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Jesus for the Non-Religious
by John Shelby Spong
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Paperback
Publisher: HarperOne
The Pope Describes the Ancient Traditional Jesus; Bishop Spong Brings Us a Jesus Modern People Can Be Inspired By
| Customer Reviews: |
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| Theism in Need of Reform |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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John Spong is a retired Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, NJ, a Biblical scholar, and prolific author of controversial books on Christianity. He has been labeled an atheist by his many critics, which he redefines as one who rejects the theistic definition of God. Rev. Spong is an excellent writer, clear and easy to follow, reaching solid, even revelatory, conclusions. In Jesus for the Non-Religious, Spong argues against a theistic view of God challenging Christians to seek a new way to translate pre-modern theistic categories into a post-modern, non-theistic language.
Much of what we read about Jesus in the New Testament is shaped and reshaped by its authors to make his birth, resurrection and miracles coincide with O.T. prophecy. This is rereading the events of Jesus' life and death back into history to make them coincide. Instead of reliable stories of a Messiah, we have good salesmanship and advertisement. Could there be a more unlikely Savior than Jesus who suffering a miserable death a cross expressing doubts as to why God needed such barbaric sacrifice? So much of his life is unknown and what we do know changes from Gospel to Gospel.
Spong charges theism with not keeping up with scientific advances and holding onto its primitive need of providing security. Theism is a projection of our needs for a humanoid God (father) who needs our praise, and confession, and who rewards and punishes at will. Theism traps us in a form of dangerous tribalism that defends itself against change with hate and self centeredness. To say Jesus came so that we might have a more abundant life is to question the church about its political passivity, its supporting wars, suppressing women, homosexual, and racial minorities.
Spong's challenge is to reform Christianity by pushing it to discuss the question at the heart of His message: can Christianity be separated from ancient theistic concepts and still be a living faith? What conclusion does one reach when they compare their faith to that of One who challenged the status quo, hung out with the wrong people, antagonized the establishment, resisted every attempt to domesticate his message, and refused to allow his actions to be assimilated into any existing religious framework? Would Jesus even recognize the faith that bears his name?
John Laughlin author of Reading Thomas Merton
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| Interesting, thought-provoking |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This book explores different ways of looking at scripture. Some I found workable, others not so. Still, it was well worth reading and thinking about.
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| Loved this book. Be warned it challenges most of what you've heard before |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Great book. Spong points out details in the Bible that he thinks are likely not historical, yet retains Jesus as a powerful person worthy of following. Spong removes the encumbrances of religion to reveal a more believable Jesus. Certainly, many will appalled with Spong's book and label him/it with negativism. However, I found it to be liberating and strengthening to my faith. I found it be one of the most impactive books on Jesus and faith that I've ever read, and wish many more would be open to Spong's book.
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| Sorting thru mythology |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This book addresses the need to grow up our childhood images of faith. Can be disconcerting initially--but stick to it: his conclusions do make sense and give depth for any rational and faithful person willing to acknowledge that the Bible is not a literal document and was written by humans after long years of oral tradition. The last poem: Christpower--sums it all up.
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| Jesus for Non believers. |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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Bishop Spong's book is well done and well put together. This is a very provocative book and it requires patience and persistance to understand where the Bishop is leading. The first half of the book does a good job of demethologizing Christianity and the Bible. I didn't feel that the Bishop was as clear with the second half of the book. I am a 70 year old Roman Catholic cleric who has taught Scripture for over 35 years. I found that I had to work at this book to understand what the Bishop was saying. I got his message but never experienced the "ah ha" event. I plan to reread it again and see what I found.
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