Frightening.
A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith Is Dying and How a New Faith Is Being Born
by John Shelby Spong
Harpercollins, 2001
Retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong has been called a heretic and a hypocrite, and his critics have demanded his resignation from the church, and his death. And that's just from the clerics who disagree with him.
During his time both in the South and during his 24 years as Episcopal bishop of Newark, New Jersey, Spong prompted controversy as well for his support of the ordination of gays and for the inclusion of women and minorities in church and public life.
(From the publisher) Bishop John Shelby Spong has devoted his life to championing an authentic Christianity based on love, not hatred. In his bestselling book Why Christianity Must Change or Die, Spong convincingly demonstrated the limits of traditional faith and the toll its outmoded beliefs take on human life. Now the controversial champion of a more open and progressive Christianity courageously presents his inspiring alternative of what true faith should be today, offering a unified vision of authentic Christian belief for the third millennium.
What does God look like beyond theism? How do we understand evil? Who is Christ when traditional concepts such as incarnation, atonement, and the Trinity no longer communicate any meaning? In answering these questions, Bishop Spong goes beyond abstract theology to present his vision of a radically new humanity rooted in God, yet matured beyond the need for a supernatural parental deity. A New Christianity for a New World offers an understanding of Christianity that is free of exclusivity and shame. Bishop Spong empowers those who are disillusioned by religion to discover a God who is the source of life and the source of love, unbounded by the limits of any tradition. The Church of tomorrow, he writes, must be able to "incorporate all of our reality. It must be able to allow God and Satan to come together in each of us .... It must unite Christ with Antichrist, Jesus with Judas, male with female, heterosexual with homosexual."
After explaining why the traditional understandings of God, Christ, and the rules and dogmas of the Church are not just inoperative but dangerous, Spong offers his contemporary vision of the Church as a community of love, equality, and truth. This work is the ultimate legacy of his struggle to discover and promote a faith system that can live in our new world. Only someone who has spent a lifetime crusading for change and the rights of outcasts in the Church could give voice to such a reasoned, just, and loving faith. With Bishop Spong we can take the brave step to discover the Christianity of tomorrow.
About the Author
© Rob Kneller
John Shelby Spong was the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, for 24 years before his retirement in 2000. He is one of the leading spokespersons for liberal Christianity and has been featured on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, FOX News Live, and Extra. This book is based on the William Belden Noble lectures Spong delivered at Harvard.
