Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love, and Equality (Paperback)

by John Shelby Spong (Author) "THESE ARE excerpts from but a tiny few of literally thousands of letters I have received in my career as a bishop..." (more)
Key Phrases: new presiding bishop, bishop suffragan, lesbian clergy, New York, North Carolina, John Hines (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Here I Stand is the autobiography of John Shelby Spong, the Episcopal bishop who is a lightning rod for controversy. Spong has for decades been working to popularize an inclusive version of Christianity that avoids racism, sexism, and homophobia; as a result, he has engaged leading conservatives (such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson) in very public conflicts. Here I Stand, predictably, gives a blow-by-blow of Spong's high-profile battles. More surprisingly, Spong also shares some very intimate details about his life that help to explain the sources of his theology. His southern childhood is related in a manner that is every bit as painful and comic as a Flannery O'Connor story. And the story of his first marriage, to a woman whose mental illness persisted for 15 years, is handled with sensitivity and grace. Despite his occasional rhetorical excesses, Spong's book is clearly written in love--with God, with the Church, and with the world. "I walk inside the wonder of this God in every experience of life," he writes at the book's end. We are fortunate that Spong's autobiography so expertly conveys this wonder. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Longtime devotees of Spong, the controversial Episcopal Bishop from Newark, N.J., will be familiar with some of the material in his new memoir, as his earlier books (Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, etc.) are peppered with autobiographical asides, but they will still relish this full-bodied, racy chronicle of Spong's political and theological journey. Liberal crusader Spong reveals that his concern for the oppressed began in his native Charlotte, N.C., while growing up in an "overtly pious home [where] racism was an operative assumption." Early on, he rejected the racism of the Jim Crow South and of the Church. Spong devotes the core of this memoir, however, to the battle that has earned him national prominence--the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals in the Episcopal Church. Spong has nothing but condescension for those who don't share his views, especially the theologically conservative bishops from the Third World. (Many African bishops disagree with Spong's stance on human sexuality, but rather than engage them, Spong suggests that they have blindly embraced the "fundamentalism" pedaled by English missionaries.) Spong's naysayers will want to steer clear of this book, which will strike them as just another restatement of his heresy, but his followers will appreciate the characteristically lively prose. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (April 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006067539X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060675394
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #251,140 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "... and the truth shall set you free.", February 22, 2000

By	Dallon Weathers (Columbia, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love, and Equality (Hardcover)

In HERE I STAND, Jack Spong shares with his readers the development in his theology as he lives into his Christian faith as one who thinks and is open to the experiences of the world in which he lives. I have read all of Jack Spong's books and it was enlightening to experience the what,how and why as each book and its reason for being unfolded.

From his rearing in the conservative South to a leader of a broader more liberal Christian understanding, the reader becomes a fellow traveler with Jack Spong as he finds himself on the cutting edge of theology as it is lived out in the post modern world. Jack Spong was and is unafraid to question his faith and its very foundational concepts and in doing so has opened the gospel (good news) to thousands, if not millions, of those in exile who seek a spiritual relationship with the God of all. HERE I STAND gives the reader the opportunity to share this journey toward truth and freedom.

62 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank God for Spong!, February 22, 2000

By	Kenneth Donaldson Pite "wavewalker" (Lytton, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love, and Equality (Hardcover)

Last year I read John Shelby Spong's book, "Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile" and was moved. I had thought that about the most I could expect from the Anglican tradition was a good cup of coffee after the service and yet here was an Episcopal bishop whose book fed me intellectually and, rarest of all, spiritually. In December I learned that his autobiography was to be published and bought it as soon as possible. I thoroughly enjoyed "Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love and Equality".

The book moves along at a fast pace, blending the facts of his life with the stories that give them meaning. And the stories are fascinating. We read of the experiences that shaped him as a child, as a youth, as a young man. The racial conflicts he sought to ease in his early years as a priest. His stimulating approaches to preaching and education. His acceptance of gay and lesbian people and his support of them even at personal cost. And throughout the book, insightful looks into the workings of the Episcopal Church in America and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

I like the way he looks at himself, indeed it is his frank portrayal of his own weaknesses and mistakes that makes his descriptions of the weaknesses and mistakes of others believable.

Spong closes his book by saying, in part, "But above all else, I was throughout my life and am still today deeply convinced of the reality of God. Indeed, I am more deeply convinced of this reality at this moment than I have ever been before. I walk inside the wonder of this God in every experience of life. I have become more of a mystic than I ever thought possible for a rationalist like me. I still meet this God in the life of the one I call Lord and Christ, who is supremely important to my spiritual journey".

A wonderful man, a great book.

32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent autobiography..., May 9, 2000

By	Sophia (the Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love, and Equality (Hardcover)

...from a deeply committed, brilliant and passionate man. Reading this book made me aware of just how much has changed in the world, in the church, and for so many groups of people just in Bishop Spong's lifetime. It has also made me aware of how far we have to go!

I know many find him disturbing, "out there", a heretic, one who seeks the limelight for its own sake. The Bishop Spong who emerges in these pages, however, is one deeply, passionately, and irrevocably dedicated, to inclusiveness, justice, fairness, and the gift of love in Christ. His willingness to provide a voice for the disenfranchised, to put his career and life on the line, time and again; and to use his considerable intellectual, spiritual and leadership gifts toward these ends is nothing short of heroic. The saga of the 1998 Lambeth Conference was heartbreaking: what sadness for Bishop Spong to have to end his active career on such a note. History will be the judge, however. His bravery, commitment and dedication to unpopular and difficult causes will be long remembered. An excellent, surprisingly personal, autobiography.