Customer Reviews

A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith Is Dying and How a New Faith Is Being Born

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It's easy to see why Bishop Spong remains not only one of the most articulate and controversial theologians of the day, but the bane of orthodox Christianity the world over. Within the first three chapters of this book he manages to dispel almost every tenant of the faith from the Virgin Birth to the Resurrection to the Ascension, all the while vigorously insisting he is still a Christian, a claim which seems tantamount to claiming to be a great lumberjack while living in a land devoid of forests. I know he believes he is a Christian and in the respect he considers himself a follower of Christ, he probably is. What he espouses in this book, however, has absolutely no resemblance to any Christianity I've ever encountered.
What he does provide, however, is a refreshing breath of air into a world of stagnate faith. Unlike most liberal theologians, instead of merely demonstrating why the old stories no longer have any relevance in our modern age, he provides a viable blueprint to understanding Christ (and, by default, God) in a newer, fuller way. No longer seeing God in purely theistic terms (by which, I assume, he means transcendent) he outlines a theology that has more in common with New Age thought or eastern philosophy than western religion. Though nothing in his book is entirely new or particularly revolutionary in and of itself, his effort to merge an eastern concept of God within the framework of Christianity is nothing if not unique. While I found myself agreeing with much of what he had to say, however, I wasn't convinced his efforts to "reform" Christianity had any chance of being successful. The traditions are too deeply imbedded in the western psyche to respond to his message; the dogmas too entrenched to be moved by even his most reasoned and passionate pleas for reform. Even so, I can't help but admire his courage for at least trying.
What I wonder about is why he even bothers to try and reform Christianity at all. Since he maintains that all paths ultimately lead to God (although I would question that) then what is the point of reforming any of those paths at all? Why not let traditionalists find God through the well worn path of orthodox Christianity and let those who no longer find that path useful leave it and find another? Both the Unitarians and the Bahais, for example, maintain inclusive theological traditions very similar to those expressed by Bishop Spong. In fact, in much of this book Spong comes across sounding like a Unitarian who just doesn't realize he is one.
The book also suffers a few other flaws as well, though none of them fatal. For example, he deftly glosses over Jesus' miracles instead of dealing with them directly, dismissing all of them as decades later efforts to mythologize Jesus of Nazareth. I personally find such an attitude disingenuous. Not everything Jesus is reported to have done and said in the Gospels can be written off as mere mythologizing! If we are to take the good Bishop's word for it, the gospels are nothing more than a record of the many things Jesus never really said or did making them, as far as I can see, irrelevent to any discussion of the man.
Yet at the same time, Spong seems to take the Gospels as an accurate record of Jesus' teachings when they suit his needs. For example, he uses the flawed liberal tactic of having Jesus endorse his own political/social agenda based upon what he doesn't say. As an ardent gay rights activist he correctly notes that Jesus nowhere condemns homosexuality in the Gospel texts, and uses that to imply that he therefore endorsed such practices. This is the classic argument from silence tactic which finally proves nothing. Jesus also never directly addresses the issues of sado/masochism, cross-dressing, or body piercing for that matter; to assume that he endorses any particular behavior or lifestyle based upon what he doesn't say is just that: an assumption.
Yet if these are the biggest problems with Bishop Spong's book, we should be thankful. Overall, he has given us an excellent, thought-provoking,, and usually well-articulated piece of work that should give every free-thinking man and woman much to consider. For them, this book will help many who are sitting on the fence find relief from the stifling air of orthodoxy and bring them into a world of new possibilities. For the traditionalists, however, I'm afraid John Shelby Spong will remain a crazed heretic who threathens the very foundations of western civilization. And they would be correct, of coure: Bishop Spong is a threat-a threat to every closed mind that claims exclusive rights to and knowledge of God, and for that everyone should be grateful.

John Shelby Spong does not believe in a Theistic God and he states so forcefully; "Theism is dead, I joyfully proclaim." THEISM as Bishop Spong defines it, is "a being, supernatural in power, dwelling outside this world and invading the world periodically to accomplish the divine will".

