Religious Quotes by John Shelby Spong

14 Religious quotes by John Shelby Spong

All Religious quotes John Shelby Spong’s page

John Shelby Spong’s brief yet provocative thoughts push readers to reconsider traditional doctrines. This set offers a clear taste of his reformist, scholarly perspective.

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I am trying to understand what it means to be a Christian without being religious.

John Shelby Spong

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

John Shelby Spong

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. The primary reason the old…

John Shelby Spong

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All religion seems to need to prove that it's the only truth. And that's where it turns demonic. Because that's when you…

John Shelby Spong

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The Bible Belt, the religious South, is the section of the country that practiced slavery until the war made them give it…

John Shelby Spong

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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

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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

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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

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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

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More by John Shelby Spong

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

John Shelby Spong

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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

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“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

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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

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The Bible interprets life from its particular perspective; it does not record in a factual way the human journey through history.

John Shelby Spong

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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

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

John Shelby Spong

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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