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Summary: Spong's Theology influenced by Tillich
Review: Bishop Spong has, for better or worse, re-stated his theological position on the current state of Christianity. As an Episcopalian, and a member of his See, I have followed his career and writings for over 20 years. The good news is that he is consistent and concise. The bad news is that there isn't anything really "new" in this book.By his own statement, he was highly influenced by Tillich. The theological concept of "The Ground of All Being" is still a hard concept to follow or accept for the majority of Christians. It is no less difficult than experiencing one's employer as a faceless "corporation" rather than as her/his immediate superior or leader. We humans have to invent the human face so that we can relate to the theological concept of "The Ground of All Being." In reading this book Spong leads us through the constructs to begin to understand the concept of "The Ground of All Being" as the divine we attempt to identify through anthropomorphic jargon. The one sour note is that Bishop Spong has not gotten past his pugnacious attitude towards "fundamentalists." Of course, growing up Episcopalian in an area dominated by fundamentalist churches did have an effect on him. It is unfortunate that he has to constantly argue his "rigthness" over their "wrongness." The simple fact about the divine is that, like Yahweh said to Moses :"I am what I am!" Our feeble attempts to put a human face on God is going to fail - miserably.
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Summary: An honest, insightful book - but not all ideas are new
Review: This is my first of Spong's books, but it won't be my last. I was hooked from Chapter 1, which cuts to the core issue: faith with integrity. His account of how the church's power/influence has gradually dwindled with the works of Newton, Darwin, Freud and Jung, etc was brilliantly presented. BUT, this line of thought is simmilarly presented in the 200 year old works of Thomas Jefferson, among others. In a letter to Peter Carr, TJ's nephew, Jefferson says something to the effect of: 'We are not accountable to God for the rightness of our religious views, but for the uprightness of them.' That is gennerally the point of Spong's Chaper 1, if not of the whole book. Surely God (assuming God even judges our religious views in the first place) would appreciate our views if they were based on the honest use of reason more so than if they were based on fear and superstiton. -Afterall, it seems to me that God's greatest gift to humans IS reason. How ironic that most churches expect us to turn off that gift when we assess religious issues! To sum up, Spong has written a wonderful book that is not afraid to address tough issues, especially considering that the author is a part of the church! Spong's honsety and guts is inspiring to all of us who can see the beauty of the moral standards set by the Bible's accounts of Christ, but who refuse to check thier brains at the door when they attend church on Sunday. I also suggest The Religious Life of Thomas Jefferson as well as Thomas Paine's Age of Reason to those interested in similar ideas/critiques of Christianity.
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Summary: Easy for rational person to live with faith instincts
Review: This book will be enjoyed by anyone who can rub two rational thoughts together; it will be hated by anyone so vested in traditional theistic religion that it poses a threat to their "immortal soul". Spong does not say this, but I am convinced that faith in god and an afterlife is an irrational instinct of homo-sapiens developed over many millions of years as a response to self-awareness and the certain knowledge of physical death. In this modern age, many of us live uneasily with this issue of faith, This book makes it easier for a rational person to be comfortable with his/her god-instinct. I applaud Bishop Spong for his courage to "tell it like it is", and help clear the cobwebs and scare away the bats. I love this book; it describes my heart exactly. Jean-Michel Simoneau
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Summary: Outdated cry from a failed priest who still swallows Freud
Review: Spong clearly got his ideas in the early 70s when Freud and 'scientific determinism' still sounded viable. Having a talent for episcopal politics and realising that books by "A Bishop" denying the Christian Faith sell, he had peddled a lucrative line in wholly illogical denial. This is is final throw (he goes in 2000) and it is more pathetic and extreme than most. In the words of a real scholar "he makes waves, but they are shallow." END
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Summary: The Bishop nears the end of his abandonment of the Christ.
