Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture – A Companion for Controversial Theology with Questions, Reflections, and Summaries

by John Shelby Spong

By popular demand—study guides to two of Bishop John Shelby Spong's bestselling and controversial works, including questions, reflections, and summaries for group and individual use.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Theology, Spirituality, Christian, History

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

John Shelby Spong was the Episcopal bishop of Newark before his retirement in 2000. As a leading spokesperson for an open, scholarly, and progressive Christianity, Bishop Spong has taught at Harvard and at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He has also lectured at universities, conference centers, and churches in North America, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific. His books include: A New Christianity for a New World, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, Resurrection: Myth or Reality? Why Christianity Must Change or Die, and his autobiography, Here I Stand.

Reviews

[Lee Harmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m sure there are hundreds of reviews by now of this book on Amazon and elsewhere, so I won’t repeat what everyone else is saying. I just want to call it to your attention.

If you’re new to Bishop Spong’s books and his liberal Christian bent, then pick this up. Published way back in 1991, it wasn’t Spong’s first book, but it’s where you want to start. In fact, this should be your starting point to understand liberal Christianity in general.

Current Biblical scholarship will shake your faith. There’s no way around it. If you open the door to studying the Bible critically, you’ll never be able to go back. Your faith will either be shattered or transformed … depending upon who shakes it.

Choose Spong. He won’t pull punches, and he’ll probably leave you with more questions than you started with, but it’s a journey that must be taken. Choose Spong, because after Spong finishes dismantling fundamentalism, he is able to rebuild your appreciation for the Bible and your faith in God (more so in his later books than in this one) … even if you never again think of God the same way.

[Walter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bishop John Shelby Spong - scourge and heretic to some, prophet, seer and seeker to others - is a singular phenomenon. His insights into Scripture and into the meaning of spirituality and God are most often piercing. And his observations about our world and the role of the spirituality in it are usually poignant and trenchant (mainly in the sense of being forthright but also at times in the sense of being scathing). And yet the experience for me is always uplifting and faith-inspiring/-deepening, as was my experience of this book, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, an exploration of how to "journey beyond the words and images (in Scripture) into the experience that produced those words."

Labeled a progressive Christian, Spong believes, following Tillich, that God is the Ground of Being (or the Source of Life as others have so termed the phenomenon) and that each of us is called to "have the courage to be oneself, to claim the ability to define oneself, to live one's life in freedom and with power" which is "the essence of the human experience" and reflects Christ's affirmation in the Gospel of John that "'I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly'".... Therefore, "True Christianity ultimately issues in a deeper humanism.... To be a humanist is to affirm the sacredness of life."

Accordingly, he takes a dim view of those who would attribute inerrancy and infallibility to the Bible, to the Church or to anything or person in the name of God and, because of this, suggest that Scripture be taken literally. In so doing, he compares various sections of sacred texts and concepts therein and painstakingly demonstrates the influence of their historical context, their symbolic (as opposed to literal) meaning and the myriad contradictions, distortions and fabrications that they contain. Having dispensed with the superficial, he then probes more deeply for the eternal, universal "experience" that gave rise to the oral history committed to writing in the second half of the first century that is now regarded as Scripture (though it was not yet so when first written).

Here is where Spong's genius is revealed most compellingly: in helping the modern, ostensibly rational and likely skeptical person approach Scripture and thereby uncover and connect with the eternal, empowering experience beneath it. Following the author's deft parsing, it's liberating and faith-inducing to experience eternal truths about the world, the human condition and the concept and/or reality of God.

For example, his examination of each of the books of the Gospel as well as of the birth/Christmas and death/Easter narratives therein is illuminating, especially as he reveals the historical context in which they were written and the attendant impacts on the theology (or, in reality, sacred stories) recorded. It's his willingness to dispense with dogma and to highlight the very real but not necessarily damaging textual inconsistencies that garners him the credibility over time to make interpretative assertions that may surprise initially and/or seem contradictory to religious orthodoxy. As Spong demonstrates convincingly, "The task of Bible study is to lead believers into truth, a truth that is never captured in mere words but a truth that is real, a truth that when experienced erupts within us in expanding ways, calling us simultaneously deeper and deeper into life and, not coincidentally, deeper and deeper into God." It is a truth, as he sees it, that's grounded in a love that's unconditional, ever-present and universally accessible to all human beings.

