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Average Rating:  out of 12 Reviews
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Price: $15.95
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Sale: $3.90
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Manufacturer: HarperOne
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780060675202
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Paperback
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Author: John Shelby Spong
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Publisher: HarperOne
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Dewey Decimal Number: 232
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Publication Date: 1993-04-09
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Reading Level: 208
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Description: In This Study I Found A Lord, a center for my being. Behind the supernatural framework of the first century...I discover a life I wanted to know; a life that possessed a power I wanted to possess; a freedom, a wholeness for which I had yearned for years."Illuminating the "figure who stands at the center of all the Christian Church is," John Shelby Spong explores Jesus under the light of the Hebrew tradition into which he was born. Candid, personal, and soundly argued, this is Spong's spiritual and intellectual pilgrimaged to the Christ he discovered in Jesus of Nazareth.
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: See the Life of Jesus with Fresh New Eyes |
Date: 2008-10-24 |
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Details: One of the best books out there to help modern spiritual seekers understand who Jesus was as a Jew in early first century. Bishop Spong skillfully strips away the layers of myth that plague modern Christianity to reveal a more accurate picture of Jesus that is far more practical and real than the Jesus you meet in most churches today.
Darren Main
Author of "Hearts and Minds: Talking to Christians about Homosexuality"
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Review Summary: Modern and ancient world views |
Date: 2005-06-15 |
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Details: Spong aims to remove the layers of church varnish and restore the real Hebrew Jesus. Worthy aims but Spong utterly fails and fails in a dishonest fashion.
His removal of church varnish primarily consists of asserting a modern, liberal view of Jesus, which Spong states to be his "personal" one. The fact that it is modern or personal neither makes it wrong or right. But, informed critique of church dogma and doctrine is almost entirely lacking.
Instead, Spong relies on a counter-point between traditional church teachings and what he claims to be the authentic, Hebrew Jesus.
In this he reflects some trends in New Testament studies and, conveniently finds the authentic Hebrew Jesus attunes to his (Spong's) modern sensibilities.
One might smell a rat and, indeed, it is here that Spong's argument becomes dishonest. His method essentially is to discard miracles and all that inconvenent stuff and emphasise "love" as the real Jesus. But Spong is performing no more than a conjuring trick.
If we are to place Jesus in context then we must do more than project some 20th/21st century mindset and nice words back onto the 1stC. Hebrew context demands an understanding of the tenach (Old Testament) and how Jesus (Yeshuah) saw himself in relation to them.
If one bothers to understand the context properly (which Spong does not), then it becomes clear that Yeshuah, even from his first quoted words as a child in the temple and His first miracle of healing the lepers (which did not occur according to Spong), saw and presented Himself as the Messiah. The Messiah in the tenach is to heal the breach of covenant between the Lord and Israel.
Concepts such as peace and love (in terms of the Hebrew tenach, not exposition of Greek words in the N.T.) can only be understood in terms of covenant. Peace and love only occur within covenant relationship. Actiosn that break covenant are, by definition, violence. This is quite different from the modern mind set and usage of these terms. Covenant, and obedience (about which Yeshuah spoke often) is the yardstick.
That is why so many at the time found encounter with Yeshuah disconcerting. When we are presented with truth as the yardstick, our vain imaginings are challenged. Even John the Baptist had to be told not to be offended by Yeshuah.
What Spong preaches is conveniently absent of any yardstick beyond internal feelings and a vague do-goodism. No awkward challenge here. Covenant is not only ignored but cast aside. Thus, in terms of the very perspective that Yeshuah moved within and teaches, Spong is preaching violence yet calls it love and, what is worse, calls it authentic.
