The Bible, Corporal Punishment and Human Guilt – Part 6

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 21 2004

If God is not a punishing and rescuing deity, then who or what is God? If the biblical explanation of the source of evil is no longer operative, …

The Bible, Corporal Punishment and Human Guilt – Part 5

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 14 2004

“Those whom I love, I will reprove and chasten so be zealous and repent (Rev.3: 19).”

Can you imagine that something as life denying as …

The Bible, Corporal Punishment and Human Guilt – Part 4

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 7 2004

Is it accident, coincidence or strange fate that Christianity has managed to preside over centuries of history in which physical punishment has been the primary means of discipline …

The Bible, Corporal Punishment and Human Guilt – Part 3

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 30 2004

In the most deeply patriarchal part of our male-dominant Western history, women were also considered to be fit subjects for corporal punishment at the hands of their husbands. …

The Bible, Corporal Punishment and Human Guilt – Part 2

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 23 2004

The physical abuse of children under the guise of “proper discipline” has been practiced in western history so frequently as to be thought of as normative. It has …

The Bible, Corporal Punishment and Human Guilt – Part 1

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 16 2004

“He who spares the rod, hates his son; but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. (Prov. 13:24).”

“Do not withhold …

Questions from the Readers: The War in Iraq

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 2 2004

Dear Friends,

Recent columns on the Iraq war have elicited great volumes of mail. I have picked representative samples of that mail and my response to them …

Unmasking the Source of Christian Anti-Semitism – Part III

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on May, 26 2004

When I was a child attending an Evangelical Episcopal (Anglican) Sunday school in North Carolina, I was taught that it was OK to hate Jews. If I questioned …

The Yankees, Iraq and Patriotism

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on May, 19 2004

Bob Shepherd is the resonant Voice of the New York Yankees, heard over the public address system welcoming fans to Yankee Stations and to the YES Network. He exhorts …