Western Quotes by John Shelby Spong

8 Western quotes by John Shelby Spong

All Western quotes John Shelby Spong’s page

John Shelby Spong’s take on Western ideas appears in eight short quotes. The collection is modest but delivers his characteristic theological insight.

Rate this collection: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

There's one other interesting thing about Western democracy. It didn't arrive at the end point that Karl Marx thought it would that…

John Shelby Spong

Image

We began to temper Western democracy with what I'd call a social contract. We put in Social Security, graduated income tax, workers'…

John Shelby Spong

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

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

Image

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

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

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

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

Image

Other authors on Western

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

Image

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

Image

“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

Image

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

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

Image

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

Image

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

John Shelby Spong

Image

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

Image

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

Image

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

Image

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

Image

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

Image

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

Image

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

Image

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

Image