If you are searching for the authentic Jesus then Spong does not answer your search and will mislead you whilst pandering to your sensibilities. |
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Review Summary: A Message Full Of Hope |
Date: 2004-02-29 |
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Details: In THIS HEBREW LORD Spong gives us a glimpse of Jesus of Nazareth and the example he revealed of a life being fully lived and shared. In order to appreciate Jesus, Spong believes it is necassary to look at him through first century Hebrew eyes. From this vantage point the meaning of spiritual is to be alive to both God and the world. To have faith is to have the courage to enter life where one is also able to find God. To the Hebrew in the time of Jesus there is no separation between God and the world as there is in Greek philosophy. The author shows us a few Hebrew images from the Bible to help us observe Jesus in this new light. They are Jesus as a new Moses and new Elijah as well as the suffering servant from Second Isaiah. Spong also discusses certain words attributed to Jesus in the fourth gospel which allow us to see Jesus more completely. These words refer to Jesus as Light, Life, Resurrection and the Bread of Life. In this gospel Jesus is given what the author refers to as "Christpower." Spong provides a hopeful message for anyone who is having trouble relating to traditional Christianity but is still searching for meaning in religion. He writes with clarity and the text is filled with examples from his own personal quest for the truth. |
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Review Summary: Discover the fake Jesus you always wanted to believe in. |
Date: 2003-06-24 |
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Details: I confess-- I have something in common with most of the Rt. Rev. Spong's fans. Like them, I've read very little of what he's written. (For example, "Can A Bishop Be Wrong" has two five-star reviews from Spong fans who are under the impression that Spong wrote this book-- apparently, they feel comfortable praising Spong's work sight-unseen).
Don't get me wrong. I've tried to read Spong for a seminary class. But, alas, the Rt. Rev. S. is a ghastly writer. After a while, the charms of Spong's writing-- his relentless self-congratulation, his presenting of hackneyed 19th-century pop-biblical-criticism as his own daring innovation, his use of the passive voice to hide sweeping and questionable assertions ("...there is surprise at how insignificant were the theological issues dividing the two sides [of the Reformation]"), his utter lack of a sense of humor, his unforgivably poor skill with words-- begin to pall. I haven't yet met someone who can read an entire chapter of Spong at one sitting.That's where another book comes in handy- "Can a Bishop Be Wrong?". The authors don't exhaustively categorize the intellectual sins of the Rt. Rev. Spong-- such a task could never be worth the trees killed. But they provide a good survey of his looking-glass kingdom. "Can A Bishop Be Wrong" isn't a work of Christian apologetics, because it doesn't have to be. Spong's main contention-- the foundation of all his work-- is his claim that no intelligent person of the twentieth century can be an orthodox Christian. To respond, one doesn't have to prove Christianity-- one just has to provide a counterexample. This book categorizes his errors and logical lapses with admirable thoroughness. Not an exhaustive thoroughness, to be sure, but sufficient to the silly task at hand. This book has its flaws. As others have noted, it is a collection of essays, and they repeat some of the same points over and over. The authors sometimes let Spong goad them into anger. And they don't argue much against Spong's theological outlook-- but since Spong's outlook is just rehashed nineteenth-century "modernism", you can find plenty of orthodox arguments against heavier intellectual forces than Spong. (Try Chesterton's _The_Everlasting_Man_, for starters.) This book has a limited market. Spong's fans will not be moved by what they read here, if they were inclined to try reading it. But to the traditional theist of whatever religion, who wonders whether he ought to read Spong and find out what all the fuss is about, this book offers a strong and well-reasoned answer: "Nope." |
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Review Summary: This unrecognizable Lord |
Date: 2002-07-25 |
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Details: Unfortunately, Episcopal Bishop Spong's view of being "Hebrew" is probably unrecognizable to Jews or to anyone who doesn't share Spong's specific intellectual vision of 1st century Palestine. Unfortunately also, New Testament studies abound with the writings of people who have quirky visions of 1st century Palestine. No doubt this book reflects Spong's own questions and spiritual search. I have a great deal of doubt whether it offers a *successful* search for "the authentic Jesus". |
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