Rating: 
Summary: Touching the fundamental issues
Review: As the subtitle says, this book speaks to people who have walked away from the church because they are unable to swallow its superstitions and irrelevance. As a re-examination of traditional Christian beliefs, the book is refreshing and full of insight. At the same time, by the book's end you may find yourself wondering, "OK, so where to from here?" And there is where it falls short.The book opens with a line by line re-examination of the Nicene creed, the statement of beliefs that Christians have repeated for centuries. Spong shows how most of these contradict our ordinary understanding of the world. For example, we know that there is no "up" or "down" in the universe, so therefore there is no place that heaven could be "above." We know that the universe can be understood by laws of physics and not a machine driven by a theological Dad whom we can contact and petition through a type of wireless phone connection called prayer. And so on. Spong puts forth the thesis that this creed, which was thought to be the essential tenet of Christianity, was the attempt of people to explain, as best they could, the powerful experiences of Jesus and God. Now that we know better, Spong says, we need a new understanding. For any who have a problematic relationship with the church or who have left it altogether, hearing such ideas from an Episcopal bishop can be refreshing. It's hard to argue with Spong's critique. It's his suggestions that fall short. As he works through the remainder of the book, reexamining traditional Christian notions of sin, prayer, salvation, and so on, his prescriptions, show the same limitations as the doctrines he is critiquing. In his discussion of prayer, for example, he acknowledges that he has never gotten much out of sitting prayer, and suggests that working with people is a form of prayer that works better for him. While the idea of prayer as an intimate conversation with God may no longer be viable, Spong overlooks the fact that all of the great spiritual traditions have extensive exhortations to practice meditation, an activity quite like prayer (and some would say identical to it). In other words, Spong's prescriptions for prayer are as limited and biased as the "official" prescriptions he is critiquing. While this book is reassuring and thought-provoking in its way, I found myself at the end of it wishing for a broader perspective, one that can make sense of the broad variety of practices and perspectives that honest believers and seekers adhere to and wanting ideas for how to integrate them all again into the body of the church. You wont find that in this book. But it is a worthwhile place to start nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing New from Bishop Spong
Review: In the book,"Why Chistianity must change or Die" Bishop John Shelby Spong shows that he has embraced Process Theology of Norman Pittenger,which presents the idea that God is Process in life and relationships between persons who are open to the "Ground of Being". The frailty of this theology is that human beings who are alienated and estranged seem to need a human face of sacrificial love like Jesus, not simply an impersonal process experienced in our human existence. I agree with another reviewer who said,"Is Spong's religious belief Christianity or simply some form of Unitarianism?" For myself, Spong's views don't fill the longing for an intimate love relationship that encourages me to also be loving, ethical,and life affirming as I cope with the pain and negativity of life.
I could easily embrace Buddhism if I wanted to adopt Spong's "Process Theology" point of view. Spong has simply embraced rationalism and rejected the meaning preserved in the metaphor of New Testament language. I prefer to hang on to
the Truth enshrined in the language of the New Testament, without
being a literalist. I don't want to give up revealed Truth,and settle for the rationalism of John S. Spong. I do want to say that John S. Spong does get people to think critically about what they really believe.
Rating: 
Summary: Unconvincing case for the abandonment of theism
Review: Bishop Spong describes himself as a 'believer in exile'. Likening his experience to the ancient Israelites, who found their traditional perception of God challenged when their expectations fell apart in exile, Spong asks how one might maintain Christian faith in an age when the traditional framework in which it was once understood is no longer tenable. His main contention is that theism is simply obsolete. We no longer share the pre-scientific worldview of the Bible writers, and therefore cannot accept the theistic framework which stemmed from their experience of the divine, namely, the idea that God is an external, supreme, omnipotent, omniscient, personal being. Traditionalists will assume that the only alternative to theism is to resign oneself to a-theism, but not so, argues Spong. He contends that the reality of the divine presence found in Jesus which gave birth to the myths and legends of Christianity can be rescued from its trappings, and that we can still find meaning in Jesus. This meaning is an existential encounter with the 'ground of being' (a phrase coined by his mentor, Paul Tillich), a mysterious and ineffable force which challenges us to leap into authentic living, loving and being. According to Spong, this is what the early disciples encountered in Jesus, but they could find no other way to describe this reality than the myths which, two millennia later, traditional Christians are still clinging to. Spong's contention is that Christianity must either reject theism, and see the Jesus experience through new eyes, or else face the fact that Christianity itself must die. It is simply no longer credible to believe in the Christian faith as it has been taught, he claims. Spong's book takes us on a journey through all the traditional theological territory of Christendom, systematically dismantling every cardinal doctrine of historic Christianity. By the end of the book, virtually nothing is left intact: prayer; the parenthood of God ; sin, redemption and salvation; the deity of Christ; the resurrection. All of these are either radically