So, it turns out, whether you're a believer or not, the author's approach can help you to cultivate the spiritual aspects of your being, pointing as it does to an ultimate, universal experience and then guiding you on that journey. Along the way, the radical inclusiveness and expansiveness of the truth that he divines can speak to all, irrespective of religious or spiritual stripe or bent. What Spong does so artfully is to start with the seminal text of Christianity and then reinterpret it in a way that transcends the bounds of a single faith system, revealing it to all and for all in a set of universal truths/a body of universal wisdom that can be shared to our collective exaltation.

Accordingly, I highly recommend this book to Christians (of all types and stripes) and non-Christians, to seekers, to those interested in matters of the Spirit, to skeptics and cynics, to atheists, to everyone who is interested in exploring a unique and compelling viewpoint and, potentially, a pathway toward a more elevated/elevating and fulfilled/fulfilling life.

[Precious · Rating 5 out of 5]

The saddest part of this book is that the people who really need to consider the subject are either unlikely to read it or are illiterate. The author has a Great point and a sound argument....And he's an Episcopalian bishop. I appreciate when someone who knows what they're talking about talks about it in an intelligent and approachable way.

[Kimberly Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Shelby Spong is forever the brave voice in Christianity who will speak up & speak out for an evolving faith. He shares, with great clarity, the need to read more deeply into the meaning of Scripture (or any sacred text, for that matter) or risk losing its essence altogether.

Fundamentalism, in any area, is the place furthest from life (an ever-evolving, living, breathing state). It is a beginning, an entry level. If one does not change & grow from there, the only other option is decay & death (not necessarily a bad thing, in light of the fact that new life grows from the old & decayed).

Spong shares the need for an infusion of life, of breath, into the reading of the Bible, if it is to survive. As humanity evolves, the fundamentalist beliefs that refuse to move will grow smaller & smaller, even as they fight to proliferate. Change happens whether people want it to or not.

Seeing the Bible through fresh eyes, willing to rove deeper into its rich, sacred, mystery is a gift. Spong, as in all his writing, is a provocateur who can show you how.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to laugh, because you can tell which reviewers are fundamentalists just by looking at the star ratings. You can also tell that none of them bothered to read the book. In fact, one reviewer stated she quit reading the book "...because [she] didn't have time for it." Unfortunately, it is folks like her that need to read it the most.

In some ways, I could almost wish that I'd read this book when it was first published... or maybe 20 years earlier. Had I done so, I might never have left the Church.

In this book, Bishop John Spong raises many of the arguments I had with Priests, Nuns and Jesuit scholars from about 7th grade on until I was sitting off the coast of Vietnam (while in the Navy) wondering why a priest was encouraging war. I never took the book as the literal word of God, but as stories inspired to teach lessons on "how to get along with your fellow human beings." I have severe disagreements with fundamentalists of any ilk, be they Christians, Muslim's, Jews or Pagans.

To me, fundamentalism is the sound of a mind snapping shut; the kind of mind that skims the surface of knowledge, but won't dive deeper for fear of breaking the tranquility of ignorance because they don't know how to swim and are afraid of what they might find below the surface.

Fundamentalism is not a strength in faith, but a weakness. It is holding on to things or ideas that are so obviously, blatantly and patently outdated or proven wrong that to dig into their roots or to let them go would leave someone's mind adrift in a sea of uncertainty with which they are either unable to cope or are unprepared to swim.

Fundamentalism is for those that are weak in faith, weak in scholarship and weak in conviction. It takes a great deal of strength, belief and conviction to accept that the belief of another is just as valid as yours and may, in fact, have many more common-points than disagreements.

It took me the better part of a year to read this book because I kept going back to the library to research many of the thoughts and ideas that Bishop Spong brought to light. I didn't necessarily agree with all his conclusions, but I found enough kinship in his thought processes to find myself liking him a great deal more than many of the priests I had in Catholic School.

Oh, to have had this book and used it when I was teaching Sunday School at a Presbyterian Church! How many minds could I have opened!

