Thoughts on Baptizing Chapman Thomas Brinegar

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 30 2015

This past summer in a lovely chapel quite literally on the coast of Maine, I had the pleasure of baptizing Chapman Thomas Brinegar. A baptism is something I hardly …

Resurrection: Pious Dream or Reality? Part XI, Conclusion

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 23 2015

In this column, I turn to the Fourth Gospel to complete our journey through the New Testament. Our purpose has been to see what the New Testament really says …

Resurrection: A Reality or a Pious Dream? Part X The Story of the Ascension

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 9 2015

“Ideas Have Consequences.” That was the title of a book that I was required to read early in my theological education. It was not a profound book, but its …

Resurrection: A Reality or a Pious Dream, Part IX Luke: Physical, Non-Physical or Both?

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 25 2015

Today, I want to focus on the ambiguity found in the conflicting aspects of Luke’s two resurrection stories in more detail and in more depth. It will help …

Resurrection: A Reality or a Pious Dream, Part VIII: Luke – Mystery Recedes – Literalism Grows

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 18 2015

When we come to Luke, the third gospel writer and, counting Paul, the fourth biblical witness to the meaning of Easter, we discover a dramatic shift in the language …

Resurrection: A Reality or A Pious Dream? Part VI: Matthew’s Story of the Galilean Appearances

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 4 2015

Mark’s messenger of the resurrection, described in that gospel as “a young man in a white robe,” had promised a future appearance of the raised Christ to the …

Resurrection – Myth or Reality, Part II: The Witness of Paul

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on April, 30 2015

The first writer of what later came to be called the New Testament was a well-educated Jew from Tarsus in Asia Minor. His name was Paul, although there is …

“Resurrection” A Reality or a Pious Dream? Part I

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on April, 23 2015

On Easter Sunday, a couple of weeks ago now, I was in my parish church, St. Peter’s in Morristown, New Jersey. I was not alone. Into that church, at …

Part XLVII Matthew: The Meaning of the Passion opens into the Meaning of Resurrection

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on April, 9 2015

The drama of the cross races towards its conclusion. It is a story that runs counter to the cultural expectations. Shaped by the “Servant” figure, drawn from II Isaiah, …

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