redefined or else abandoned altogether. One question remains, however, which Spong tries desperately, yet utterly unconvincingly, to answer: How can what remains of the Christian faith, after such radical alteration of all its traditional tenets, be called 'Christianity' with any sense of honesty or integrity? There is no convincing reason given why anyone should retain belief in Jesus or 'Christ'. Spong's supposed reason is the conviction that God (defined in his own, non-theistic terms) can be seen more clearly in Jesus than in any other figure, and that through him one might see how it is possible to enter into the same existential experience of the divine reality. There is no discernible reason, however, why Jesus should be seen as the 'God bearer' any more than any other historical figure; why such an obscure figure as the 'historical Jesus' (obscure because, after Spong's historical criticism has dissected the gospel accounts of Jesus, there is very little left on which to base a convincing portrait of Jesus) should take precedence over any other potential spiritual leader or icon; or why this newly-defined faith cannot exist apart from the person of Jesus. There is also a strong bias in Spong's use of the metaphor of 'exile' to describe his spiritual journey. He describes Israel's exile thus: "These Jews had once believed that God might punish them for their waywardness but that God would not destroy them. They could believe that no longer. They once believed they were a specially chosen people...They once believed that God had instructed them on where to live and how to worship...They once believed that God dwelled in Jerusalem and ruled over Judah...They once believed that God could hear their prayers...They once believed that they had a destiny and a future...They once believed that God could and would care for them...They could not sing the Lord's song again, for they were in a strange and devastating exile, and in that exile the God they had once served lost all meaning. This God, quite frankly, could no longer be God for them." (Chapter Two: The Meaning of Exile and How We Got There, p28f) I wonder if this qualifies as revisionist history. Those of the Jewish faith most certainly did NOT give up on their personal God when they were in exile; on the contrary, far from abandoning their faith in a God who cared for them, who heard their pleas, and who promised to give them a future and a destiny, they clung onto the hope of God's compassion for them, of the promise of restoration and salvation, and the knowledge that the God of their fathers had not left them. This story culminated in God's arrival in the person of Christ, and millions today find that they can well cope with living in the twenty-first century at the same time that they worship a personal God through Jesus Christ, despite Spong's insistence that such a way of life is impossibly naïve and doomed to extinction. Christianity has survived this long with belief in a supernatural, external, supreme, and personal deity, even against the rising tide of modern science and knowledge, which Spong feels so sure marks certain death for Christian theism. What makes him so confident that it cannot go on surviving? The tone of this book is markedly different from some of Spong's earlier writings. I found Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism to be gracious and conciliatory in tone; here it seems Spong has become a little bolder and more noticeably disdainful not just of fundamentalists, but of theists in general. In Why Christianity Must Change or Die, the sweep of his sword is broader to include anyone who holds onto the ostensibly bygone notions of a personal, supreme being. Spong doesn't seem to realize, however, that his condescending attitude towards theists and his attempt to bully them into accepting his own version of non-theism is no less imperialistic and arrogant than the conservative attempts to 'convert the heathen' he so despises.
Rating:
Summary: Nice ideas, but.......
Review: I think Bishop Song has a lot to say in this book that needs to be heard, regarding the need for the church to give up the outmoded dogma and deal with people's reality to maintain it's relevance. It is true that these ideas are not new and may be found in the tenants of Unitarianism, Bahaism, etc. But these ideas are not generally known to the masses. However, the doctrine that Spong preaches here would only work with people of strong discipline who do not need the fear of hellfire and brimstone or the promise of milk and honey with streets of gold to keep them from sexual promiscuity, violence, and substance abuse. Humanity has a lot to unlearn before it could learn.
Rating: 
Summary: At least it makes you "think"
Review: Spong's book breaks from the mainstream notions of the church and religious idealogies to basically just ask the question any true believer or human should ask regularly: "why do i believe what i believe?, and is the Church's role filling the need that it should?
Personally, i think you can be against what Spong espouses, but at the same time give him credit for asking us to think. God did not create us to be blind, ignorant followers. There were plenty of those 2000 yrs ago, and if not for the few that were searching for hope, and had a realization that something was wrong, Jesus' mission would not have resulted in what we have today.
For those of you that cant believe that he says what he says, and is still a Bishop (or was at time of writing), maybe that is the problem!!!!! I see him illustrating the point that at what relevance is the church if it is willing to keep him as Bishop for possibly all the wrong reasons (his notoriety, the $$ it makes, etc). And why would he possibly seem to anti-church? Well i can only conject, but as anyone who has worked for a large company knows, it is very easy to become discouraged in the political-ness of just trying to do the right thing. I can only imagine the political nature of the church as an organization.
Look at our current Catholic abuse scandal currently going on. Why else would that have been allowed to continue, and how many Catholics know of this type of behavior, and still dole out their money without question?