Yet, Spong admits, "Christianity postulates a theistic God who does supernatural things". Christianity is about God invading the world through Jesus Christ. Christianity is, and has been for 2000 years (give or take), "Emmanuel" - God with us, visibly and dramatically. "Christianity is a THEISTIC religion" said Dr. Sally McFague (Professor of Theology -Vanderbilt Divinity School - author of the pensive and provocative book, 'Life Abundant' - envisioning Christianity for the new century - see my review).

Therein lies the rub. Allow me to digress. A man had a Honda Civic that needed the engine overhauled. He decided to 'radically' change the car and make it a quarter-mile race car. He pulled out the engine and transmission, threw out the brakes, replaced the tires and the suspension. He gutted the interior completely (graciously keeping the windshield and wipers). He then cut away parts of the body to accommodate the new parts and welded the doors shut. He put in a high performance, 400 horsepower engine and modified what was left of the car so that it could reach speeds in excess of 110 mph in 9 seconds. Now, with a great stretch of the imagination you could say this man still had a Honda Civic, but, in reality, he had created a new vehicle.

This book is not a "radically, reformed" car, so to speak, it is a completely different car. Bishop Spong has taken a blow torch and sliced out the parts of Christianity that he no longer believes in or adheres to.

He has not "radically reformed Christianity" he has created a new belief system.

For Spong; God is not a supernatural being, Jesus is not the earthly incarnation of God, the Bible is not the "Word of God", the supernatural miracles of Jesus did not happen and Jesus was not resurrected, nor did he return to God. God, incarnation, atonement, Trinity, miracles, 'Christian' morals, and the Church as it exists today are all replaced. What the title of this book should be, is, "A New Religion for a New World", for that is what Bishop Spong is giving us. T\

This is not to say that he does not have something to say. He does and he says it well.

Bishops Spong radically questions the basic assumptions of conventional Christian theology and attacks the paradigms that ecclesiastical hierarchy find convenient. He rejects: Theism's tribal theology, bibliolatry, Jesusolatry, and Christianity as an exclusive pathway to God. His "beyond theism" theology demands that we stand and embrace our own humanity, not with shame or the stigma of sin, but recognizing that we are unique and full of potential. That we can, without an "eternal and omnipotent protector" and live fully, love fully and be all that we can be.

The God that Spong embraces is "not a being but BEING itself. This God is the source of life, the source of love, the Ground of Being." For Spong God is beyond any limits of our religious systems. God is no longer a being 'external' to life, but the very BEING of life itself. He says, "I have walked beyond theism, but not beyond God". He forewarns that to separate yourself from the belief of a theistic God is painful. Those that do will have to stand without magic or miracles. He writes, "we make no attempt to suggest that life is fair or to defend the theistic deity when life is harsh. We do not cultivate a false security."

Bishop Spong deserves the accolade given to those who push out the boundaries of any rigid system. Especially in religion, those that hold controversial opinions and especially dissenters like Spong, who publicly depart from the officially accepted dogma, are marginalized and labeled. Spong has paid the price of apostasy in his search for truth, life, love and God. This book is required reading for all those searching for the same. Highly recommended

This review reflects the point of view of one who was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition and is now a Unitarian Universalist minister.

I appreciate the insights that John Spong has shared in this latest book -- no surprise there, I suppose. In the course of my studies & a lifetime of wrestling with "meaning", I am one who has come to appreciate "god" as a description of an ongoing process at work in the universe.

Bishop Spong's views remind me of some of the early 19th century "Unitarian" representatives -- William E. Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Theodore Parker in particular. Like those individuals, he understood that the truth and beauty of Christianity is not tied to "transient" facts & understandings which are more indicative of one generation's perceptions. There is much that has been added to Christianity that is not essential to it. One can remove the transient and still regard oneself as a good, albeit "liberal" Christian. Sure, literalists will fume, but righteous indignation is not a convincing response for a faith rooted in intelligence and reverence.

