A New Christianity

A NEW CHRISTIANITY FOR A NEW WORLD: Why Traditional Faith is Dying and How a New Faith is Being Born² by John Shelby Spong, HarperSanFrancisco: San Francisco CA. 2002. 276 pages. Papercover. $21.95 Cdn. ISBN # 0-06-0670-63-0. Reviewed by: Wayne A. Holst (1,100 words) John Shelby Spong, retired Episcopal bishop of Newark, views himself as a church reformer after the fashion of Martin Luther. In fact, he recently published his autobiography using the evocative title: Here I Stand. That in itself suggests a certain high self-estimate. He seems determined to swim upstream and engage, head-on, the inevitable resistance. There are also differences from Luther in what Spong seeks to accomplish. "The reformation (I envisage)," he declares halfway through A New Christianity for a New World, "will finally require a restatement in new thought-categories of everything we have ever believed... If you have been willing to walk with me... then perhaps you might be ready to take the next step. We must be able to move beyond what we have traditionally said that Jesus is." Spong claims as his hero the late Anglican bishop of Woolwich in the UK, John A. T. Robinson. In 1963 Robinson wrote Honest to God and, like Spong today, he was strongly praised and condemned for his ideas. Spong would like to forward the work of this ancestor in faith who died in 1983 "largely unappreciated by his church." Spong also wishes to continue his own project, and especially to refine the arguments of his book Why Christianity Must Change or Die, written in 1998. That volume was his first attempt, for a new generation, to renew Robinson's call for radical reform. There, he declared that premodern biblical and creedal concepts, still being used, connect even less well now than they did when Robinson was writing. In Luther-like style and trendy flare, Spong posted twelve theses (read them below) on the Internet. These points were what he believed need to be debated. Within the first fifteen months of their online appearance, this initiative netted him over six thousand reader responses. (Two years later, a total of ten thousand letters had arrived). Clearly, his message had hit home. Not only that, but the positive missives outnumbered the negatives by three to one. Ninety percent of the responses came from lay people. Some were church dropouts. Some were holding on to their memberships by the slenderest of threads. The rest remained in their pews as silent but, in many cases, uncomfortable participants. One signal in the letters from church leaders came through loud and clear. Clergy, especially, seemed threatened by the fact that the words and images they used to tell their faith-stories no longer communicated with their modern hearers. There was a recurring theme in many of the messages from lay respondents: "If you as a bishop can write and say these things, then perhaps there is still room in the Christian church for someone like me." Early in the book, Spong provides a list of classic Christian beliefs and understandings which he can no longer accept. After stating that he defines himself, first and foremost, as a Christian believer he writes: I do not define God as a supernatural being; ... I cannot interpret Jesus as the earthly incarnation of this supernatural deity; ... (or) that Jesus entered this world by the miracle of the virgin birth;... that the experience Christians celebrate at Easter was the physical resuscitation of the three-days-dead body of Jesus; ... that Jesus, at the end of his earthly sojourn, returned to God by ascending in any literal sense into heaven: ...that this Jesus founded a church; ... that human beings are born in sin; ... that the Bible is the 'Word of God' in any literal sense, ... or that it is the primary source of divine revelation... "Can a Christian claim with integrity to be a Christian and at the same time dismiss, as I have done, so much of which has traditionally defined the content of Christian faith>" he asks, and then continues: "My problem has never been my faith. It has always been the literal way human beings have chosen to articulate that faith." Spong writes for an audience of: "... ordinary people whose name is legion... (They) ... are spiritually thirsty, but know that they cannot drink from the traditional wells of the past... If a new reformation of Christianity is to be achieved, then it will begin and find its roots in this group." The subsequent thirteen chapters of the book deal with reasons why traditional ways of understanding and describing God are no longer relevant and how the basic Christian myth needs to be reconstructed. He claims that it is possible to believe in a God that survives after traditional ways of describing God, shorn of the classical underpinnings, have been replaced. He speaks of Jesus as a non theistic divinity and claims that an experience of Jesus needs to replace beliefs about him. Original sin is out, he declares, while the reality of evil remains. He wants to take evil seriously, but finds its source in the incompleteness that results from human survival- competitiveness and not in original human sinfulness. Spong believes that evangelism and Christian world mission are no longer appropriate because of the injustices of colonialism, past and present. Modeling the healing power of love is much more important than attempting to convince people of the necessity and superiority of Christian dogma. Classic prayer - essentially a way by which people who are out of control attempt to control God - needs to be replaced with "centering prayer" or meditation and contemplation. There is power in these forms to change the one who prays while traditionally dependency-based prayers cannot change God. The author's closing chapters probe the meaning behind the exercise through which the reader has been taken and suggest reasons for moving forward into the future. Those who have not previously been exposed to Spong and his writings will find a rather succinct overview presented here. Those having some experience with the author will find here little really new but something still worthy of revisiting. Since Spong thrives on controversy there is no value attempting to take exception to individual points he makes in a review such as this. The author does at least one thing well. He helps people focus on key areas of Christian faith and teaching that need attention and reassessment. Those with a background in theology will recognize that Spong presents few new ideas. Much of what he writes is a mirror of nineteenth century European liberal theology. He also leans heavily on twentieth century visionary theologian Paul Tillich. This is not a book for persons longing for spiritual comfort or reassurance. Yet, the author is a fine writer with the ability to unsettle the complacent and stimulate thought. That, in itself, is reason to read and study this book. Reviewers Bio: Wayne A. Holst is a writer and educator who served as a pastor for more than two decades. He has taught religion and culture at the University of Calgary. Please Note: Within mainline churches, it is often the case that regions that have the most liberal leadership suffer the greatest membership decline. Under famously liberal Bishop John Shelby Spong, for example, the Episcopal Diocese of Newark lost over 40 percent of its membership. (Martin Marty Sightings Ezine, August 7th, 2003).

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