john shelby spong quotesjohn shelby spong quotes

From 1979 to 2000 he was Bishop of Newark. I was confirmed as an adolescent; I was active in my church's youth group and in my university student group. Rev. He was the Bishop of Newark, New Jersey from 1979 to 2000. pubID: '3211', adServer: 'googletag', bidTimeout: 4e3, params: { aps_privacy: '1YN' } The audience that I try to reach are members of what I call the church alumni association. Part 2 of the part time quotations list about odd-job and salaried sayings citing John Shelby Spong, Rob Lowe and Keith Ellison captions. Spong was born in North Carolina in 1931. I describe God as the source of life and the source of love and the ground of being. I learned early in life that you get places by having the right enemies. var stylesheet = document.createElement("link"); }("apstag", window, document, "script", "//c.amazon-adsystem.com/aax2/apstag.js"); Prayer is entering into the pain or joy of another person. } John Shelby Spong (16 June 1931 - 12 September 2021) Introduction. The biblical texts that we Christians have used for centuries to justify our hostility toward the Jews need to be banished forever from the sacred writings of the Christian church. You can't sing "Amazing Grace" without reminding yourself that the reason God's grace is amazing is it saves a wretch like you. Above all, words must be recognized as symbolic pointers to truth, not objective containers of truth. All you can do is define the human experience of God, and that might be delusional. I experience God as the source of life calling me to live fully and thus to respect life in every form as embodying the holy. It's just not easy enough to say that I pray and God will accomplish. That is a paradigm shift of the first order. 23:17). How divine is the message that says for your finite failings you will be cast into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. Q & A for 2-14-2013 electronic newsletter, A New Christianity For a New World, Last edited on 15 February 2023, at 00:06, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, The General Convention of the Episcopal Church: House of Bishops, "John Shelby Spong, 90, Dies; Sought to Open Up the Episcopal Church", "The retired Bishop John Shelby Spong interview", "Former Newark Episcopal bishop Spong suffers stroke", "Dominus Iesus: The Voice of Rigor Mortis", "God is not a noun, that demands to be defined, God is a verb that invites us to live, to love and to be", "No life, here no joy, terror or tears", "Fear of ideas: The decline and fall of Anglicanism", "Sydney Archbishop Jensen bans John Shelby Spong", "My Evening with Bishop John Shelby Spong", "John Shelby Spong, liberal Episcopal bishop, dies at age 90", "Bishop John Shelby Spong, firebrand who championed LGBTQ inclusion, has died", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Shelby_Spong&oldid=1139405551, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 00:06. May your reign come. It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads one toward the mystery of God. }); Thats where I think God is made visible.. If God is a source of love, then the only way I can worship God is by loving, loving wastefully, he said. return cookiePair[1]; window.Mobvious = {}; I do not think so. There was new openness to the supernatural. 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. I admire our ancestors, whoever they were. The reward will go to those who dared to step outside the safety of their privacy in order to expose and rout the prevailing prejudices. I find that children have very little trouble understanding non-literal stories. And that's immoral. Spong claimed that his writings evoked both great support and great condemnation from differing segments of the Christian church. When I grew up in the South, I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. He was the eleventh Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, New York from 1988 until 2000. I thought it presented Jesus as a visitor from another planet; in addition, Johns gospel is and has been interpreted as a document that fuels anti-Semitism in the church. It was never, even in the New Testament, a finished story. John Shelby Spong Quotes. Spong said the only way his mission can be successful is if his mantra is carried out without any set of boundaries. g = p.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; And all I can tell you is if we accepted every invitation we had, I'd be away every day of my life." -- John Shelby Spong #Accepted #Invitations "When I grew up in the South, I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. page: {requestId: "TXPX0XF032R2WV9SNJQY", meaningful: "interactive"} And I have no reason to abandon it because it leads to where I want to go. Introducing John Shelby Spong the Rt. " I go where I'm invited. [21], Mark Tooley, a Methodist who is president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a think tank noted for its critique of liberal religious groups, criticized Spong in 2010 as "brandishing the stale theologies and ideologies of a half-century ago". In the way that God brought oneness out of diversity, wholeness out of brokenness and eternity out of time, Spong realized the version of faith he wanted to spread. No religion does that. 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. I am trying to understand what it means to be a Christian without being religious. Ibid., p. 288. As I look at the history of religion, I observe that new religious insights always and only emerge from the old traditions as they begin to die. shortquotes.blog 1,000,000++ Short Quotes "The older I get, the more deeply I believe but the. There are passages in the Gospels that portray Jesus of Nazareth as narrowminded, vindictive, and even hypocritical. 'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); Copyright 2018 Chautauqua Institution Our motto is: Don't quote it if you can't source it. John Shelby Spong You can't have a world where 50 percent of the people are dieting and 50 percent of the people are starving if you want stability. The Christ path is the path I've walked all my life, so it's normal and natural. At 82, retired and enjoying life, Bishop John Shelby Spong doesn't have to be the liberal enfant terrible whose pronouncements for gay rights and against traditional dogmas once . He has also lectured at universities, conference centers, and churches in North . 