The Jesus experience expanded people into a position where they didn't have to have defensive tribal lives, "God loves my people, my… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I ... look at Jesus and see a humanity open to all that God is--open to life, open to love and open… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Apologetic explanations do not develop unless there is a reality that has to be explained and defended. Jesus was undeniably a figure… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Now, if Mary has an egg cell, then Jesus gets 50 percent of his genetic make up from his mother. And if… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Moral judgment is not life-giving; love that transcends the boundaries of judgment as Jesus' love did, is. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Jesus' power is the power of human wholeness that ultimately opens, invites and enables human beings to step beyond defense lines where… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Jesus represents the possibilities of a new dimension of existence that transcends all the boundaries that restrict us from opening ourselves to… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I do not live in a world where people can walk on water, or still a storm, or take five loaves of… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
That's why the virgin birth never gets rid of the human mother. The story only gets rid of the human father. So… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The time has come for us to think of Christianity in a different way. Instead of thinking of God entering human life… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I never really liked the Gospel of John because I never could find the humanity of Jesus in it. I thought it… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think I can tell you how I experience God. I experience God as the power of life calling me to live,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I do not believe that Jesus, at the end of his earthly sojourn, returned to God by ascending in any literal sense… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The church had to find a way to protect Jesus' perfection so that he could do the work of salvation which, in… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The primary message of the Christian Church is that we were born in sin and we need to be rescued; we cannot… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
You can't go to church without praying ten or fifteen times for God to have mercy on you. You can't sing "Amazing… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Now, the fourth gospel says that the moment that Jesus is glorified is the moment he's put to death on the cross,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
“Whatever it was that people experience in Jesus has today come to be identified with medieval doctrines based on premodern assumptions that… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think Jesus is a fact of history. I think a man named Jesus of Nazareth lived and was crucified. I think… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I'd like to turn the whole Jesus story around and look at it from a different vantage point, to consider that he… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. The primary reason the old… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
There is no way that the Fourth Gospel was written by John Zebedee or by any of the disciples of Jesus. The… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Jesus becomes the captive of the hysterically religious, the chronically fearful, the insecure and even the neurotic among us, or he becomes… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Our problem is not that we're fallen; our problem is we haven't become human yet. The question is, what can make us… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I find it fascinating that Paul [the apostol], writing to the Galatians, responds to the question, "What does it mean to live… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think the best way to view the Gospels is to view them as a magnificent portrait being painted by Jewish artists… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
If the resurrection of Jesus cannot be believed except by assenting to the fantastic descriptions included in the Gospels, then Christianity is… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The way that I see Christianity is that its role is to enhance the life of every person. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Sins of Scripture is an interesting title; most people don't put sins and scripture together in the same title. It jars people. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
“When a human life is open to all that humanity can be, humanity and divinity flow together as one. It was and is a… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. The primary reason the old idea of… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Bible interprets life from its particular perspective; it does not record in a factual way the human journey through history. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
My basis of morality is this: does this action enhance life, or does it denigrate life? Does it build up or does it tear… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I want the traditional family upheld, but I don't want it upheld to the detriment of other people. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
We live in a very pluralistic society today. There are Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, atheists, Roman Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and Christians like me. There are… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Bible was written between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago, and it's filled with the knowledge that people had in that period of time,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
We are in a survival mentality, and that's hard-wired into our humanity, because we are the winners of an evolutionary struggle of millions and… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
Some people think prayer stops bullets or rockets or land mines. It doesn't. That's magic, that's not God. Sometimes, you're just in the wrong… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Hebrew scriptures say it's okay to enslave anybody except your fellow Jews. It says you should enslave only your neighbors. I say to… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I know Jerry [Falwell] fairly well, and he's probably not bright enough to recognize all of the implications of what he said. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
Benedict XVI kept saying that homosexuals are deviant. They're not deviant. They're deviant only if you say that anyone who is different from me… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I find it fascinating that Paul [the apostol], writing to the Galatians, responds to the question, "What does it mean to live in Christ?"… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
![“I find it fascinating that Paul [the apostol], writing to the Galatians, responds to the question, "What does it mean to live in Christ?" by saying, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."” quote by John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/48e/john-shelby-spong-1488_christ_i-find-it-fascinating-that-paul-the-apos_119928.png)
