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Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers In Exile
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Average Rating:  out of 250 Reviews
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Price: $14.95
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Sale: $4.04
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Manufacturer: HarperOne
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780060675363
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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: 230
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Publication Date: 1999-05-01
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Reading Level: 288
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Description: John Shelby Spong is the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, and has enjoyed a career filled with controversy, much of it thanks to his many bestselling books, such as Born of a Woman, Living in Sin?, and Liberating the Gospels. He has tapped into an audience of people who are at once spiritually starved and curious, yet unwilling or unable to embrace Christianity. Spong refers to himself as a believer in exile. He believes the world into which Christianity was born was limited and provincial, particularly when viewed from the perspective of the progress in knowledge and technology made over the past two millennia. This makes any ideas or beliefs formulated in 1st-century Judea totally inadequate to our progressive minds and lives today. So Spong is in exile until Christianity is re-formed to discard all of the outdated and, according to Spong, false tenets of Christianity. He begins his book by exposing the Apostles Creed line by line, then methodically moves on through the heart of Christian belief, carefully exploring each aspect, demonstrating in each case the inadequacies of Christianity as detailed in the Bible and in the traditions of the Church. The epilogue includes Spong's own creed, recast to reflect the beliefs he considers relevant to Christianity at the end of the 20th century. Oddly enough, Spong's views do not seem particularly new. In fact, his views seem very much in keeping with the religious humanist variety of Unitarianism. What is remarkable is not the beliefs themselves, but that an Episcopal bishop would be the one to embrace and espouse them. Spong has become a trumpeter in the battle of beliefs, not just in the Episcopal communion, but in the realm of Christian faith in general in this country. His books are bestsellers and are in turn, presumably, read by those who, whether they agree or disagree, all acknowledge that in some way, Spong is involved in setting the agenda. This book, as the admitted "summation of his life's work" tells every reader what the complete agenda will be, for the next few years at least. --Patricia Klein
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: First half is a must for beginner atheists |
Date: 2007-05-17 |
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Details: I've seen detailed reviews by Frank Mobbs and Brent Hardaway and looked over many here, so I realize no further opinions need to be expressed except from a bona fide atheist.
The author does a great job in the first half of the book making the case that atheists will see as brilliant and obviously true. And, unlike atheists, the author is polite and respectful of religion while doing it. Too many atheistic works are disrespectful of the believers at best and filthy-language rages at worst. Here then is an excellent work.
But then he spends the second half talking mumbo-jumbo nonsense, trying to set himself up as a messiah of sorts, bringing in a new view of Jesus and God.
I am certain that deep down, his logical self believes the first half but his superstitious half refuses to accept the logical end-conclusion: life on earth (or anywhere) is a process which occurs naturally and has no meaning or significance. Period. There is no purpose and there is no afterlife.
As a result, he tries to make a weird version of Jesus so he can still say he still worships Him and is thus still a Christian.
Poor deluded sole. I feel more sorry for him than I do for the people who find fault with the first half of the book.
I would give the book 5 stars for the first half (good reading for beginner atheists) and zero stars for the second (not good even for mystics). He should have published a smaller book entitled "Why Judeo/Christian Religions are False".
And his final conclusion: If you don't do things his way, Christianity will die, is completely wrong. Ignorant and superstitious people will exist forever and thus no religion will ever die unless replaced by one with even more fanatic zealots who kill all those who disagree. That's why we don't worship Zeus.
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Review Summary: An inexcusably illiterate book with an overt political agenda |
Date: 2007-03-28 |
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Details: Bishop Spong is a retired Episcopal bishop with a simple point of view. Christianity, to him, is defined by the most aggressively illiterate and anti-modern types of Fundamentalist Protestantism. It is anti-science. It is anti-evolution. It takes a rigidly literalist view of the Bible. Christianity, in short, is against reason and it is against the modern world. Thus, it is dying. The only way to fix it is to radically change it, to make it into a religion of love, instead of one of judgment.
With all due respect, Bishop Spong is simply wrong, about every single aspect of this.