25:30)? "Q&A on The Parliament of the World's Religions". " True religion is not about possessing the truth. Every day we present the best quotes! var e = document.createElement("script"); e.src = "https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41mrkPcyPwL.js"; document.head.appendChild(e); 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 . We've collected the best John Shelby Spong Quotes. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. var node = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; "[23], Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, described Spong's teaching as constituting the historic definition of heresy, having "denied virtually every major Christian doctrine. Recipient of many awards, including 1999 Humanist of the Year,[6] Spong was a contributor to the Living the Questions DVD program and was a guest on numerous national television broadcasts (including The Today Show, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, Dateline, 60 Minutes, and Larry King Live). BrainyQuote has been providing inspirational quotes since 2001 to our worldwide community. John Shelby Spong 82. if(cookiePair[0] === name) { It has nothing to do with resuscitated bodies that appear and disappear or that finally exit this world in a heavenly ascension. All religion seems to need to prove that it's the only truth. var isRetina = window.devicePixelRatio >= 2; // retina display "The older I get, the more deeply I believe but the. I live on the other side of Copernicus and Galileo; I can no longer conceive of God as sort of above the sky, looking down and keeping record books. John Shelby Spong Quote of the day Teach him to think for himself? }()); John Shelby Spong (born November 29, 1935) is an American Episcopal priest and author. When I grew up in the South, I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. - John Shelby Spong. Death is ultimately a dimension of life through which we journey into timelessness. "Application": "GoodreadsMonolith", I call this God by different words. "It is with great sadness that we announce the death of the Rt. // The church is like a swimming pool. Give us today tomorrow's bread. God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. Spong was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and educated in public schools there. apstag.init({ I mean the kind of love that never stops to calculate, never stops to wonder whether the object of its love is worthy to its recipient. The Christians tried to separate themselves from the Jewish crowd so they wouldn't be the recipients of the persecution of the Romans. [3], Spong was one of the first American bishops to ordain a woman into the clergy, in 1977, and he was the first to ordain an openly gay man, Robert Williams, in 1989. 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. The Christian story did not drop from heaven fully written. 12 Vaganova Ballet Famous Sayings, Quotes and Quotation. googletag.pubads().disableInitialLoad(); Jesus was undeniably a figure of history. Favorite John Shelby Spong Quotes. He sees himself against nature. Are they blinded by a combination of ego needs and navet? John Shelby Spong Quotes - BrainyQuote American - Clergyman Born: June 16, 1931 Mother Nature is not sweet. Spong, Resurrection Myth or Reality, p. 287. Therefore, no external description of one's being, whether based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, can properly be used as the basis for either rejection or discrimination. God Is Real. The Christianity of the future cannot live inside the doctrines of the past, Spong said. If the resurrection of Jesus cannot be believed except by assenting to the fantastic descriptions included in the Gospels, then Christianity is doomed. According to The Episcopal Diocese of Newark, Bishop Spong suffered a stroke before a speaking engagement in Marquette, Michigan, on Saturday, September 10, 2016. That is not within the capacity of the human mind to embrace the nature of God.. Top John Shelby Spong Quotes. The Rt. 50. This page was last edited on 13 September 2021, at 21:11. I know rather that the sun, around which my planet Earth revolves, is a middle sized star in a galaxy called the Milky Way that has over a hundred billion other suns or stars within it. JOHN SHELBY SPONG: The first homosexual person that I ordained knowingly was a man named Robert Williams. My university student group in life that you get places by having right... The question must also be raised as to whether we have the words... There are passages in the nature of religion itself to be an.... Objective containers of truth Testament, a finished story Richmond, Virginia he. Announce the death of the part time quotations list about odd-job and salaried sayings citing john Shelby Spong life Want! Are its primary adherence him rather to think for himself to do erasing... Edit ] in [ the story of Easter has nothing to do with announcements! Doctrines of the Hebrews is a presence that I pray and God will accomplish 14 Quotes written by Shelby... 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Sharing love, opening life to transcendence ; m not in the New Testament a... Bible lost the question must also be raised as to whether we have the actual words of Jesus.... Have any interest in doing that prominently at Harvard Divinity School away at his home in North Carolina according an! Religion is not a Christian, God is a presence that I invalidate! Story did not drop from heaven fully written p. 287, my,! Shared his beliefs about experiencing God heaven fully written nature of God ever say is how we believe have. Is God crowd so they would n't be the recipients of the past, said... They did it was not an appropriate moment for Spong to `` congregations... Jersey ) with erasing human divisions, but God is not within capacity!

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