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Summary: Spong is, as always, wrong.
Review: Christianity bad, irreligion good. That's all you need to know about this drivel. His viewpoints are trite, full of empty platitudes. His writing style is amatuership, reflecting very little in the way of true intelligence. A book likes this makes you wish you were illiterate.
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Summary: Spong has missed something.
Review: I fear that I have not read the entire book, but having read all of Spong's other work, I feel able to comment on what I have read. I have so far of this work read the chapter he wrote on prayer and I cannot help but think that John Spong is missing something. He ridicules retreats, the Our Father, in part because "we have explored the heavens and we know God is not up there," and other prayer practices that have worked and continue to work for millions of people. Bishop Spong has a view of "traditional prayer" that all of the mystics, from Teresa of Avila, through Hildegarde of Bingen, to John of the Cross, would disagree with. He attacks retreats because they suggest that God cannot be found in the midst of life. Actually, I wonder if he would attack vacations, because day to day you should be able to maintain your relationships at their optimum level. Retreats suggest nothing of the sort, indeed, like vacations, they are times to spend with One you love and who loves you. I respect John Spong and his criticism of the institutional church, but I fear that his theology and christology leaves nothing for the serious spiritual seeker. If someone seeks decent spiritual direction, seek out the works of John Shea, Henri J. M. Nouwen, and Thomas Keating.
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Summary: Bishop, you have never written with such abandon and urgency
Review: Bishop, You are so right about the original Christian spirit and the state of Christianity today. Your books always leave me breathless and open to God in new and renewed spiritual ways. They say everything that needs to be said and brought out into the open. Your writing here shows that you are determined to do all that you can to keep Christ in our hearts in a realistic way for the twenty-first century. I have never seen you write with such abandon and urgency. What can I do to help?
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Summary: A very prvocative and thought provoking view of God
Review: Absolutely stunning...This book left me physically shaking and weak in some parts, I was so moved. As a life long Catholic, I have been forced by Bishop Spong to rethink some of my beliefs. It's rare when you see a book that echoes some of your private views and forces you to confront others. This book will be denounced as heresy by those who cannot look at God in any way other than the literalized view most Christian churches (including my own) have, and who are threatened by critcal inquiry into the Bible and religion. If you want to test the limits of your faith, or are seeking a different point of view, buy this book.
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Summary: Spong Builds His Messages.
Review: I made the mistake of reading this book before reading "Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism." Now this book makes much more sense. Bp. Spong does his homework, builds his themes carefully and provides references as one reads along. I suggest that his books be read in order of their publication date for the full impact.Some may argue that Bp. Spong is no longer Christian. I would argue that he demonstrates in his every thought and action that he is a true Christ-follower and it is integrated into his very being. He is a thinker who encourages others to do the same.
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Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I think that it's wonderful that Bishop Spong is addressing the issue of homophobia and heterosexism in the church. For all of you homophobic reviewers out there who think that Spong is unrealistic, let me ask you this: What do you propose to "do" with all the tens of millions of (openly) gay men and women in America? Convert them to your fundamentalist rantings? Please! What are you going to do? Put them in jail? Execute them? Hardly. Talk about unrealistic! The fact is, gays and lesbians are here to stay and they are here to stay AS gays and lesbians. Deal with it. There is simply nothing you can do about it, so deal with it.
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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: You've got to be kidding ...
Review: This has been said over and over again on this page, but I must echo the sentiments of those who find this book, at best, laughable.
As the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury (Rowan Williams) once said, the "new" issues that Spong brings up (and actually thinks are "new" and "profound") are on the intellectual level of "a well informed sixth-former" (in our school system, roughly a senior in highschool).
Spong's material is laughed at by biblical scholars--both liberal and conservative, and he only appeals to lay-people who typically have a nebulous "spiritual" interest, or have an axe to grind against Orthodox Christianity. Spong, like his hero J. A. T. Robinson, puts outdated 19th Century Protestant Liberalism out on the table and acts like it's the newest thing on the block.
