Evangelists and the constructors of the Apostle's and Nicene Creeds) interesting at the very least, and possibly enlightening. A true believer in the Christian religion will say that this invention is God-inspired, others of lesser faith may look at it as the good bishop does; as the only way the early Christians could explain the experience through the prism of their world. The atheist or non-Christian will point to the development of Christianity as proof that it is a fraud. I found thought-provoking kernels of wisdom that will help me in my own search for who Jesus was, why he was here, and what his message is to me. This is a very readable book that I recommend to all who have an interest in learning more about how to approach Jesus outside of the constraints of conventional Christian theological thinking.
Rating:
Summary: Useless
Review: Lest anyone accuse me of sectarian bias, I am, as I write this, a life-long Episcopalian. Whether I die Anglican or not is up to God. John Shelby Spong believes that there are millions of people out there exiled from the Christian church. Seems the church has all these outdated ideas and tenets that are no longer relevant to modern society. The church tells them that they ought not do certain things, for example, and makes them feel guilty if they do. And certain church tenets have, according to Spong, been cast aside by modern science. Unless the church reforms itself along lines suggested by John Shelby Spong, surprisingly enough, it is doomed. Considering that universities used to offer degrees in eugenics, Spong's tenacious faith in science is baffling. And his megalomania is, as usual, breathtaking in its scope(Spong's biography is titled Here I Stand). His "scholarship" consists mainly in asserting that anyone who disagrees with him is a bad scholar. Anyone who holds a Biblical view of Christianity is peremptorily dismissed as a "fundamentalist," his favorite epithet. And since he and other Christian liberals have reduced the number of sins down to two, racism(except when directed to African bishops, as Spong did at the last Lambeth Conference)and homophobia, his "god" is as vacuous and useless as the rest of his theology. Should Christianity ever change in the way Spong would like it to, it will deservedly die, since there will be nothing whatsoever to distinguish it from the world around it. Anyone who disputes that need only look at what's left of Spong's own Episcopal Church. If you're looking for a god that requires nothing of you and that won't get in your way, John Shelby Spong's got a deity for you. If you're interested in the God of the Bible, you won't find Him here.
Rating:
Summary: Liberating and Inspiring
Review: Spong writes as a deeply committed Christian and provides hope for many of us. I found this book to be liberating, and it is quite frankly the only reason I could still call myself a Christian. He provides a framework for belief that is honest and able to be taken seriously by people who have questions. There's nothing wrong with doubting -- it means that you take your faith seriously. I found this work to be encouraging and enlightening. For me, Spong's work was a breath of fresh air.
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