John Shelby Spong

I can only give away the love that I have received.

— John Shelby Spong

When I'm asked to define God, I'm almost wordless.

— John Shelby Spong

I experience God as the power of love.

— John Shelby Spong

Religion is a mixed blessing.

— John Shelby Spong

I see Christianity in very humanistic terms.

— John Shelby Spong

I believe that God is very real.

— John Shelby Spong

“I prepare for death by living.”

— John Shelby Spong

I am a child of the 21st century.

— John Shelby Spong

I find that children have very little trouble understanding non-literal stories.

— John Shelby Spong

It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different.

— John Shelby Spong

What the mind cannot accept, the heart can finally never adore.

— John Shelby Spong

Some people think prayer is telling God what to do. I don't think that's the case.

— John Shelby Spong

I want the traditional family upheld, but I don't want it upheld to the detriment of other people.

— John Shelby Spong

So much organized religion, in my opinion, ends up being life-denying.

— John Shelby Spong

I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God.

— John Shelby Spong

It's almost inevitable that we become religious people. The question is, what kind of religion is it?

— John Shelby Spong

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

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

The ultimate meaning of the Bible escapes human limits and calls us to a recognition that every life is holy, every life…

— John Shelby Spong

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

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

My basis of morality is this: does this action enhance life, or does it denigrate life? Does it build up or does…

— John Shelby Spong

The Bible tells me that every life is holy; the Bible tells me that every life is loved; the Bible tells me…

— John Shelby Spong

When I look back at the Christian faith, I see that we have had to retranslate, almost reinvent ourselves a number of…

— John Shelby Spong

I want to see Christianity enhance our humanity instead of rescue us from some fall. I don't want us to be depending…

— John Shelby Spong

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…

— John Shelby Spong

So who is God? No one can finally say. That is not within human competence. All we can ever say is how…

— John Shelby Spong

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

We have to start at ground zero and ask what it means to have a real connection with God and what it…

— John Shelby Spong

You don't take your newborn baby, put that baby on your lap, and say, "Now listen, kid, you were born in sin,…

— John Shelby Spong

"You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor's." Your neighbor is…

— John Shelby Spong

The task of the church, for example, becomes less that of indoctrinating or relating people to an external divine power and more…

— John Shelby Spong

When we unravel the theological tomes of the ages, the makeup of God becomes quite clear. God is a human being without…

— John Shelby Spong

I go to a church here in New Jersey that is just a very exciting place, and I just love to be…

— John Shelby Spong

“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

I think if you're convinced that you're evil, and that God has had to rescue you, then the best you can be…

— John Shelby Spong

A major function of fundamentalist religion is to bolster deeply insecure and fearful people. This is done by justifying a way of…

— John Shelby Spong

Biblical higher criticism is preserved in the particular enclave of academic Christian scholarship and is thought to be too unfruitful to share…

— John Shelby Spong

One of my great experiences in life was to be interviewed on a late-night talk show by a guy named Tom Snyder.…

— John Shelby Spong

Theism, as a way of conceiving God, has become demonstrably inadequate, and the God of theism not only is dying but is…

— John Shelby Spong