His book is infact nothing new, presents no new material that isn't covered in his other books. And the "loving" Spong is just as vitriolic in this book as he is in his others. I have never seen such an "inclusive" man be so, well, hateful of those with whom he disagrees. If anyone believes, well, anything that the Scriptures say literally, then Spong drops his "F-Bomb" (Fundamentalist) at him.
But Spong is using Enlightenment catagories that have fallen under serious scrutiny in the last few decades. He is using an epistomology that practically no one believes anymore. His arguments against Scripture are the work of Pseudo-Scholarship (hence why no biblical scholars associate with him) at best, and should not be taken seriously.
I notice that Spong never deals with clear arguments from world-renown biblical scholars like Wright, Meyer, L. T. Johnson, and many others. He does not argue against them because he cannot. All he can do is what Fundamentalists typically do--hide behind a "faulty" epistomology and throw bombs.
If you want to see what "pop-religious" literature looks like, on the same level as the "Left Behind" series, then read this book. It's worth a few laughs.
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Summary: A "Liberal" Rethinks Jack Spong
Review: Bishop Spong is the quintessential "Modernist." He operates within a worldview totally limited by Enlightenment parameters. His was a respectable position a century ago, when it seemed that Science and Progress were moving straight ahead, and the world was improving because of them. Beginning in the 18th century, Modernists wisely challenged the West's Medieval vision of the Cosmos, rooted as it was in dogma not science. But, as the Scientific Method has succeeded in opening our understanding of the Cosmos, and retiring the dominant Medieval understanding of Christianity to history, it has also succeeded in retiring many Modernist assumptions as well. For example, the Cosmos -- Space/Time -- is a heck of a lot weirder than anybody thought just a century ago. The findings coming out of the natural sciences today remind us that the gaps in our understanding of the univere have grown larger and faster than our knowledge. As such, when Jack Spong speaks of life "after Newton" or "after Copernicus" or "after Darwin" -- well -- it is so charmingly old-fashioned as to be funny.
Jack Spong's take on "Modernity" is quite spot-on -- but Modernity is so over.
Postmodernity has shown us that people are FAR MORE interested in mystery, the supernatural, the transcendant, and the radically spiritual than any old fart like Jack Spong ever would have predicted. Heck, even Harvey Cox, another old-timer, has moved beyond Spong to explore the renascent interest in Jesus, the Resurrection, and the mysteries of "traditional" faith expressions.
Spong's attempt to be contemporary is so painfully out-of-date -- he makes me think of Lawrence Welk or Bob Hope -- trying so desperately hard to be relevant-- and failing so miserably at it -- since around 1967. While Spong's real-life efforts to be inclusive to women and gays are to be applauded -- one does not need to jettison the essential Christian faith to do so!!! Jesus himself, the one who was born of a Virgin, died on a cross, and rose from the dead, was incredibly inclusive to women, and is the reason why any person of any kind should feel loved and fully included. In Spong's efforts to welcome all persons radically -- he has thrown out the reason to do so: Jesus Christ.
The Rev. Greg Jones -- Author of Beyond Da Vinci -- A Postmodern Christian looks at the Da Vinci Code.
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Summary: Darwin is IN God is OUT
Review: Mr. Spong's work has evolution as its main thesis.
We humans evolved from the animal kingdom, and therefore the whole Bible is a lie. Written by people with an agenda, it is all a falacy.
Mr. Spong. Yes Christianity most change or die, but ... should we become all atheous like you now? People need to have a God, it is a primal need, you are not helping anyone by stating with smart words that there is no one looking out for us and everything we ever believed is false.
Christianity most change, to interpret the Bible in his historical context, but not by denying its authenticiy. Anyone who has ever read the Bible knows that it is a powerful book that chages lives. Let's not destroy all that beauty because Darwin said so ... If Darwin happened to have been wrong, your book is all trash, that's how weak your theories are.
Do not let this book deceive you, that is all I can say.
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