I liked this book. Spong writes sensible, reverent prose. I share his faith that Christians will respond to the challenges of the present in a mature manner. Theism is passe. Those who profess to love and honor Jesus would do well to heed John Spong's insights.

By the way, I read some of the other responses. Don't worry - this kind of sparring has been going on for several centuries in this country ... I salute a fellow traveller on the path; we subscribe to the view that one must understand to have faith; others require faith first, that they might understand.

Let one give witness to one's faith -- by either path -- with a dose of charity & humor.

In the book jacket bio Bishop Spong is described as "one of the leading spokespersons for liberal Christianity." Yet on page 240 of this latest book, in discussing his vision for the Christian church of the future, and after dismissing "creedal distortion" (stretching word meanings within the liturgy) and fundamentalism, he says:

"Liberal solutions that focus the church on social action, self-help counseling, and efforts at spiritual direction are as dead as fundamental hysteria. Liberals are reaction people, defining themselves as `not fundamentalists.' They are unable to say what they are because there is no ground left under their feet."

With that some of us may agree. But where does it leave us? He calls for what he describes as a new beginning grounded on the the earliest writings of Saint Paul before the later gospel writers began to develop, through their stories of Jesus, such ideas as the Incarnation by way of the Virgin Birth, Atonement for sin through the death of the Christ on the cross, bodily Resurrection, and many other things which became church doctrine codified into the creeds of Christianity. He comes out with a definition of God as "Ground of Being" or "the source from which all being flows." This God is manifest through Jesus but is not Jesus. Nor is Jesus God as defined within the Trinitarian tradition.

Importantly, in Spong's New Christianity, God comes not from somewhere in the heavens, outside our lives, to reward or punish as he chooses (theism) but flows within our lives to be called forth through love, prayer (which he prefers to call meditation or contemplation), and the example of Jesus (post-theism). Also, importantly, Jesus, in this sense, is neither a supernatural figure (the second part of the Trinity residing with God in Heaven) nor a great teacher (a first century Jew with a great deal to impart) but an inherent part of "Our Being." Creed-centered belief, Spong proclaims, blocks this new and essential insight from breaking through and thus must give way if Christianity is to survive within the emerging truths of third millennium physics, biology and progressive human self-consciousness. For many it may seem a subtle, even inconsequential difference. But to Spong the distinction is crucial.

So, where am I? That I was moved to ask this question is, I think, the essence of the book. Curiously, I find myself not-not as yet anyway-one of the Bishop's New Christians. But I may be an emerging one in the guise of what he decries as a creedal distortionist. In fact I may even be a quite radical one. I read the book as a deep search for his own soul, in the face of doubt, by one of the church's most exemplary practitioners of the Christian life. I can easily identify with it as I traveled that road myself many years ago. In college, after surviving ground combat in the infantry, I migrated from fundamentalism, to agnosticism, to secular rationalism, to Unitarianism, to "nothingism." All were unsatisfactory. Finally, the search led me back to Christianity. I returned as a Catholic, the Roman kind finding solace in the mass, preferably in Latin, which seemed to heighten my emerging belief that God was best defined as ultimate mystery. Eventually I signed on with the Anglican version in keeping with my world view and historical mind-set.

However, I never returned to literal fundamentalism. Even since my mother died when I was nine I had known that it was the cancer which took her and not God for some broader purpose known only to him. God's role was to help me deal with it. I wish I had known that then. The Bishop's definition of prayer-not as intersession but as contemplation about the meaning of it all-would have helped immensely. For me this is the great, new insight of the book: his view of prayer.

The literal Virgin Birth? After a lovely young woman, an Eve more worldly than I, focused my attention, in high school, on the facts of life, I never thought of it as other than a beautiful, poetic-mythological expression of the great truth that God was out of his Sky cam and down here with us. And resurrection holds the same mystery for me as it did for the disciples as described in the gospels. I say the words of the Episcopal creeds, all of them, but I hear a different meaning from their literal expression. So, perhaps, I am one of Spong's New Christians, although I don't care for the adjective. After all, hasn't Christianity been about the business of newness and change for two thousand years? I would not bet against its continuing.

