Charting A New Reformation, Part XVII – The Fifth Thesis

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on April, 14 2016

“The Miracles Stories of the Old Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events performed by an Incarnate Deity.”

I wonder how …

Charting the New Reformation, Part VII – Re-Imagining God: Not a being, but Being-A Place to Begin

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on January, 14 2016

In the light of our expanded knowledge, God, understood theistically, turned out to be our own creation in which we human beings tried to fit God into words that …

On the Separation of Church and State

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 26 2015

(Publisher’s note: On November 9th 2015, in Washington, D. C. the national organization known as Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, held …

Re-Creating Easter V: How did Easter Dawn? What was the Context?

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 22 2015

We are told, but only in Luke’s gospel, that when Cleopas and his traveling companion returned from Emmaus to Jerusalem to share their experience of the risen Christ …

Re-Creating Easter II: Who Stood in the Center of the Easter Moment?

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 24 2015

Who was the person who stood in the center of the most dramatic moment in Christian history, the experience we call Easter? Who was it who first saw the …

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 …

Part XXXVIII Matthew – The First Confirmation Class

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on January, 22 2015

Most people are not aware that Judaism, at the time of Jesus, had become a missionary, conversion-oriented religion. People all over the Roman Empire were finding their way into …

Part XXXIV Matthew – The Transfiguration of Jesus, Part III

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 6 2014

A Dedication-Hanukkah Story

How many of you have ever connected the story of Jesus’ transfiguration with the Jewish celebration of Dedication/Hanukkah? We may well have imagined …

Part XXXIII Matthew – Watching the Traditions of “Dedication/Hanukkah” Develop

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 30 2014

Last week we traced the origins of the Jewish festival known as “Dedication,” but in our day popularly called “Hanukkah.”. It celebrated the moment when a guerilla army of …

Cancel