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Title: Liberating the Gospels : Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes by John Shelby Spong ISBN: 0-06-067557-8 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 17 December, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.09 (35 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Christianity that makes sense in Y2K
Comment: If you are hanging on to your Christian faith by a thin thread, you need this book. In this modern world, many of us can no longer hold on to the myths of the ancient world as orthodox Christian theology continues to insist we must. The God we know we see reflected in Jesus is diminished by a literal reading of the Bible. Spong offers insight into how the gospels came to be written by early Christians who were also Jews .In doing so, he allows us to see the power of the truth they point to symbolically. Though we have long since stopped believing in the literal reality of a virgin birth or skies filled with singing angels, we do not have to discard these powerful images of our faith story. Reality and truth are not necessarily the same thing. Spong's work allows us to understand the ancient texts in a way that does not insult our modern brains. For those who are determined to hold on to a literal interpretation of the gospels, this book will not change their minds, for logic plays no role in their faith. So be it. But for any one needing a new way to hear the story of the Jesus they love, this book is a godsend. I thank Bishop Spong for his work.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent alternative explanation to the writing of the gosp
Comment: Spong argues that the gospels, rather than being eyewitness accounts of the life and acts of Jesus, are constructions of Jesus' life based on the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). In the late twentieth century, as Spong says in his prologue, it is not possible to take many of the gospel writers' events literally. But when we relate incidents and statements to events in the lives of Moses, Elijah, Abraham et. al, and verses in the psalms, we can see that the gospels are "midrashic" interpretations of Jesus' life. That is, the Jewish authors of the gospel are interpreting the life of Jesus according to their original sacred scriptures--the Hebrew Bible. That is the key to reading the gospels: they are not literal accounts of actual events, but midrashic attempts to understand the life of Jesus by connecting it to Hebrew scriptures.
Far from trying to undermine faith in Jesus, Spong says in his final chapter, he is trying to bring back into the Christian fold all those who have left because they cannot rationally accept the gospels as literal history. Spong's book resolves the apparent contradiction between faith and rationality by refering the gospels to their source material in the Hebrew Bible.
Rating: 5
Summary: Simply Amazing!
Comment: This is one of the poorest attempts at finding the Historical Jesus ever written, which is why it is so amazing! How did he ever get it published?! If he were not touting his title as "bishop", I doubt the publisher would have seen any value in it. The scholarship is seriously flawed, and the book that I recommend in its place will show why.
I confess-- I have something in common with most of the Rt. Rev. Spong's fans. Like them, I've read very little of what he's written. (For example, "Can A Bishop Be Wrong" has two five-star reviews from Spong fans who are under the impression that Spong wrote this book-- apparently, they feel comfortable praising Spong's work sight-unseen).
Don't get me wrong. I've tried to read Spong. But, alas, the Rt. Rev. S. is a ghastly writer. After a while, the charms of Spong's writing-- his relentless self-congratulation, his presenting of hackneyed 19th-century pop-biblical-criticism as his own daring innovation, his use of the passive voice to hide sweeping and questionable assertions ("...there is surprise at how insignificant were the theological issues dividing the two sides [of the Reformation]"), his utter lack of a sense of humor, his unforgivably poor skill with words-- begin to pall. I haven't yet met someone who can read an entire chapter of Spong at one sitting.
That's where another book comes in handy- "Can a Bishop Be Wrong?". The authors don't exhaustively categorize the intellectual sins of the Rt. Rev. Spong-- such a task could never be worth the trees killed. But they provide a good survey of his looking-glass kingdom. "Can A Bishop Be Wrong" isn't a work of Christian apologetics, because it doesn't have to be. Spong's main contention-- the foundation of all his work-- is his claim that no intelligent person of the twentieth century can be an orthodox Christian. To respond, one doesn't have to prove Christianity-- one just has to provide a counterexample. This book categorizes his errors and logical lapses with admirable thoroughness. Not an exhaustive thoroughness, to be sure, but sufficient to the silly task at hand.
This book has its flaws. As others have noted, it is a collection of essays, and they repeat some of the same points over and over. The authors sometimes let Spong goad them into anger. And they don't argue much against Spong's theological outlook-- but since Spong's outlook is just rehashed nineteenth-century "modernism", you can find plenty of orthodox arguments against heavier intellectual forces than Spong. (Try Chesterton's _The_Everlasting_Man_, for starters.)
This book has a limited market. Spong's fans will not be moved by what they read here, if they were inclined to try reading it. But to the traditional theist of whatever religion, who wonders whether he ought to read Spong and find out what all the fuss is about, this book offers a strong and well-reasoned answer: "Nope."
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Title: Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism : A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture by John Shelby Spong ISBN: 0060675187 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 10 April, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A New Christianity for a New World : Why Traditional Faith is Dying & How a New Faith is Being Born by John Shelby Spong ISBN: 0060670630 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 17 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Resurrection : Myth or Reality? by John Shelby Spong ISBN: 0060674296 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 18 February, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: This Hebrew Lord : A Bishop's Search for the Authentic Jesus by John Shelby Spong ISBN: 0060675209 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 09 April, 1993 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers In Exile by John Shelby Spong ISBN: 0060675365 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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