Saturday, May 30, 1998

Liberal bishop believes Christianity must change to survive

By Jim Jones / Knight Ridder Newspapers

Bishop John Shelby Spong of Newark, N.J., is an affable radical. He's the liberal Episcopal bishop among the first to ordain a noncelibate homosexual.

He's written books speculating that the Apostle Paul could have been gay and that Jesus may have been wed to Mary Magdalene.

His latest book, "Why Christianity Must Change or Die," published by HarperSanFranciso, goes even further in tweaking those who insist that the Bible is inerrant and should be taken more or less literally.

The new book, in its second printing, has been featured in USA Today, and Spong has debated his views on TV talk shows.

In his latest theological shocker, Spong says the idea of God as an all-powerful being who sometimes intrudes on human activities must be jettisoned.

Also, he says the Christian teachings about heaven and hell and God sacrificing his son, Jesus Christ, on the cross for the sins of humanity must be abandoned.

"If a human father talked about sacrificing his son today in the name of religion, he would be arrested," Spong said in a telephone interview this week. He even challenges the Eucharist, or celebration of communion, in which Christians partake of bread and wine as symbolic of the sacrifice of the body and blood of Jesus Christ for sins of humankind.

Spong, who also wrote "Living in Sin?" and "Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism," says he is a true believer who lives a life of prayer and follows Jesus Christ. But he contends Christianity must find a way of expressing itself through justice and love, rather than judgment, sacraments depicting blood sacrifices and literal-minded readings of the Bible.

"The Christ story needs to be retold and called into a higher level of consciousness," he said. "We need to look for God not outside the world but in the life of the Christian community."

One of his chapters also calls for a different attitude toward prayer.

"God is not a Santa Claus or some super-parent in the sky, but many of our prayers sound like that," he said. "Prayer should be a more profound experience."

Not surprisingly, Spong is a member of the Jesus Seminar, a collection of theologians and religious historians who contend many of the stories of Jesus in the Bible are flawed.

Robert Funk, chairman of the Jesus Seminar, lauds Spong's newest book, calling it an attempt "to bring a dying church back to life by fearlessly confronting the anomalies that have driven all too many Christians into exile."

Spong says he's surprised that a majority of his mail has been positive toward the new book.

"Some letter writers, though, have suggested I was the Antichrist or the devil incarnate," he said. "But I get that all the time."

Will Spong be censured for the views expressed in his new book?

Probably not. Spong has a Teflon-like quality.

I first met him in the 1980s at House of Bishops meetings when he was debating conservative Fort Worth Bishop Clarence Pope over the question of ordaining women bishops.

Pope, now retired, is the antithesis of Spong. But he and Spong got along just fine when they weren't accusing each other of having a skewed theology.

Current Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker also opposes Spong's views. But the two work smoothly together in the House of Bishops.

Spong, a tall North Carolina native, is a cheerful, gentlemanly individual who is hard not to like, even if you dispute his views.

One of the few formal rebukes Spong has received for his nontraditional views came in the 1980s when the House of Bishops -- in a move backed by Pope and others -- disassociated itself from Spong's ordination of an openly gay priest.

Spong says he plans to keep on making waves.

He wants a new Reformation that would go even further than the one led by Martin Luther in the 1500s.

"We view life and reality in a vastly different way today," Spong said. "People are not rejecting the Christian experience. But they are rejecting the traditional ways of expressing it."

If such revolution doesn't occur, he argues in his book, Christianity could die.

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(Jim Jones is religion editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Write to him at: the Star-Telegram, P.O. Box 1870, Fort Worth, TX 76101.)

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(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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