Whether you are Christian of any sect or a person of another faith, this book should be read and thoroughly examined. And I disagree with many of those that label this a "liberal" view. I am a conservative libertarian by nature and I find this to be an "analytical" view or a "critical" view of religion and belief. Reverend Spong is not rejecting his beliefs or renouncing Christianity, he is examining it and trying to dispel the ignorance of literal interpretation and, instead, showing us how the bible is actually more of a guide and how we can/should adapt it to our everyday life so that more Christians actually ACT like Jesus rather than like the Pharisee's and Herod's they really are.

[Fr. Matthew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful stuff. I don't even know where to start on how this book has very little to do with good biblical scholarship and more to do with Spong's self-promoting agenda to sell books and hawk the emaciated corpse of "liberal Christianity." Glad I read this as a new Christian almost two decades ago and moved on to many more decent books on the subject.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit confusing as to what exactly the bishop DOES believe! After I read this, I wasn't sure why the bishop was even a bishop.

[Calnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, Jack Spong, (he introduced himself to me as 'Jack'), takes his reader through the origins of the Bible explaining the time frames and context under which the Gospels (stories of Jesus) of The New Testament were written. He started with Paul of Tarsus and noted that his works which make up most of the New Testament was written first, at about 50-64 years after the death of Jesus. The Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, all written after Paul's works, were then presented and again their context and presumed audiences were explained. Bishop Spong takes this approach as he seeks to point out that the mythological language used to describe Jesus, his works, words and life were not to be taken literally as espoused by Fundamentalists. And as he shows there are far too many inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the stories for the words to be taken literally.

Bishop Spong demonstrates that the life, words and works of Jesus were first passed on word of mouth before being written down. He points out that Jesus' life must have had such a profound effect upon the people he came into contact with that decades after his death people were willing to endure persecution, torture and death in order to proclaim him the Son of God.

John Shelby Spong is a Christian; one who believes in Jesus Christ, God The Father and The Holy Spirit, and he makes that extremely clear only not literally as is common for many Fundamentalist preachers to do today. His thesis is that Christianity must be presented again in the context of today and using today's language so as not to lose Christianity altogether. He believes that if people today are asked to accept The Bible as the inerrant word of God, they will reject it. He said that it would be rejected because today's knowledge and scientific discovery have moved us beyond the mythological language used by the Bible writers to express themselves over two thousand years ago. As an example, if Jesus bodily ascended to heaven into the sky, then by today's knowledge of space travel, our solar system and that we are one of a billion galaxies in the universe, he would still be traveling even if doing so at the speed of light.

And so Bishop Spong seeks to introduce his readers again to the Bible and urges them to become familiar with it as a spiritual tool and not a history book. A tool that enables all people to love more, enrich their lives and be all that they can be.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

an amateur bypasses both critical (left wing and moderate) and traditional scholarship to come up with his own "satisfying" version of Christianity. Does not take evidence and run with it, but comes up with his own story.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spong is an amazing man... a later day prophet, trying with scholarship and persuasive forcefulness to pull the church into accepting modern morality (primarily human rights and justice) and divest itself of superstition and destructive orthodoxy. He has been a tremendous educator over his long career bringing forth the history, context and Jewish heritage of the Bible to the general public. This history has been known to scholars for 150-200 years and taught in all scholarly divinity schools for a century. This scholarship, essential to any real understanding of the scriptures, is also entirely unknown in the pews. Bart Ehrman’s work on this subject is more detailed, therefore more educational, but unlike Ehrman, Spong presents his case from his proudly Christian position. Spong is universally condemned by the orthodox and has received numerous death threats, in some regions required bodyguards for his speaking engagements.

Spong, a retired Episcopal minister and bishop, deals with a very serious subject matter with panache and some humor. I find him extremely appealing on a personal level… as a man, a father and a pastor. His straightforward, pull-no-punches approach has proven offensive to the orthodox.

“Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism” duplicates much of Spong’s other work, but this book is likely the best of his work for the reader who wants to sample his message. This is a book every evangelical Christian should read. I believe faith that cannot withstand critical analysis is without depth or foundation. Hence, I think, the crisis in American Christianity.

