On the Importance of Being Ordinary

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 29 2013

Over the past few years, while working on my recent book, The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic, I became fascinated with how the author of …

The Need for the Christian to Journey Beyond Scripture, Creed and Church

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 22 2013

Theology is a rational, deeply human, attempt to explain our experience with God. Theology is, therefore, never primary; it is always secondary to experience. Theological explanations can thus never …

On Building a Christianity without Security or Creeds

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 15 2013

One of my readers, Henry Gael Michaels, has shared with me an anonymous story on the meaning of God with which I open this column. It also reveals, I …

On Parting – Never to Meet Again – An Experience of Timelessness

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 12 2013

There are some moments in life when the transcendent is expressed inside the mundane; where the eternal seems to enter the passage of time. They are moments, usually unexpected, …

A Meditation on the State of America on its 237th Birthday

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 11 2013

The United States celebrated its 237th birthday this past week. It seems, therefore, a fitting time for some moments of national reflection. In today’s column I seek to …

The Birth of Jesus, Conclusions: Part XVI

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 20 2013

Luke concludes his birth story with a series of episodes designed to point to the story of the adult Jesus. First, in Luke’s story, the shepherds depart, while …

Part II Introducing The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 6 2013

When writing the opening chapter of my soon-to-be released book, The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic, I felt the need to issue a warning to …

Part I: The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on May, 30 2013

The publication date is June 11, 2013. The books will actually be shipped to bookstores across the nation in the last week of May. The rights to publish this in Italian …

Lectureship that Challenges What is, in the Name of What Can Be

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on May, 23 2013

The Third Annual John Shelby Spong Lecture was held at St. Peter’s Church, Morristown, New Jersey, near the end of April. A crowd of people, numbering around 400, according …

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