Rating: 
Summary: My Sentiments Exactly (or at least pretty close)
Review: What I find in this book is a valid and well-supported argument to support the conclusions I have already come to in my own Christian experience. Spong explores most of the major concerns of Christian faith: the nature of God, the identity of Jesus Christ and the meaning of his cross and his resurrection, the purpose of prayer, the basis for morality, the existence of an after-life, and the role of the church. With thoughtful credibility Spong demythologizes each tenet yet provides a basis for their continued validity as a path (not necessarily the path) to God for modern seekers. Whether or not you agree with Spong's conclusions, it is difficult to read this book without recognizing him as a man of raw courage, profound spirituality, determined faith, and deep compassion.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing left of Christianity after this analysis
Review: Until I read this book, I was still interested in the question of how Christianity could be reconciled to our modern scientific understanding of the universe in which we live. I picked up the book hoping I would find an answer to this question. Instead, I found that after Bishop's Spong's analysis, there wasn't anything left of Christianity really worth keeping. Jesus was a man who was profoundly grasped by God, and who so affected those around him that his memory empowered a religion that lasted 2,000 years (even though I believe that for the most part he was "sold out" by the Church hierarchies). But it's time we all moved on. It's time we put away "childish things" and wishful thinking, and try to formulate a concept of God that we in fact still find alive within ourselves (that cannot be helped) that is fully informed by modern science. Even though this book failed to convince me that Christianity even CAN grow to encompass our modern understanding of the way the universe actually works, I'm giving the book 4 stars, because it freed me from wasting any more time on this effort, and for that I am very grateful, and it made the book well worth reading. Thank you, Bishop Spong. Yet, I have not in any way lost my faith in God (God won't let me do that), I've just lost interest in the dead end that Christianity has become. One of the childish things that we must put aside is thinking that anything at all ever lives forever, including the offspring of our great religious teachers, such as the Church that belief in Jesus gave rise to. Bishop Spong's book is a brilliant testament to this, and for that reason should be widely read. But believing Christians beware: you won't find much hope for your cherished beliefs in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Why Christianity must change or die
Review: This is a very thought provoking book that explains to your mind what your heart already knows about Christianity.
Rating: 
Summary: LIES . . . not Answers!
Review: As one who has *also* read 'Bishop' Jack Spong's writings for years, I too am continually amazed at the lack of understanding accorded his books. This latest work from gdeshaw is a prime example. If the critic goes back and READS the book, he or she will soon catch on that Spong is indeed attacking historic Christianity under the pretense of 'questioning its cliches'. He is not in any sense nailing his own Theses on the Cathedral door; this comparison with Martin Luther is an insult to Luther. Spong is indeed defending a Christianity without theistic belief, and my earlier brief comment was merely a reply to another reviewer who had recognised this fact. What about 'most of those Christian authors we find on the shelves in the local "Bible Bookstore" who haven't printed a new idea in decades'? Is there something wrong with that? Do the contents of the Gospel or the Bible somehow change meaning every few years? Why does the Gospel require 'new ideas'? Is this claim itself not a direct confession that Spong and his readers do *not* believe in the historical Gospel? I do have grave doubts of Spong's individual and unique relationship with Christ, but that is a matter between him and the God in whom he doesn't 'literally' believe. What concerns me is that he publishes this tripe under cover of 'questioning', and thereby misleads others. What he is actually questioning is the truth of the Gospel. He is welcome, even invited, to do so; the Gospel will stand up under far tougher questioning than Spong's. But he cannot honestly call himself a Christian while arguing that the historical and Scriptural content of the Gospel should be replaced by something else. It is perfectly fine to have a 'desire to work with the tough questions so that the Christian life NEVER fears to ask, and attempt to answer ANY question.' But I wasn't aware that Christianity was having trouble with this. (If *you* are, then you need to find a different pastor.) And even if this *were* a problem somehow endemic to Christianity, that wouldn't justify consulting, for the *answers* to those tough questions, a man who doesn't believe in the Resurrection, the Immaculate Conception, the existence and sovereignty of God, the reality of sin, the truth of revelation . . . The only 'good book' I recommend reading 'carefully, thoughtfully and prayerfully' is the Bible itself. If you find yourself giving such advice about any *other* book for any reasons other than its agreement with Scripture, you had better quit defending 'Bishop' Spong's Christian faith and start worrying about your own.
Rating:
Summary: A Work of Great Insight and Courage
Review: This book has moved me deeply and profoundly. I was raised in the same brand of church as Bishop Spong (episcopal) and all my life I have longed for the kind of unabashed critique of the religion the bishop here writes about. Most people I have known left the church because of its irrelevance to their lives, and to the modern world as well. Is there something wrong with those of us who can't stand church, can't read the bible, and yet still long for...this "thing" we call "God"? Bishop Spong says a most emphatic NO! Organized Christianity has become an institution that is primarily interested in its own survival. It is big, and hard, and very brittle in its rigidity. Can it be modern, relevant, and still be Christianity? A good question. Bishop Spong thinks so, but I'm not sure myself. I have long resented Christianity's monopoly on God and have sought him/her/it/whatever-you-want-to-say in the entirety of Creation. Stay tuned everyone!