First, as Spong should know, there are many kinds of Christianity. Yes, there are churches which arguably fit his description, particularly if viewed in an uncharitable way. However, as an Episcopalian he should have at least basic familiarity with Catholic teaching. The Catholic Church is not, and never has been, anti-reason, anti-evolution or anti-science. It has never taken a literal view of the Bible. The Episcopal Church once upon a time considered itself very close to Rome, in theological terms. While the Episcopal Church has recently had a long series of very public fights with the Catholic Church, and with the world Anglican Church, over, first, the ordination of women, and, second, the ordination of gay priests and bishops, most Episcopal priests and congregations still pride themselves on being well-educated. It is, frankly, bewildering to have an Episcopal Bishop say that he can not see any difference between his own Church and the most illiterate form of hardshell fundamentalist. I honestly do not know what he thinks he is talking about. One can criticize the Episcopal Church for many things, but excessive Fundamentalism and overly-strict Biblical literalism are not features that any sane, competent observer thinks characterize the Episcopalians.
Second, as a practical matter, it is the liberal churches which are dying not the fundamentalist ones. Every liberal church has shrunk dramatically in the last genertion. Every staunchly conservative church has grown in members. One can like this or not like this, but it is simply a fact that it is the liberal churches which are dying, not the other way around. It takes willful blindness, a stubborn refusal to face basic facts, to deny this. (One can see this, among other places, in the differing fortunes of the Episcopal and the Catholic Churches in America. The two were quite close, in many ways, fifty years ago. The Episcopal Church, however, has gone from being "the Republican Party at prayer", as it was a century ago, to being perhaps the most liberal Church in America today. The Catholic Church, while it has flirted with liberalism, has basically stood fast to its historic teachings. The Episcopal Church has lost nearly half its members and has far more priests -- gay, straight and female -- then can possibly find pulpits. The Catholic Church has grown steadily and faces a severe priest shortage, so pressing is the call for them.)
Third, when Spong says that the Church must be transformed, he advocates nothing new. He wants a Church based on reason and love. Here is an idea for you, Bishop. Go read St. Augustine. Read St. Thomas Aquinas. Read Luther. For that matter, go read Cardinal Ratzinger's Introduction to Christianity. Read John Paul II's Theology of the Body. Read some Edith Stein. Acquaint yourself with the classics of the literate Church, both historically and in the our era. You will find tht the "new" church you want is not new. You will find that all of the values you advocate have always been in the Church. What we need is not radical newness, but leaders who actually read and understand the tradition.
Is Bishop Spong truly ignorant of the Theology 101 reading list which I just ticked off? It is possible, in which case it is truly appalling that the Episcopal Church made such an illiterate a priest, never mind a bishop. But I do not think so. Something tells me that Spong has heard of Augustine and Aquinas. I think he ignores the classics of the literate Church, deliberately, because he has a different agenda. He basically wants to turn his back on the Bible, and make Jesus Christ into a pitchman for the extreme left wing of the Democratic Party instead. It is certainly his right to believe as he wishes. LIke so many other Episcopal leaders, however, he is not unable to draw any firm line between where religion ends and politics begins. As a result, what he teaches is basically a muddled form of left-wing political ideology. The voice of the Gospels, the voice of the Apostle Paul, the voice of Moses, these are voices that Bishop Spong is not listening to any more. |
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Review Summary: A Path to the Future |
Date: 2006-12-31 |
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Details: Bishop Spong is a thoughtful, caring man with a deeply religious sensibility. In this book he restores meaning and wonder to the great passages in the New Testament, and in the process has undoubtedly lead many readers to a deeper and fuller understanding of God and Christ.
The Reformation permanently changed the way people thought about Christianity. This is another age in which our views of religion are going through major changes. In his small, modest way, Bishop Spong is helping to lead the way for modern day Christians who have lost faith in the old forms and who seek a richer, more meaningful understanding of their religion.
Biship Spong does a good job of answering many of the questions that educated modern Christians ask about their religion. It is increasingly difficult for many of us to accept literal interpretations of certain passages in the Bible. And yet they have not lost meaning to us, they simply need to be reinterpreted for modern readers.
I don't think of Spong as one of the great religious leaders who have changed our view of life. I see his role as more modest, but nonetheless important. He brings the living spirit of God to his readers, and for that he is surely blessed. |
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Review Summary: Must read |
Date: 2006-12-15 |
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Details: This book will challenge your Sunday School mentality and teach you to think for yourself. When it comes to believing religious leaders, text and traditions, you may want to consider why you believe what you believe!
Yvonne Perry,Author of:
More Than Meets the Eye: True Stories about Death, Dying and Afterlife
Right to Recover: Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America [...] |
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Review Summary: SO SAD! |
Date: 2006-11-03 |
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Details: This author has surly become disallusioned with his religion and is trying to bend it to his liking. |
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