Like dozens of Christian thinkers (i.e. Bultmann, Tillich, Robinson, Ehrman, not including the philosophers) Spong does a superb job of tearing down the house of orthodoxy and literal fundamentalism. I keep reading this genre of books seeking the answer to the question, “What’s left?” I’m content to let the reader answer that for herself. I am admittedly a 20-year member of the group Spong calls the ‘church alumni association.’

I just re-read this book, having originally read it 3 or 4 years ago.

[Mary Pellecchia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to anyone who has read the Bible, or who might read the Bible, or is in the progress of reading the Bible. I would most especially recommend it to people who have become disillusioned with standard Christian religion, Protestant or Catholic, but who would still like to have a spiritual side to their lives.

Spong gives an overview of the whole Bible, section by section, telling what was going on historically and philosopically at the time each section was written. His main point is that the Bible was written by people with the understanding of the era in which they lived. To take every word literally is ridiculous when viewed through the understandings of our times. For example, when Genesis was written, people believed the earth was flat and the center of the very-little known universe. Still, the creation and recreation of life is a miracle. The Bible is true, it just isn't literally true. Spong helps the reader find the spiritual message behind the words. One of his important messages is that worshipers should be mindful that as soon as you put something into words, you have limited and narrowed it. You can't do that to God.

Especially interesting was his tour through the New Testament. He does a great job pointing out the discrepancies and inconsistencies among the four Gospels, but does not belittle them in any way. He loves the Bible, and wants to rescue it from both the fate of being reduced to idolatry by those who insist every word must be rigidly literal, and the fate of being ignored by the disillusioned.

His last chapter was very inspirational. He discusses his personal interpretation of Christianity and the power of love. He is a passionate Christian in the true meaning of that word, not in the religious definition. Religion is a crutch for the insecure who must always be sure, who must always be right, who must always have an answer. Soemtimes they beat the rest of us over the head with their crutches. Spong rescues us from that. I really liked this book and want to read more.

[Tom Talamantez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not even sure where to start. I read this book to do a critical analysis for my Christianity class in college. This book requires discernment. If you know your bible, you will see the problems with this book. It you don't know your bible, you could be led down a path of confusion in a theological quagmire. I gave this book one star because zero stars might suggest that I did not rate the book. This book lacks biblical scholarship and zero regard for exegetical interpretation. This book is a good example what you get when you have an agenda and then seek out biblical support to validate your agenda rather than approaching the bible to learn and seek truth. I suspect that support or distain for this book will fall upon ideological lines because it lacks the philosophical footing and biblical credibility to be persuasive away from traditional biblical theology.

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rated this so low not because I disagree with it (even though I do) but because it is so poorly argued that calling it an "argument" is an overstatement.

Most of it involves Spong rewriting history with his post-relativism and anti-supernaturalism biases, while never addressing those biases, and then claiming that his re-write fits perfectly because he has written out everything that doesn't fit it.

The first subsection header is called "Prooftexts and Prejudice" where he rightfully admonishes those who use out of context Biblical passages to support their antiquated and immoral ideas. Then, in chapter 2, he does the same exact thing to defend his ideas. He takes passages out of their context, completely misses the distinction between "descriptive" and "prescriptive" and then uses passages that are never intended to modal behavior to say that the Bible should be "freed" from its immoral teachings.

He claims that the way to tell whether or not a historical understanding of certain books is accurate is by assuming it is and seeing if everything else fits. He uses that method to claim that his re-writing of biblical history is accurate, but it only fits because he takes out any supernatural element. With that included, it wouldn't fit. For example, his theories about Paul only fit if the Road to Damascus story is removed. Should it be? According to Spong, yes because of course something like that can't happen. That's the only reason he gives.

He even claims to understand more about the time period than Mark himself, someone writing from that time period.

There are three primary arguments that Spong employs to prove his points.

1. The Bible, interpreted literally, just doesn't feel like it could possibly be true. Of course, people will quickly see that's not an argument. Unless you hold to a post-relativism model of truth, which cannot be defended, it is a non-argument. Who cares if something doesn't seem true if it is true?

2. Appealing to a mysterious body of Biblical scholars who would all agree with him. He never names these scholars or cites their works, but he assures us that the majority of modern scholars agree with him. Of course, even if they did, that doesn't mean they are right. But I am not convinced the majority of Bible scholars agree with him. Spong does nothing to convince me they do.

