I treasure the Bible. I live in it and work on it all the time. But it is not the word of… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The biblical texts that we Christians have used for centuries to justify our hostility toward the Jews need to be banished forever… — 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
The hope for life after death must be separated forever from the behavior control mentality of reward and punishment. The Church must… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Some parts of the Bible are dreadful. In fact, my working title for The Sins of Scripture was "The Terrible Text of… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Toward the end of his life, [Arnold] Toynby said the Christianity he saw developing was brittle, imperialistic and incapable of reforming itself. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think I could make the case for any kind of organized religion, but I'm not an expert in those, so let… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Christianity is, I believe, about expanded life, heightened consciousness and achieving a new humanity. It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
My hope is that a religious consciousness will begin to rise, one based on enhancing humanity, grasping life in all of its… — 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 think human beings are almost, by definition, religious people,in the sense that we ask questions of meaning, we anticipate future events,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
If you're going to live in a community, you have to refrain from killing one another and stealing from one another. You… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I look at American Christianity and I'm almost in despair. I don't want to be identified with it. The Christian vote in… — 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
In my book, The Sins of Scripture, I traced the development of tribal religion, which included ideas like God's killing the Egyptians… — 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
I have no problem with anybody who wants to bear public witness to their religion, but I don't think they can do… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
At its very core the story of Easter has nothing to do with angelic announcements or empty tombs. It has nothing to… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Papal infallibility and biblical inerrancy are the two ecclesiastical versions of this human idolatry. Both papal infallibility and biblical inerrancy require widespread… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Perhaps the most telling witness against the claim of accurate history for the Bible comes when we read the earliest narrative of… — 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
If I want to put a Christmas tree in my yard, or three crosses for the crucifixion story, that's fine. But if… — 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 think hell exists. I happen to believe in life after death but I don't think it's got a thing to… — 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
I know that Arnold Toynby, the great historian, said he had always hoped the religions of the world would evolve until they… — 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
![“Toward the end of his life, [Arnold] Toynby said the Christianity he saw developing was brittle, imperialistic and incapable of reforming itself.” quote by John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/fd3/john-shelby-spong-1488_christianity_toward-the-end-of-his-life-arnold-toynby_1347062.png)
