Part XVIII Matthew – Matthew’s Flashback to John the Baptist

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on April, 3 2014

We suggested last week that Mark, the author of the first gospel to be written, introduced his story of Jesus with a narrative appropriate to the Jewish New Year …

Part XVII Matthew – The Story of Jesus from Shavuot to Rosh Hashanah

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on March, 27 2014

After a three-week hiatus to consider some pressing theological questions and political issues we return this week to our story of Matthew’s gospel. It was indeed a good …

Part XVI Matthew – Did Jesus Teach Us to Pray the Lord’s Prayer?

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on March, 6 2014

If it is true, as I have suggested, that Jesus never preached the Sermon on the Mount then we immediately have to face other startling implications. That conclusion would …

Part XIV Matthew – The Sermon on the Mount: Sinai Revisited

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on February, 20 2014

Matthew is portraying Jesus as the New Moses who went to the top of a new mountain to deliver a new interpretation of the Torah. He is not a …

Part XIII Matthew: “A Prophet like unto Moses” – Introducing the Sermon on the Mount

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on February, 6 2014

It should not be surprising that a Jewish scribe in the first century, which is what the author of the gospel we call Matthew was, would make constant references …

Part X Matthew: The Story of the Magi and Their Gifts

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on December, 25 2013

The wise men from Matthew’s birth story have been deeply attached to our Christmas celebration, stretching all the way back to the time that Matthew introduced them in the …

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 “ …

Part IV Matthew – The Sermon on the Mount

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 24 2013

Jesus never preached the Sermon on the Mount! Some of the content recorded in that well-known part of Matthew’s gospel may well stretch back to the literal words of …

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