Part I: The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 30 May 2013 1 Comments
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Question

I recall your writing that there is a major disconnect between what is being taught in the religious educational academies and the message delivered to the average pew occupier. The point seeming to be that pastors do not want to pass on the more "sensitive" aspects of their training due to the potential upset sensibilities and possible loss of weekly donations from their parishioners - even though these church leaders may very well agree with their formal instruction in these areas. Can you direct me to additional information as to exactly what is taught and believed by these higher learning institutions that is not being conveyed to the normal churchgoer - either somewhere in your writings or possibly those of someone else?

Thanks upon thanks for all you have done and continue to do.

Answer

Dear Steven,

Thanks for your letter. I know of nowhere that someone has written out what is taught in the academies of Christian learning. Of necessity, it is never codified because it is always growing, evolving or changing. I have just completed a five-year study of the Gospel of John, for example, and I can now tell you the differences between 19th century Johannine scholarship, 20th century Johannine scholarship and 21st century Johannine scholarship. It is always being transformed as we learn more about ancient sources. None of these scholars, however, would have related to John’s gospel as if it were a literal report of an eye witness.

In my last book Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World I sought to present current biblical scholarship on each book of the Bible. There are many others who work in the field that I am plowing. I list them in the bibliography of my book.

Studying one of these books in a church group would help to create the conversation that builds a new community within the church. My guess is that most clergy would welcome that initiative and if they did not, perhaps you should look for another church.

Theological seminaries are also not created equal. Some are great centers of academic excellence. I think immediately in this category of Harvard Divinity School and Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Some are denominational schools that have tied themselves into ecumenical consortiums. In this category I think of the theological schools in the Berkeley, California, center and the seminaries that revolve around Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some are denominational schools that are connected to a university. I think of the Drew Theological School on the campus of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.

Some denominational schools, however, are little more than propaganda institutions in the service of denominational comfort. These institutions engage the world and its thought very little, tolerate their critics very uneasily and tend to bless the status quo. The fact is that most of the biblical scholarship that informs my ministry and my writing has been around for about 200 years and yet I did not learn about it in my denominational training school in the 1950’s. That illustrates the problem.

Thank you for your good words.

John Shelby Spong

 

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