Christianity Quotes by John Shelby Spong

I see Christianity in very humanistic terms.

— John Shelby Spong

Oh the Christian church has encouraged enormous immaturity among the peoples who are its primary adherence.

— John Shelby Spong

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

Christianity is not about the divine becoming human so much as it is about the human becoming divine. That is a paradigm…

— John Shelby Spong

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

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

We're either going to be driven to a whole new sense of radical interdependence where we are, in the Bible's words, our…

— John Shelby Spong

I think we have to recover our spiritual nature. The way we have interpreted Christianity does not do that.

— John Shelby Spong

The way that I see Christianity is that its role is to enhance the life of every person.

— John Shelby Spong

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

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

We live in a very pluralistic society today. There are Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, atheists, Roman Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and Christians like me.…

— John Shelby Spong

There are some great values in Christianity, but I think the values are located more deeply in our humanity than they are…

— John Shelby Spong

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

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

Almost any poll of regular churchgoers will reveal that their favorite book in the New Testament is the Gospel of John. It…

— John Shelby Spong

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

Every institution places its ultimate weight on preserving its own life. That is why the Church emphasizes loving God over loving one's…

— 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

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

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

Anybody who's a mythology ... there's always a fear. That's why we don't like people whose skin color is different, whose eye…

— 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

[Jew] didn't believe anything good could come out of a Jewish study. So, what has happened is anti-Semitism has cost the Jews…

— John Shelby Spong

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

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

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

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

As for the status of Western Christianity, we are in a place where our task is to redefine the primary symbols of…

— John Shelby Spong

The thing that intrigues me about Matthew is that I don't believe anybody would read it if they aren't Jewish and understand…

— John Shelby Spong

I do assert that one prepares for eternity not by being religious and keeping the rules, but by living fully, loving wastefully,…

— John Shelby Spong

The Christians tried to separate themselves from the Jewish crowd so they wouldn't be the recipients of the persecution of the Romans.…

— John Shelby Spong

Matthew is the only gospel that uses the Sermon on the Mount, for example, because that's the new Moses making a new…

— John Shelby Spong

In the first gospel, Mark, the risen Christ appears physically to no one, but by the time we come to the last…

— John Shelby Spong

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

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

The trouble with Christianity was that by about 150, there were hardly any Jews left in the Christian church, and so from…

— John Shelby Spong

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