Charting the New Reformation, Part VII – Re-Imagining God: Not a being, but Being-A Place to Begin

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 14 January 2016 11 Comments
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“I am eagerly looking to the essays on the twelve theses that you recently put forth in your column. You have been a major mover in this whole arena and endeavor and I want to thank you for your creativity and your work. It has been most enlightening and helpful.”
Professor Robert Albers, Retired, the Faculty of The United Theological Seminary in Minnesota

“Wow! What a great way to end my year. You know my take on theology. I am loving following your twelve theses campaign."
Anna Curran, San Diego, California

“Your column today is the best summation I have ever read of why the Bible is not “the word of God.” and why the God of the Bible is not even the God we should be inclined to think about in these days. Thank you for your remarkable clarity, to say nothing of your marvelous understanding of what’s what.”
Hal Wingo, a former editor at both Life and People Magazines

“The Twelve Theses are nailed to my door metaphorically speaking.”
Rev. Joel Biggers, UCC New Jersey.

“I understand what you are saying about new liturgies to encompass these new insights and I can’t wait. But what are we to do in the meantime? Most prayers invoke a god that doesn’t act in that way, yet I am still called to pray.”
Elizabeth Oakes (the Rev. )

“The God who dwells within us would let us love all humankind and all colors and races, all lefties and righties, all people of different sexual preferences, and treat women as equal in status to men. Our God in the new Christian religion shall not make use of religious authority to make profit or to oppress or degrade others anymore.”
Eugene Wei, Suzhou, China

“I would like to help, but don’t have a clear idea of what you want in terms of transforming our holy words into believable words of today. As a retired teacher of English and the wife of a Niagara priest, I could be a reader for you: read your emails and put them in whatever categories you have in mind.”
Eleanor Johnston, Niagara, Canada

“Based on your twelve theses I fail to understand what there is left of Christianity that merits calling it so. I am an Episcopalian, confirmed, and a post-graduate in engineering. I accept science, the theory of the “big bang,” evolution, etc. I am also aware of the struggle of early Christians in reaching an “orthodoxy” and the late influence of imperial Rome on Christianity. It is the old conflict of faith vs. religion and I harbor both beliefs leading to a great deal of angst. My inadequate solution is to compartmentalize into “rational” and “spiritual” boxes to stay calm and carry on."
C. Hutcheon via the Internet.

"Just read your New Reformation Declaration. Wow! Oh my God!! Congratulations for taking such a bold move. I am greatly relieved that it is 2015 and not 1515, because I would hate to think of a great man going to the stake to be burned. Intellectually your reformation makes sense. On reflection and in truth. I have known this for most of my life, being much influenced, “stirred, but not shaken,” when I was in seminary by Bishop (John A. T.) Robinson’s book of the sixties Honest to God. Here is the real difficulty I have. Following the intellectual logic and all the benefits of today’s scientific reality does not help me grow spiritually.”
Father Max Augustine, OPC, New South Wales, Australia

“Yours is the voice that sings Christ’s song for today and beyond. You touch the chords where God’s love belongs, in the human heart where it has been all along.”
The Rev. Dr. Patrick Berryhill, Unity minister

“As I read your writings you seem to focus only on God (and humankind) in the third physical dimension. I like to quote Edgar Mitchell, the Apollo astronaut who said: “There are no unnatural or supernatural phenomena, only very large gaps in our knowledge of what is natural. We should strive to fill those gaps of ignorance. So I would love to have your thinking on what to you is “Spiritual.”
Beverly A. Shade via the Internet

“The time for the theistic God is over, but when are you going to replace the theistic god with a Godin words that a modern intelligent person can understand and accept? This involves the topic of Jesus as the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity and the definition of “divinity versus humanity.” Does our God have an ontological, evolutionary dimension and progression?”
Tony Jacobs via the Internet

“When can we expect the language of our liturgies to begin to become more progressive? What can we do to encourage our clergy to move away from the old worship language? Do they face authoritative discipline by using less theistic language?”
Frank Pepe, Poughkeepsie, New York

“I have been enjoying Bishop Spong for years and embrace most of his positions. However, they tend to be negations requiring us readers to construct our own beliefs and expressions, so that we can lift our eyes in hope.”
Richard Hill, Ph.D. via the Internet

“The human need for certainty in face of the realities of life leaves us uncomfortable and uncertain. It is what most strive for throughout their lives. Perhaps we might revisit Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs.” Often uncertainty and insecurity leads us to certainty and security, facing the realities of life. But we are not alone in this need. Shaking foundations is very, very difficult, as one faces partial truths, untruths and tradition. Even Bultmann and Tillich left us wondering.”
R; L. Duncan, Naples Florida.

“This is fantastic! Exactly what I have been wondering about lately. If we could possibly bring about a “New Reformation” Oh how it would change the world and bring people together. I would like to join you in creating “A New Christianity f9or a New World.”
Sandra Sammons, Tryon, North Carolina.

“I am a former Catholic and an astrologer. Your article gave me such hope. I am happy to find such open-minded individuals in the Catholic Church. I want to hear more.”
Martha Dominguez via the Internet.

“God is not to be found in this way, nor is God to be as it were, not found. It is not that the Immanuel promise that Jesus fulfilled would be that God would be within us, although prophets like Ezekiel proclaimed it so, rather that all of this ever expanding universe is within God. God is not confined within the world of space-time or matter and energy. Therefore, no preposition that we use that concerns any of those time-connected or space connected ideas can be applied to God. No before, or after, no above and no below.”
Colleen Fay, via the Internet

 

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11 thoughts on “Charting the New Reformation, Part VII – Re-Imagining God: Not a being, but Being-A Place to Begin

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