So, back to the question: liberal, conservative, radical, or what? We are both, the Bishop and I, still firmly rooted in the church. Although I may be a bit more optimistic about creedal distortion, I think we are both conservatives in the best sense of preserving the good through change, whether radically swift or glacially slow. And, by the way, for that: Thanks be to God.

The beauty of the Anglican dynamic of spirituality, is it's defined focus on the desire to marry faith in the Divine, with theological tradition, and with scientifc reason. No spiritual group or denominantion, in any world culture today, makes more of an effort to achieve this marriage then the Anglican tradition and mission. Right or Wrong, this intellectual and theological effort is the norm in Anglicanism, more often then not, leading to open discourse, theological evolution and (over time) fostering eventual, spiritual harmony.

Bishop Spong's most recent effort reveals the beauty and the breadth of the Anglican theological tradition, in that, his book reveals the Unitarian elemental phases within the spherical dimensions of Anglican theological thought.

Regardless of the many accusations of heresy (by some theologians) and or admiration (by anothers), Bishop Spong is one of the few spiritual thinkers who is TRYING to make the intellectual effort to marry modern scientific research, with traditional religous activities and Sacred scripture.

It is a wonder thoroughly Roman Paul was able to convince a Jewish Peter to the merit and value of preaching to the Greek Gentiles, and in todays modern Church, all denominations, should strive to understand Bishop Spong's effort to articulate a science, faith and tradition theology of the Divine that reflects modern science, inspite of the recognized limits of human language (in particular English). Attempting, is meritorous, even if the attempt goes down paths of controversy.

I recommend this book for all theological thinkers. Conflicts are raised that our global human society should discuss, or as the Bishop suggests, human culture is doomed to continued religous tribalism, war (sadly as is seen today in the world of terrorism)and or worse, destruction of global bio-diversity.

From the perspective of a mainline Protestant, this book has been a welcome addition to the discussion. My own United Methodist denomination is dying, largely because it is no longer relevant in theology. We no longer will go to church to hear what sinners we are, how we must drink blood and eat bread to get to heaven, debate baptism by immersion vs. sprinkling, etc. etc. At the same time, as Spong reveals, there is a new grassroots movement that refelcts a New Christianity. If you are missing something in your journey, try it. By the way, the answer is not "updating" the music--have you heard the lyrics of so-called "contemporary" worship music?!? ("Wash me, wash me, wash me in the blood.")

most of the reviewers here seem to be basing their star ratings on whether they agreed with Spong's thesis or not. Agree = 5 stars. Disagree = 1 star. The spirited (as it were!) debate here illustrates that Spong has written a book which is extremely thought-provoking and even head-spinning. Believe in it or not, this book is well-written (if repetitive) and covers ground few people are willing to cover. It's worth a read.

I must first say that that I am a fan of John Spong and agree with his ideas. His last two books issued the same cry to reform the Christian church and revise the concept of God from a theistic, external being to the "Being of Life" that is present in each of us. However, in this book I found he repeated this theme over and over so many times I wanted to say, "O.K., I understand your point, now what are you going to do about it?" Anyone that feels as strongly as Spong does about the antiquated, prejudiced beliefs of the Christian church is making a mockery of his espoused ideas at reformation by continuing to attend church each Sunday and giving voice to the creed that is spoken there. I felt the desperation of his not knowing what was the right thing to do coming through in his writing.

I was not brought up in any belief, so I don't feel the close attachment that lifetime Christians have for their church. I do understand that it will take many, many years for the Christian church to evolve into the Humanistic form that Spong so rightly envisions, but in the meantime... what? We all seek community with people that share our feelings and beliefs. Perhaps those that read this book and agree with its concepts will eventually gravitate together and form a new church that embodies love and acceptance for all people, understanding of people's differences, kindness as a creed and service to those in need. I know that this is "pie in the sky" thinking, but it is the way I choose to live.

