A Conversation in Grebenstein, Germany
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on January, 17 2006This week, I begin a series of columns on the claims made in the
New Testament that Jesus of Nazareth had the power to raise the dead back …
Did Jesus Really Raise the Dead? Part II – The Widow’s Son in the Village of Nain
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on January, 17 2006Last week we began a series on the gospel narratives that purport to
show that Jesus had the power to raise the dead. There are only three
accounts …
A Post Christmas Look Back at the Stories of Jesus” Birth
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on January, 11 2006The Christian Church has just completed the
celebration of the Twelve Days of Christmas. It may
come as a big surprise for most people to be told that
…
The United Church of Canada Strikes Again
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on January, 4 2006I have long admired the United Church of Canada. Born in
the prairies of our northern neighbor in the 1920s by a
merger primarily of the Presbyterian and …
A Meditation at the End of 2005
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on December, 28 2005We human beings live consciously inside a medium called
time. We experience everything in life as having a beginning
and an ending. We count our age with annual …
The Virgin in the New Testament — Part 2
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on December, 21 2005Last week we looked at the New Testament’s portrait of the mother of Jesus
and the Virgin Birth. It is scant, late developing material filled with
mythological details. …
The Virgin in the New Testament
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on December, 14 2005As the Christmas season arrives, the icon of the Virgin Mary enters the consciousness of the Christian world in a significant way. She is universally recognized with her …
Was Jesus a Feminist in a Patriarchal World?
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on December, 7 2005If, as I have argued, organized religion is almost
universally anti-female and even misogynistic, was Jesus
different? Did he stand outside that pattern? Certainly, the
religion developed by …
How Religion defined Women as the Source of Evil
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 30 2005We began this series of columns by searching for the
source of the almost universally negative definition of women
that is held in religious circles. Somehow it has …
The Bias Against Women in the Judeo-Christian Tradition
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 23 2005Last week I began an exploration of the origins of that
incessant religious negativity toward women. I located its
deepest root in the evolutionary process where survival
becomes …
Women: Religion’s Traditional Victims
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 15 2005Have you ever noticed that organized religion has
historically been a major force in the oppression of
women? Have you ever wondered why? The battle over
abortion being …
Troy D. Perry – One of God’s Original Saints
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 9 2005It all began on October 6, 1968. On that day, twelve
people gathered in a house in Los Angeles in response to an
advertisement in a four-page magazine for homosexuals …
2000 Deaths Later, the Time Has Come to Render to Caesar His Due!
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 2 2005A well-known and oft-quoted verse in Matthew’s Gospel
portrays Jesus, responding to a question designed to trap him
between competing loyalties. Where does the line fall between
what …
Surveying Fifty Years with the Class of 1955
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 19 2005Nothing forces an awareness of the passing of time into
one’s consciousness quite like a school reunion. Recently my
classmates from our seminary days gathered to recognize the
50 …
Is History Repeating Itself?
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 12 2005“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat
it.” These words of philosopher George Santayana are
terrifyingly true. Recently, I have looked again at what
happened …
The Christian Church in Sweden
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 5 2005Recently Christine and I spent fifteen days on a lecture
tour across the beautiful, gracious land of Sweden stopping
in the cities of Vasteras, Rattvik, Stockholm, Uppsala and
…
Born Gay!
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 28 2005A new book co-authored by Dr. Qazi Rahman, a lecturer in
psychobiology at the University of East London and Dr. Glenn
Wilson, a member of the faculty of …
Jewish Fundamentalism
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 21 2005Religious fundamentalism is built on the assumption that
the truth of God has been captured for all time. It comes in
many forms including inerrancy for the words …
Robert Walter Funk 1926-2005
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 14 2005By the force of his will and personality, this man brought
biblical scholarship out of the ivy covered walls of academia
and placed it on the front pages …
Hurricane Katrina and American Priorities
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 7 2005I hesitated at first to write about Hurricane Katrina and the
devastation that has been visited on the city of New Orleans
and the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, …
The Dark Side of Evangelical Religion
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 31 2005I often wonder what Bible it is that people read in America’s
Bible Belt. I wonder what the religion is that is practiced
by the Religious Right. It …
On Death With Dignity
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 23 2005Late last month I joined with other religious leaders,
Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish, to file an amicus curiae
brief with the Supreme Court of the United States on …
The Emerging Church
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 17 2005Time after time I am asked by people to describe what the
church of the future will look like. It seems to these
questioners that one who has …
Theology and Baseball
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 10 2005Last month an anonymous member of my class at the Graduate
Theological Union in Berkeley, California, left this unsigned
question on my lectern: “How can you be so …
Pre-Modern Theology in Public Life
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 3 2005When the hurricane named ‘Dennis’ placed weary Floridians under water in the first major Caribbean disaster of 2005, their Governor Jeb Bush, reflecting on the recent pounding his state …