Bishop John S. Spong

[Nomad559]

I was going thru some of my old VHS tapes and found an old episode of Politically Incorrect with one of my favorite Christians, Bishop John S. Spong.

Here are a couple of short clips from that show.

Heretic

Truth


From an episode of Becker

Dumbass

[CanuckAmok]

1. Hey, he's neat.

I'd never heard of him before...what's his story?

[supernova]

2. JSS rocks!

I wish more people who don't like xtianity knew about him. He's a real eyeopener for both sides.

Grew up in Charlotte, NC (IIRC) and was Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey(?) for about 30 years. He writes books that literally drop the bomb on traditional xtian theology and accepted thought. Among them:

Why Christianity Must Change or Die
Living in Sin?
This Hebrew Lord: A Bishop's Search for the Authentic Jesus
Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture

He also sometimes posts articles at Beliefnet.com

More at amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-1757590-8255260

[wryter2000]

3. We have several of his books

He's the best!

[Nomad559]

4. Bishop John S. Spong

He also wrote a book called A New Christianity for a New World, and he gets a lot of crap from evangelical Christians because he encourages them to think for themselves.

http://www.dioceseofnewark.org/jsspong/

[proud patriot]

5. I have a book of his

While I battle with my faith , and organized
religion ,Sprong gives me hope .

Also did you see Bill Moyers Friday ?

I'm really interested in finding an interfaith
church in my area .

This is the first time in my life where I
feel there may be a faith community that I
might fit in with .

[Liberal Veteran]

6. I have one of his books too....

Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism.

Great book.

[TrogL]

7. Anglican joke

A sinner went to hell and found his conservative bishop standing in a pool of boiling lava grinning like a idiot. The sinner asked "why are you so happy? You're standing in boiling lava?" The bishop replied "I may be standing a pool of boiling lava, but I'm standing on the shoulders of Bishop Spong."

[regnaD kciN]

8. Completely unimpressed...

+Spong may be a nice guy, but as a thinker he leaves much to be desired.

For the record, I agree with most of his conclusions in the realm of pastoral or social issues, but I reach them by a different path...by actually using critical reason rather than simply chanting "times have changed!" and implying that anyone who opposes him is a racist/mysoginist/homophobe/anti-semite.

And his theological books are just plain embarassing. I've tried going through several of them pointing out his logical errors...but have had to give up becuase there are so many of them on each page, it's more effort than it's worth to keep count. By the time he's finished building faulty premises on faulty conclusions, he's built a veritable house of cards doomed to come crashing down under even the slightest examination.

In short, I find +Spong gives liberal Christianity a bad name.