Examining the Story of the Cross, Part I: Analyzing the Details of the Crucifixion

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 3 March 2011 12 Comments
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Question

I am a Reader in the Anglican Church, but have been unable to believe in a God “up there” or indeed a personal God for some years. I have tried to understand Tillich’s idea of God not being a “Being,” but “Being itself” and the concept of the “Ground of all Being” without that much success I should say. More recently I have read Borg’s “The God we never knew” and the concept of “Panentheism” both transcendent and imminent. I have also read all of your own books which have brought me often out of the slough of despond, but sometimes I am still feeling very alone in my particular churchmanship to which I still wish to contribute. The question is: If I do not believe in a theistic God, does that now make me an Atheist or an a-theist, at least in comparison to the modern atheists like Richard Dawkins et al? I hope not, as I still wish to serve God, whoever or whatever that means through ministry to other people and have no wish to leave the church, but I must be true to myself and to other people.

Answer

Dear John,

Theism is a human definition of God. As such it is as inadequate as any other definition of God since it should be obvious that the human mind cannot escape the limits of humanity and define anything that is beyond those limits. An insect cannot define a bird. A horse cannot define a human being. A human being cannot define God. Yet we human beings are driven to try to make sense out of the source and experience of life itself. Defining God theistically is the typical result. Then people make the strange assumption that theism, a human construct, actually defines God and so we proceed to literalize our own definition. Then when that definition proves inadequate, as all human definitions ultimately do, we say, I must therefore be an atheist. That is, if my definition of God no longer defines my understanding of the source of my life, there must not be a God!

Atheism literally means, however, that I reject the theistic definition of God. It does not mean that there is no God. That is the mistake Richard Dawkins makes. His critique of theism is, as the English would say, “spot on.” I share in most of it. His conclusion that since theism makes no rational sense, there must be no such thing as God simply does not follow. Buddhism does not define God theistically but no one who studies Buddhism could assert that Buddhism denies the reality of God. The problem we have in all God Talk is the limits of both language and human consciousness.

Can human beings sense or experience that which is beyond human limits, which we think of as transcendent and perceive it to be real? I think we can. Can one define himself or herself as a non-theist and still be a Christian? I think one can. Can we know intuitively, even if we cannot know it intellectually that which is beyond human perception? I think we can.

I hope you will continue to serve as a Reader in the Anglican Church and that in that deep and broad community of believers I trust you will find a community of fellow seekers who will admire both your commitment and your integrity while not judging your journey into the mystery of God.

~John Shelby Spong

 

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