For me the most powerful message in the book is found on page 234. Beginning at the top of the page it is a sermon delivered by Katie, one of the students in Spong's "Issues in Public Preaching" class. She clearly articulates through imagery the plight of a small town being destroyed by a flood. She then relates this to the feelings of Christians that are pulling away from the old teachings of the church and are finding frustration in having no place to go. After reading this eloquent sermon I finally understood the solitary phrase that Spong has used in his other books, "a believer in exile".

Bishop Spong's book is both stimulating and insightful, and although originally published in 2001, it is clearly not "out of date". Its author identifies the many elements in the old traditional Christianity that, he asserts, the modern scientific mind must discard: the "Revealed Word of God" nature of the Bible with its myths and miracles, the God of theism, the notion that Jesus was a supernatural part of a triune God, the belief that Jesus was the human sacrifice required to placate a holy God and thus provide salvation, and so on. Much of this, of course, has been around a long time, most obviously in the Deism of the 18th century Enlightenment but more recently, as Spong acknowledges, in the works of Paul Tillich and J.A.T. Robinson some 50 years ago.

What is disappointing is that so little progress has been made since then in developing Spong's "New Christianity." God, he argues, is to be thought of as "the Ground of Being" (Tillich), "new" words including "meditation" and "contemplation" should be employed in considering the nature of non-theistic prayer, in Episcopal churches the altar has been moved from the back wall and the priest placed behind it facing the people during the Eucharist (various Protestants introduced this practice centuries ago), and so on. It is his discussion of this sacrament that may cause substantial bewilderment in readers, for although the author has discarded the repulsive doctrine of Jesus as human sacrifice with its repelling imagery (e.g., eat the body, drink the blood) he continues to administer the Eucharist in the traditional way with the traditional words. His claim of treating those words himself as poetry or symbols, may evoke in some readers the image of accused heretics harboring inward mental reservations while outwardly saying the orthodox words in hope of saving themselves from the Inquisitor's threat of torture and death. Admittedly, the author has received harsh criticism from traditionalists but nothing of the severity afforded medieval heretics.

In this issue and others Spong is to be applauded for his openness in discussing his own ambivalent struggle and for his considerable courage in taking such subjects up in public. However, many readers eager to find a modern "New Christianity" to embrace will be disappointed and some may turn next to works by Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, also available from Amazon. Nevertheless, this book continues to deserve a wide readership, for among its many insights into the complex human condition, it displays the irony of an author so nobly trying to free the prisoners of traditional Christianity while being himself still a prisoner of that tradition.

John Shelby Spong has articulated well the arguments for why reformation is required within the Christian faith and church, and, he succeeds in presenting an effective starting place to consider the form and future direction of Christianity.

He calls for another reformation not because he is against the Church or devout faith, but exactly the opposite: he cares deeply for religious life centered around God, Jesus, and church and understands that today's vestiges of religious life are simply uncompelling and ineffective in the post-modern world.

He is part of a growing segment of the world's Christian population that consider themselves "believers in exile." He has the courage to raise questions and introduce / re-introduce ideas that point to a more authentic understanding of God and Jesus. He does this despite the fact that it threatens the age-old power structure of Christianity, of which he was a member of for his entire working career.

His realistic and to-the-point approach is refreshing in a world where the religious powers and "faithful" continue to wear blinders, afraid that they might actually have to rethink old concepts, rituals, and beliefs. Relinquishing your security blanket, even if it is a false security, is not an easy thing for anyone to do.

He advocates a natural, inclusive, and peaceful reformation. But also, it is a required reformation that is needed to save the faith from irrelevance, and ultimately extinction.

I'm glad Spong wrote this book. For the first time in my life, despite a Christian upbringing, I can begin to develop a relationship with God and Jesus. I imagine I'm not alone in this result. It's hard to imagine a more holy path than living fully, loving deeply, and have the courage to be all you can. To walk in the light of God is within the reach of all. Jesus points the way.