Review: Unfortunately, amazon.com limits the bottom rating to one star. This book, while tolerably written, is an intellectually dishonest book. The Bishop has abandoned the wide spectrum of belief generated by the Christian church (in all its branches and denominations) for nearly 2,000 years. The Bishop is actually creating a new religion, which we might as well call Spongism; he creates a false idol and calls it the Christ. It is revealing that he calls anyone who disagrees with him part of the "religious right" ignoring the fact that his critics run across the political and religious spectrum. Spongism is a very narrow, intolerant sect -- this book is its high scripture. Regrettably, it is a complete and total abandonment of Jesus and his church.
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Summary: Spong has understated his case -- Christianity is dead.
Review: Bishop Spong is to be commended for writing this book. Despite appearances to the contrary, Christianity is already dead and is in the process of being replaced by a a new and higher level of understanding. The fact that a Bishop is willing to tell it like it is in this way is encouraging and refreshing. If this book can help to prepare the way ("for those with ears to hear") for that which is to come, it will be of great service to the Church. The problem is that it will be read mainly by those outside the Church -- those who regard themselves as "defenders of the Faith" (defenders of the dying paradigm) will be the last to know. So it has been from the beginning.
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Summary: It's time to give up "childish things."
Review: This is a very moving and wise book. It is strong spiritual meat for those who are ready to give up "childish things," as St. Paul said. Bishop Spong refreshingly realizes that Christianity has a credibility problem. The Church has to start over again. It must stop thinking in terms of an old man in the sky, a supernatural Santa Claus who will swoop down to save us from natural disasters, illness, death, and the consequences of our own stupidity. It has to stop trying to impose moral prohibitions that have nothing to do with the truths of human biology and psychology, or with true justice and compassion. Freedom, knowledge, and wisdom must be our new commandments; our knowledge of God will based upon the truths revealed in our humanity, in which God truly exists. His style is powerful, clear, and sometimes lyrical. This is a great book by someone who speaks compassionately in a language we non-Christians can understand. I hoped to find in it some common ground from which believers and non-believers could begin a dialogue, and I was not disappointed.
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Summary: A Call To The Exiled Believer
Review: Once again, Bishop Spong sounds the battle cry to those of us (like myself) too compelled by Jesus the Christ to abandon his life and legacy, but having completed high school and not afraid to acknowledge that Darwin and Freud may have had one or two good points. We have given away the title of "Christian" far to easily, and must once again demonstrate that logic and faith can and MUST co-exist. A FANTASTIC summary of all that Spong has said before, (with some new stuff added for long time readers).
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Summary: The Church Shall Die
Review: Spong believes that Jesus was a human who lived life so fully and with such passion that his followers saw him as God Incarnate. His life was interpreted in theistic terms in retrospect. Spong depicts Jesus as the preacher of universal love, and grounds his devotion to the Church on that principle. However, he does not consider many of the sayings of Jesus that serve to break humanity apart into two camps: the saved and the damned. While he states that he does not take the text literally (which is why he can ignore what he does not like), he does not explain how he can worship such a man while ignoring much of what Jesus is reported to have said. His proposed reformation is not Christianity; it is another universalist, and pantheistic religion.
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Summary: The Mystic Spong
Review: Bishop Spong has provided us with an interesting synthesis of his life's work in this book. However, the book is presented as a doctrine of reformation aimed clearly at those who would readily sympathize with his views. I predict this book will serve only to strenghten the beliefs of those who have already agreed with him. I do not believe that his arguments against the literal intepretation of the bible are false (I happen to agree with him on those points), but like many I find it incredible that he remains a Bishop. Spong's pantheistic and humanistic views are admirable in that he preaches universal love, but his emphasis on Jesus as the great moral teacher who prefigures the spiritual destiny of mankind is a rather erroneous interpretation. It is easy to take a few quotes from Jesus and make him out to be the God of Limitless Love, but that is to ignore his harder sayings, such as "let the dead bury their dead." Jesus also spoke of Hell and damnation enough that it cannot be ignored. As for the Golden Rule, Confucius said that 500 years before Christ. Spong has good points to make, but I do not think he can truly justify his position in the traditional Christian Church. He should be a Unitarian.
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