3. The church cannot survive if it holds to a literal Bible. Again, people will quickly see this is not an argument about the truth of Scripture. So far, he has been proven wrong, but even if he is proven right, does that say anything about what is true? If we never discovered the Earth revolves around the sun, would it be any less true?

That's it. Those are the only three arguments that he exclusively uses.

Spong never offers counter-arguments against people who disagree with him, because admitting that Biblical scholars disagree with him would undercut one of the only three arguments he has.

This whole book really is Spong trying to justify the fact that there are things in the Bible that are uncomfortable for him. He's trying to fit God into a box that he can handle. The God of the Bible is far too much for Spong, so he's trying to get rid of him in favor of a God that is safe. He completely fails to prove that his view is the correct view, instead, he seems bent on proving that it is a view that makes him comfortable.

Nowhere does he address the idea that the Bible is considered itinerant because it is co-authored by the Holy Spirit. Nowhere does he address the idea that for millennia, the church has considered the Bible accurate and inerrant and his is the contrary opinion. Instead, he presents his opinion as the mainstream one. Nowhere does he address contrary arguments.

Most of the book is Spong giving us a new and revised history of the Bible, including authorship, social context, and purpose of writing. We'll ignore the fact that Spong isn't a historian and has no authority in the discipline. I think Spong himself refutes all of his attempts to tell us history in this book. In chapter 4, he is explaining how the Joseph of Genesis and the Israelites time in Egypt wasn't historically accurate.

He writes: "Was this accurate history? No. Like all history, it was intermingled with the values of those who created it."

Well, Mr. Spong, if that is true, then out goes your whole book.

[Brian Reagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bishop John Shelby Spong is an Episcopal Church USA pastor and leader. His text contains numerous thought-provoking issues but unfortunately many of the "proofs" which he bases his presuppositions upon are little more than a rehashing of failed liberal theology and the worst type of alleged "scientific" proofs. Spong asserts many points consistent with traditional evolution and cites them as fact, but provides no citations to support his points.
In discussing the various issues related to human sexuality he claims that the hypotheses of genetic scientists "prove" his points but again does not provide any citations of scholarly journals, specific experiments and the result of such studies, nor doe he even give the names of those who have "proven" their hypotheses.
While I can agree that in many cases the Bible needs to be rescued from the Evangelical mainstream, it also needs to be rescued from the liberal mainstream Protestants and leaders like Spong.
It would be nice if Spong said anything helpful in charting a new course for religions in America, but at the end his goals advance little more than liberal syncretism and provide few if any answers that actually help people.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this while living in Arkansas and it is simply a must-read if you live in the Bible Belt. Takes apart the fundamentalist mindset and provides a great progressive counter.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this ages ago but thought of it today during a conversation about reading the Bible. This book was one of many I devoured during my deconstruction phase, back before anyone called it deconstruction and I was kind of just floundering around on my own questioning everything I’d ever been taught. Books like this helped.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though the book was written in 1991, this bishop writes like he's in 2015 and the supreme court is deliberating over gay marriage. Sometimes his historical background can be boring because he doesn't sugar coat or add any flair, but his insights are much needed, especially in Christian society today. He points out why the Bible can't be inerrant and literal. One reason -- the authors contradict each other in storylines and cultural viewpoints. He gives examples of how a good thing can be used for evil. How the Bible has been quoted (literally) to endorse war/killing and persecution of Jews, women, blacks, and more recently homosexuality. And he comes back around to tell us how the Bible should be used for love and becoming closer to God. I hope it doesn't take 10 more years of arguing to stop the blatant persecution and denial of human rights in our country.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our local newspaper calls Spong "the bad boy of christianity." I would call him the thoughtful explorer of christianity. It is always useful to reconsider what we think of as being true, and Spong's ideas loosen and soften and raise questions that may have no answers and just how interesting is that?!

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent work. Spong puts into words many of the things I've been thinking in the last ten years. He shows clearly how it is simply impossible to give the Bible a literal interpretation, but that doesn't mean the book is wrong or useless, only that it can't be taken simplistically, as the biblical literalists would want to claim.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that started it all for me. I picked it up at a books-by-the-pound sale figured, why not. I guess I was already questioning my fundamentalist Christianity. This book made it all so obvious for me. I guess you could say it led me out of the darkness.