Rating:
Summary: QUESTIONS...not Answers!
Review: As one who has read Bishop Jack Spong's writings for years, I am continually amazed at the lack of understanding accorded his books. This latest work is a prime example. If the critic goes back and READS the book, he or she will soon catch on that Spong is not attacking historic Christianity...but is questioning its cliches. He is, in a sense, nailing his own Theses on the Cathedral door for DISCUSSION, not slavish acceptance. I have disagreed with Jack Spong on much, if not most of what he has written over the years. He has always made me think, often gets by blood pressure up a bit (but rarely as much as most of those Christian authors we find on the shelves in the local "Bible Bookstore" who haven't printed a new idea in decades, but still manage pump out their quick reading, simplistic, royalty grabbing tomes). I have no doubt of Spong's individual and unique relationship with Christ. I have no doubt as to his compassion, and desire to work with the tough questions so that the Christian life NEVER fears to ask, and attempt to answer ANY question. Good man, good book. Read carefully, thoughtfully and prayerfully!
Rating:
Summary: Christianity without theism? What's that?
Review: Once 'Bishop' Spong has finished, as one reader puts it, 'tearing down the theistic interpretation of the Christian religion' - what possible reason is there to call his proposed non-theistic replacement 'Christianity'? What sense does 'the Christian religion' make *without* a 'theistic interpretation' - i.e. without God? Perhaps Spong is merely fooling atheists into thinking that they, too, can be Christians? If so, is he not debasing the very currency of thought?
Rating:
Summary: Everyone should read!
Review: I truly enjoyed this book because it spoke to me as a person that cannot rationalize the religion of Christianity today. Bishop Spong is quite adept at tearing down the theistic interpretation of the Christian religion based on our knowledge in the postmodern age. What he leaves in its place, however, is somewhat underdeveloped and confusing for me as a reader. I found myself agreeing with him on why a theistic interpretation of the religion is quite silly, but it left me empty when I tried to fill the void that blind faith used to fill. I found myself questioning some of his arguments, but that is ok because the essence of this book is to question! Please read this book. Even the most devout theist will find it useful because in order to believe, you must first question. I am impressed by Bishop Spong's ability to question the status quo and envision a religion better and more inclusive then the one that exists today...and I have already bought two more of his books!
Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading for a Decaying Church
Review: As an extremely devout Orthodox Jew, I was delighted to discover that there are decent Christian folk who are deeply pained by the state of the Church. The good Bishop's indictment of Christinanity and prescription for its revitalization should be heeded by all believers, because otherwise, as the title suggest, the religion is headed for extinction.
Rating:
Summary: Pure hokum
Review: This book is riding a disturbing trend in modern "spirituality": if you don't believe in God, pick something you _do_ believe in and call _that_ God. Spong, ostensibly an Episcopalian bishop drawing a salary from his church, clearly does not believe in anything any prior age would have called "Christianity," and certainly not in the Christian God. Those among his defenders who object that Christianity has _always_ changed really need to read a little history themselves: there is indeed a core of Christian belief that has remained unaltered since the closing of the New Testament canon (against which every Christian age has measured its own beliefs), and Spong's more honest defenders know perfectly well that he is (as one of them puts it) "wandering at times far outside the boundaries of traditional Christian thought." What Spong is calling for in this book is not Christianity. It is unbelief. And don't mistake my critique as what one reviewer patronizingly calls a "desire . . . to lapse back into the comfort of strict conservatism." (Such condescension! As though anybody who disagrees with Spong is a reactionary seeking nothing but _comfort_.) I am not a Christian of _any_ kind, nor do I expect ever to become one. I simply object to this misguided attempt to turn Christianity into its opposite. Surely even those of us who are not "believers" should have enough respect for Christianity to see through "Bishop" Spong's sophomoric arguments. Has there ever been _any_ important Christian thinker who really regarded God as a white-bearded old man living somewhere in the sky? If not, then Spong is largely attacking straw men. And the reason seems to be that he wants to continue to call himself a Christian even though he doesn't accept one single Christian belief -- so he has to get his church to follow him in his unbelief in order to keep up the masquerade. Not that I think he's not being intentionally dishonest. But he's kidding himself if he really thinks anybody other than a handful of "creedless" theological liberals is buying this hokum. If you don't believe in God, or Christianity, or whatever, at least have the honesty to say so. And don't write books like this one, misrepresenting (and then running down as immature) the tenets of more traditional believers.
| 
