Elijah and Elisha (The Origins of the Bible, Part Xa)
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 4 2010While going through past columns in my series on the origins of the Bible this fall in preparation for their publication next year by Harper Collins under the title < ...
A Gem of a Church in Montana
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 28 2010A major street near the center of this city was named “Last Chance Gulch.” Another was called “Prospect Street.” One quickly got the sense that Helena, the state capital …
An Open Letter to Political Leader Newt Gingrich and Religious Leader Pat Robertson
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 21 2010Dear Newt and Pat,
You have both walked on the national stage for some time now. Your names are well known, even household words, across this country. I think …
How St. Luke’s Church in Tarboro, N. C., Challenged My Racism
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 14 2010As I stood in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Chapel at Morehouse College recently to witness the unveiling of my portrait to hang in the Hall of Honor, I …
Stephen Hawking and the Death of Theism
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 7 2010Stephen Hawking, probably the best known and best read scientist of this century, has just published, with his co-author Leonard Mlodinov of Stanford University, a book entitled
Anti-Muslim America! – The Meaning of our Current Political Anger
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 30 2010Early in my career, I had a colleague, now deceased, named The Rev. Joseph Kellerman, known to his friends as “Jody.” This man served then as the rector of …
China Revisited, Part III
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 23 2010There are no Gideon Bibles in the hotel rooms of modern China. There are not even books expressing the beauty of Buddhism, Taoism or the writings of Confucius. There …
China Revisited, Part II
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 16 2010Visiting modern China during the summer of 2010 was a transforming, enlightening and even a fearful experience for me. I had not been to China in 22 years.
Our journey began …
China Revisited, Part I
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 9 2010I first went to China in 1984. In that year we could only visit Hong Kong and the New Territories. The Cultural Revolution, led by the “gang of four” and …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXXVI: Johannine Epistles and the Book of Revelation
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 2 2010We come this week to the final chapter in our three-year-long walk through the 66 books of the Bible. We conclude with the final pieces of the Johannine literature: the …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXXV: The Epilogue of John
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 26 2010The last chapter of John’s gospel, known as the Epilogue, is not believed by most scholars to be part of the original text of this gospel. A careful reading …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXXIV: The Raising of Lazarus and the Identity of the Beloved
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 19 2010We began this study of John with the assertion that the author of this gospel was writing a highly symbolic, interpretive account of Jesus of Nazareth. He created this …
The Origins of The New Testament, Part XXXIII: The Gospel of John
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 12 2010If I had to give my readers one clue and one clue only that would unlock the Fourth Gospel and allow its honesty and wonder to flow forth, it …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXXII: Introducing the Johannine Material
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 5 2010The last series of books that I will consider to complete our study of the Bible’s origins is referred to as “The Johannine Literature.” It consists of five books: …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXXI: The General Epistles — James, I & II Peter and Jude
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 29 2010When we come near the end of the New Testament, we run into four small books that bear the names of well-known figures in the gospel tradition. They are …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXX: The Epistle to The Hebrews
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 22 2010We do not know who wrote it. We do not know the date of its composition. We do not know to whom this book in the Bible was actually …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXIX: I and II Timothy and Titus — The Pastoral Epistles. We Have the Truth!
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 15 2010Thus far, as we have explored the origins of the various books of the New Testament, we have not yet come across that familiar form of human religion that …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXVIII: Acts III — The Story of Paul
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 8 2010When the book of Acts moves beyond the conflict that set Jewish Christians against Greek Christians, it is ready to chronicle the story of how Christianity became a universal …
Hendersonville, N.C.A Church, an Organization and the Signs of Victory
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 1 2010Henderson County is located near Ashville in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina, near where I grew up in Charlotte and into which I return every summer as …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXVII: Acts & the Rise of Universalism
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 24 2010The book of Acts is a travelogue, a journey, designed by Luke to bring fulfillment to the words he puts into Jesus’ mouth at the very beginning of this …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXVI: The Book of Acts
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 17 2010In the early manuscripts of the Bible, the book of Acts served the purpose of providing transition from the gospels to the epistles. There was a deep historical fallacy …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXV: Concluding Luke and the Synoptic Gospels
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 3 2010In this final segment on the third gospel we call Luke, I want to summarize and to establish firmly in the minds of my readers the major thesis that …
The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXIV: Introducing Luke
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on May, 27 2010By the time the third gospel, the one we call Luke, was written, history had moved to the last years of the 9th decade at the earliest and quite …
Lauren Elizabeth Failla 1985-2010
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on May, 20 2010When I got the telephone call, it was like absorbing a blow to the chest that left my heart pounding and my body breathless, “Can you come right away. …
Origins of the New Testament, Part XXIII: Matthew and the Liturgical Year of the Synagogue
Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on May, 13 2010In one of my earlier columns on the gospel of Mark, I sought to demonstrate that it was the liturgical life of the synagogue that formed the organizing principle …