Part VII Matthew: The Shady Ladies of Matthew’s Genealogy

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 14 2013

The audience for which Matthew wrote was conversant with the Jewish Scriptures, so when he mentions Tamar in the genealogy, they would know her story. The Torah (Genesis, Exodus, …

Part VI Matthew: The Genealogy (1:1-17)

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 7 2013

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” — that is how the gospel of Matthew begins. The word “ …

The Birth of Jesus, Part XV. The Journey to Bethlehem

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 13 2013

The creators of the birth narratives, Matthew and Luke, used two motifs in interpreting the life of Jesus of Nazareth. First, each was historically aware that Jesus hailed from …

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 …

The Birth of Jesus, Part XII. Making Sense of the Wise Men

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on May, 2 2013

Having now described the miraculous birth of Jesus in chapter one of his gospel, Matthew turns next to his account of how the birth of Jesus was divinely “rolled …

The Birth of Jesus, Part XI. Matthew Weaves Together Proof Texts from Isaiah, Micah, Hosea and from an Unknown Source

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on April, 11 2013

Christianity was born in the synagogue and the original followers of Jesus were primarily observant Jews. They gathered in the synagogue regularly on the Sabbath for worship. A major …

The Birth of Jesus, Part X: Matthew Sources and the Hebrew Scriptures

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on February, 21 2013

Reading the Bible with any real comprehension in the 21st century is not an easy task. The gospels are a product of the 1st century, a dramatically different time, …

The Birth of Jesus, Part VIII. The Fourth Woman in Matthew’s genealogy: The Wife of Uriah

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on January, 17 2013

The fourth and final woman included in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus with which he opens his gospel and simultaneously introduces into the Christian tradition the story of the …

The Birth of Jesus, Part V. Matthew’s Original Story. The Prologue and Tamar, the Incestuous One

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on December, 13 2012

Matthew is the gospel writer (82-85) who first introduced the story of Jesus’ miraculous or virgin birth into the tradition. He did so with the seventeen most boring verses …

The Birth of Jesus, Part IV. The Two Versions of the Birth Story

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on December, 5 2012

The familiar stories of Jesus’ miraculous birth entered the Christian tradition in two different forms, separated by perhaps a decade. The original narrative was written by a man we …

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