Rating: 
Summary: Very poor logic, and confusing theology
Review: I read this book basically because of the reviews here. It is rare to see so much polorization, so I read the book for myself. I have to say that I am disapointed in a great many things contained here: 1. The entire premise of Christianity is not understood by this Bishop. This is especially enlightening because it shows how far from the Biblical message of Christianity the "church" and his type of organized religion has become. 2. The Bishop is simply trying to re-write history, and create a theology that better suits his personal agendas. There are no "changes" suggested here, but rather the complete denial of all that Christianity is, and replacing it with new-age mysticism of a sort. 3. I was simply astounded at how anyone could read a book by a person who is still a Bishop, or at least was when he wrote this, still leads prayers, still goes through the motions, yet believes none of it. Who respects this level of hypocrisy? Can you imagine someone writing as scathing a book about a company and admitting at the end that they still work there? Unreal. 4. His ideas are not new, or innovative. people have been trying to turn the "Lion of Judah" into a domesticated house cat for centuries. In the end they are merely replacing the divinity and authority of Christ with their own. Overall, I would recommend skipping this book and saving your money. If the author had any credibility, or was suggesting any rational or meaningful thoughts, it may be worth looking into, however, attempting to change Christianity into something else entirely merely because you don't like the authority is sad and lost. If you rated this book highly because of its themes or ideas, you must be simply desparate to avoid the consequences of your behavior.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing display of hypocricy and wishful thinking
Review: After having read this book, I started reading the reviews here. There are divided into two camps: those who are desparate to believe anything, even the absurd rant of the biggest self-professed hypocrite I have ever encountered, and those who recognize, rightly, that Spong is merely spouting a new religion of his own making. The acknowledgement by Spong ... that he still worships with his Church, and prays with them, all the while not believing any of it, places a new bar for all hypocrites to shoot for. If Spong truly believes as he does, and there is no reason to doubt that, then perhaps living out his faith in his new religion ought to follow? In short, as many have pointed out, Spong isn't pointing to a "new christianity" but is rather making up a new religion which requires nothing from him, and relegates God and Jesus to something resembling art forms for him to gaze upon approvingly. Spong becomes the center of his new religion, and shouts to all those who long to be their own God, that you too may abandon the Truth and replace it with a lie that better fits your lifestyle. No wonder so many people fall for it. Sad, quite sad.
Rating:
Summary: Definately a book of life changing proportion
Review: This book was recommended to me by a professor whom after hearing my struggles with Christianity and some of the primitive ideas involved in the religion. This book restored my faith in Christianity due to the realization that there are Christians like John Shelby Spong who are realistic and yet full of faith. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is searching for God in any form. This book restored my faith in the God of Love.
Rating:
Summary: Misleading
Review: I don't agree with Spong's theology (if you can call it that). That being said, I also don't care what he believes and the fact that he puts it down in print. After all this is America and we all have the right to speak our minds. What I find most disturbing about Spong's book Why Christianity Must Change or Die is that Spong repeatedly exploits misconceptions about Christianity that are perpetuated by many modern day "evangelists." He refers to these misconceptions as if these are universally accepted by Christianity, which could not be further from the truth, and Spong knows this. I do recommend that people should read Spong's book(s). But, I recommend first that one should read a book about the Seven Ecumenical Councils (Leo Davis is good), anything by Frank E. Wilson, St. Augustine, and any of the other Early Church Fathers first. Spong tries to portray himself as the poor persecuted Christian that is the authority on Christianity (he is not any where close, see recommended authors above particularly Wilson). You will see that what Spong preaches is nothing new and what he loves to rehash are heresies by such notables as Arius. Buy the book, but realize that he is only one opinion. There are many more that are scholars and make more sense.
Rating:
Summary: The irony of a hypocrite teaching others
Review: I was truly amazed at this book. I gave it two stars only because it was written well. However, the content is a joke, a sad and ironic twist to the most hypocritical worldview imaginable. Spong is a member of the Episcipal Church, STILL! This fact alone renders all opinion stated here as relevent to only this particular branch of religion. It is ironic that a bishop in a church which stands for nothing, writes a book that says Christianity is false and yet remains a Christian. Amazing. Another reviewer here stated "It is rare to see this level of hypocrisy, rarer still to see it boasted about". Truer words than anything Spong writes in this book. In summary, Spong states that everything that is Christian about christianity is in fact false. He tries to start a new religion, which will appeal to the masses, by coming up with his own version of Christianity which is devoid of anything "difficult" or offensive, and which requires nothing from those who believe. There is ironically no value whatsoever, as he states it, in his new religion, because his Jesus does not save, as there is nothing to be saved from. Calling this tripe platitude from a hypocritical old man "Christianity" is as far a literary stretch as I have seen. If you buy into this, you are gullible, or desparate, but you are in the end a fool.
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