Charting a New Reformation, Part XXX - The Ninth Thesis, Ethics (continued)

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 4 August 2016 14 Comments
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Question

I have read and appreciated several of your books and continue to read and ponder your articles. Based on the Twelve Theses that you are developing, I fail to understand what is left of “Christianity” that merits it calling it by that name. I accept the eight Points of Progressive Christianity and do think a reformation is needed. I am an Episcopalian, confirmed in the early 1960s and though I have difficulty with literal interpretations, I do cherish the liturgy, music and message. As a post-graduate in engineering, I respect science; accepting the theories of the “big bang,” evolution, etc. I am also aware of the struggle of the early Christians in reaching an orthodoxy and the later influence of imperial Rome on Christianity. It is the old conflict faith vs. science 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. Your Twelve Theses have added weight to one of the “boxes” and increased the angst. Do help me understand if one accepts your Twelve Theses, discounting a God, Jesus, prayer, life after death, etc., why would there be a need to hold on to the term Christianity unless it is as a bridge or point of departure? What remains of Christianity that isn’t already covered in the philosophy of ethics and morality? I am confused.

Answer

Dear C. Hutcheson,

I suspect you will not be the only person who will respond as your letter indicates you are responding. What I am trying to do in this series is not easy. It also cannot be done in the space allowed for the answer to a question. I am challenging the traditional content that Christians have invested in the symbols of the Christian story. I am not challenging the reality of the Christ experience. I am doing that because that traditional content, as well as its frame of reference, has lost its meaning in the face of an explosion of human knowledge.

There is no supernatural being who lives above the sky. There is only the vast expanse of infinite space, filled with galaxies, dark matter and black holes. That definition of God, which postulated such an external deity and was called theism, is what is dying. The question is: “Does God die when a human definition of God dies?” I do not think so. The contemporary God experience, however, requires a new understanding shaped by new words. In this series, I am trying to frame that new understanding and to create those new words.

If there is no supernatural being living beyond the sky, then what does it mean to pretend that this God is active in human history? Can prayer actually turn a hurricane out to sea? Can prayer save a person from a plane crash, defend a combatant in warfare or heal a sickness?

If there is no supernatural being beyond the sky, can this non-existent deity incarnate the divine self into a human form in order to live among us? Can we still then literalize the details of this incarnate one’s magical entry through the virgin birth or his majestic departure through a cosmic ascension? Once one removes the concept of God as a supernatural being, the whole superstructure of traditional Christianity begins to crumble before our eyes. Denying this reality does not make it less so. If you have identified Christianity with this dated portrait or theological construction, then you are right, there is nothing of great value remaining.

I believe, however, that God is real, that God can be encountered in human life, that when we transcend the limits of our humanity, we do enter a new level of consciousness in which the divine and the human flow together as one. I do believe that this God experience can be understood in new words, that God in fact was in Christ, that human life can touch and enter that which is eternal. What I am seeking to do in this series, which I have entitled, Charting a New Reformation, is to spell out how these real God experiences can be talked about in the language of the 21st century. So what is left? A faith that makes contact with my heart and mind without playing the game called “Let’s pretend,” is what is left. It is, however, not the game that organized Christianity generally continues to play as it fades today into irrelevance.

Will it work? Can I succeed in this task? Time alone will answer that. If we do not make this effort, will Christianity somehow still survive? I do not believe there is a chance.

So I invite you to enter the debate. The series is far from over. The struggle goes on, but I believe “A New Christianity for a New World” is still a goal worth seeking with all my heart.
John Shelby Spong

 

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