Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions, a fallen creation, guilt, original sin or divine rescue. With the need for constant evolution in mind, Spong created his personal mantra. //]]>, Eternal Life: A New Vision: Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell, Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy: A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew's Gospel, The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic, Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers In Exile, Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World. var useSSL = "https:" == document.location.protocol; [Religion News Service] Retired Newark Bishop John Shelby Spong, a bestselling author and cleric known for his progressive theology and his support of LGBTQ+ clergy in The Episcopal Church, has died. His great-great-grandfather had emigrated to America from Kent, though the family name may . 50. All we can ever say is how we believe we have experienced God, doing our best to dispel our human delusions. There can be no one regarded as unclean, no prejudice allowed to operate inside this vision of Christianity., Since then, he has answered the call to try to transform the world so that every person living in it will have a better opportunity to live fully, love wastefully and be all each of them was created to be.. session: { id: "242-2972433-4130551" }, function getCookieWithoutJQuery(name) { I was taught that women were by nature in inferior to men, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. Bishop John Shelby Spong, an Episcopal Church prelate whose liberal views rankled orthodox Episcopalians and others, died in his sleep Sunday morning, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Morris. Death is ultimately a dimension of life through which we journey into timelessness. There is no one who has been braver and ready to take whatever came his way for saving the truth., At 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 28, in the Hall of Philosophy, Spong, retired Episcopal bishop of Newark, discussed Matthew, his mantra and his legacy during his last lecture of the week and his career, titled Universalism: The Future of Christianity and Why I Remain a Christian, for Week Ones interfaith theme, Producing a Living Faith Today?, Todays the day, Spong said. John Shelby Spong, whose books have sold more than a million copies, was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2001. note: he retired years after this article was first written]. John Shelby Spong Quotes - BrainyQuote American - Clergyman Born: June 16, 1931 Mother Nature is not sweet. John Shelby Spong Quotes. All human beings bear God's image and must be respected for what each person is. Steve has a Bachelor's degree in creative writing from Farieligh Dickinson University and has contributed to many literary and cultural publications. Behind the supernatural framework of the first century, behind the language of myth, magic, and superstition, I discovered 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. Apologetic explanations do not develop unless there is a reality that has to be explained and defended. //= 2; // retina display Rather "we are part of what God is and we are at one with all that God is." We. The former Episcopal Bishop of Newark (N.J.) has been writing for years for those he calls "believers in exile," people who feel like modern versions of Christianity demand blind faith and require adherents to check their brains at the door. I rather experience God as the source of life willing me to live fully, the source of love calling me to love wastefully and to borrow a phrase from the theologian, Paul Tillich, as the Ground of being, calling me to be all that I can be. And I have no reason to abandon it because it leads to where I want to go. Giving It All Quotes Page 34 Part 2 of the giving it all quotations list about premature-birth and baby-shower sayings citing John Shelby Spong, Eve Ensler and Milo Ventimiglia captions Now, the fourth gospel says that the moment that Jesus is glorified is the moment he's put to death on the cross, not the resurrection. I think the best way to view the Gospels is to view them as a magnificent portrait being painted by Jewish artists to try to capture the essence of a God experience that they believe they had with Jesus of Nazareth. John Shelby Spong Quotes 1. God is not a noun, that demands to be defined, God is a verb that invites us to live, to love and to be. In a 2013 interview, Spong credited the Anglican bishop John Robinson as his mentor in this journey and said reading Robinson's writings in the 1960s led to a friendship and mentoring relationship with him over many years. I was baptized as an infant. God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. If you're really thinking prayer can stop rockets or bullets, you have to ask why some people do get hit by rockets or bullets. The Bible has lost every major battle it has ever fought. "The older I get, the more deeply I believe but the. John Shelby Spong 2 I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. Was Judas Iscariot a figure of history? Tweets by @chqdaily No one can finally say. I could not believe that anyone who has read this book would be so foolish as to proclaim that the Bible in every literal word was the divinely inspired, inerrant word of God. "Walking into the Mystery of God" by John Shelby Spong, www.uua.org. 5:44) and never to call others by demeaning or hurtful names (Matt. He looks at the vastness of the universe and it looks hostile. I do assert that one prepares for eternity not by being religious and keeping the rules, but by living fully, loving wastefully, and daring to be all that each of us has the capacity to be. [CDATA[ People always like to have a good time and laugh, and, [among] the vast majority of the seven billion people on this earth, one thing that we all have in common is at some . It is not by pitching the old insights out but by journeying deeply through them into new visions that we are able to change religion's direction. 1. When I stand in the presence of this God who inhabits the heart of life, I know just why I define myself as a joyful . " That's not Christianity. The creeds were 3rd- and 4th-century love songs that people composed to sing to their understanding of God. I never really liked the Gospel of John because I never could find the humanity of Jesus in it. Inequality for gay and lesbian people is no longer a debatable issue in either church or state. We do not have to literalize their words to perceive their meaning or their intention to join in the singing of their creedal song. " John Shelby Spong 84. There was new openness to the supernatural. His admirers acclaim him as a teaching bishop who makes contemporary theology accessible to the ordinary layperson he's considered the champion of an inclusive faith by many, both . Browse top 25 most favorite famous quotes and sayings by John Shelby Spong. Why dont we understand that? "Events.SushiEndpoint": "https://unagi.amazon.com/1/events/com.amazon.csm.csa.prod", "Bishop John Shelby Spong On: The Resurrection" The Christian Faith was born in the experience that we have come to call Easter. John Shelby Spong 1 Mother Nature is not sweet. 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