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 do assert that one prepares for eternity not by being religious and keeping the rules, but by living fully, loving wastefully,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The cross reveals that we're called to a deeper, fuller experience of what it means to be alive and open to new… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The priesthood in many ways is the ultimate closet in Western civilization, where gay people particularly have hidden for the past two… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
I cannot say my yes to legends that have been clearly and fancifully created. If I could not move my search beyond… — 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 think the story of the Christian faith is how you can become more deeply and fully human, not how you can… — 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
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
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
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
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 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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
