What happened in the Western world was that Plato ceased to be the way people thought. Aristotle was rediscovered, and the modern,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The miracle stories of the New Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events performed by an… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
You can't have a world where 50 percent of the people are dieting and 50 percent of the people are starving if… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
In fact, in 1724 the Western world learned that women were co-creators of life that's when it was discovered that women had… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
It's not going to be a straight upward progression, but there's no doubt that consciousness is growing. Prejudices die regularly in the… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
You learn that you either are going to have a police state where you don't have any freedom left, or you're going… — 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 audience that I try to reach are members of what I call the church alumni association. Now they are people who… — 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
Nobody in the scientific or medical world thinks that homosexuality is something that people choose. It's something we are. Now, I didn't… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Men didn't like to empty bedpans, so we made women nurses. Then men didn't like to do the administrative stuff, so women… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I get letters every week from people who live in rural Texas or rural Mississippi and who feel totally alone. They feel… — 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
I do not think of God theistically, that is, as a being, supernatural in power, who dwells beyond the limits of my… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
We were born in a Jewish world, as part of a Jewish faith tradition. We had to translate ourselves into the neo-Platonic… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The demolishment of the power of organized Christianity in the Western world to finally realize the emancipation of women and give them… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I began to read [Bible] as a critic, an in-house critic. So I got to a place where when I got to… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I spend my life studying that book, and every book I've written has in some sense been a book about the Bible,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, says, "From the rising of the sun to its setting, God's name shall be… — 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
It's the 21st century, and somebody has to rise from within this faith tradition and retranslate it for the post-modern world... The… — 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 began to read [Bible] as a critic, an in-house critic. So I got to a place where when I got to the university, I just couldn't reconcile that book and some of its points of view with stuff I was learning in my academic career. And so then you have a choice: either you give up your academic…” quote by John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/c08/john-shelby-spong-1488_academic_i-began-to-read-bible-as-a-critic-an-in_1438471.jpg)