[Margaret Clark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a fan.

[Ginni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yikes.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spong is a theologian, a biblical scholar, and a touchstone for my father’s understanding of God. He has been on my “to read” list for years. How interesting to finally read this, replete with my dad’s exclamation points and margin scribblings. Spong strips God of the supernatural powers we hAve imposed and argues eloquently for God’s presence at the heart of everything. My dad quietly grumbled through Christmas services about the virgin birth concept and at Easter about the empty tomb... while applauding loudly (and privately) the work of Spong and others to shed light on the ultimate truths of those stories.

It’s not a perfect book. More than once, Spong takes his musings about the authors the bible into the territory of random speculation. But he does make a good case for faith of all stripes. And ultimately, for loving one another. Isn’t that what it’s all about Charlie Brown? Thanks Dad.

[Micaela Hardyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lean 4.5 stars, only because it tended to be a little repetitive and to maybe belabor the point that literalism is dying/dead, without providing a lot of new source material. I also think that those who are more within a fundamentalist understanding of Scripture may find his arguments less persuasive than those who have already done some “front work”, so to speak. However, it gets more than 4 stars for me primarily for the last chapter, as he captures Christ as the call to “love, life, and being” in a way that is incredibly beautiful and refreshing. Honestly it’s this kind of thinking and championing of radical love and life - and acceptance of the being and value of all persons - that saves Christianity for me. It was a good reminder of why I still find value in “following Jesus” despite all of the atrocities that I’ve seen committed because of a warped understanding of the Christian message.

“If the church provides security, it cannot provide truth.”

[Yul · Rating 5 out of 5]

"God loves every person my prejudice would reject. There is nothing one can do or be that places that person outside the boundaries of God's love. God loves even those whose lives seem intent on killing the love of God when that love is incarnate in human history. If I continue to hate one whom God has loved, I place myself in the peculiar position of claiming for myself a moral righteousness that is beyond the righteousness I attribute to God. Since God, by definition, is still loving me even in that stance, I learn something of love's inescapability. That is the Word of God to me that I meet especially in the second covenant recorded in the Bible and that is what I mean when I say I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord."

It's a fantastic book that disabuses believers of the notion that it is either Fundamentalism or Atheism.

Spong is a very interesting thinker. I will definitely read more of him.

[Bilbo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spong writes, //Fundamentalism is so limited. This is surely why Paul wrote that "the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor. 3:6)//

Spong fundamentally! misunderstands that verse just like he purposefully rejects the litteral physical resurrection of Jesus, which makes Spong an obvious false teacher. Listen to J. Gresham Machen explain that verse:

Machen (What is Faith, pg. 186-191):
𝙸𝙸 𝙲𝚘𝚛. 𝚒𝚒𝚒. 𝟼: "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒉, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒕𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆."

//That sentence is perhaps the most frequently misused utterance in the whole Bible. It has indeed in this respect much competition: many phrases in the New Testament are being used to-day to mean almost their exact opposite, as for example, when the words, "God in Christ" and the like, are made to be an expression of the vague pantheism so popular just now, or as when the entire gospel of redemption is regarded as a mere symbol of an optimistic view of man against which that doctrine was in reality a stupendous protest, or as indicating the essential oneness of God and man! One is reminded constantly at the present time of the way in which the Gnostics of the second century used Biblical texts to support their thoroughly un-Biblical systems.

...The words: "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒉, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒕𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆," are constantly interpreted to mean that we are perfectly justified in taking the law of God with a grain of salt: they are held to indicate that Paul was no "literalist," but a "Liberal," who believed that the Old Testament was not true in detail and the Old Testament law was not valid in detail, but that all God requires is that we should extract the few great principles which the Bible teaches and not insist upon the rest. In short, the words are held to involve a contrast between the letter of the law and "the spirit of the law"; they are held to mean that literalism is deadly, while attention to great principles keeps a man intellectually and spiritually alive.

...What Paul is really doing here is not contrasting the letter of the law with the spirit of the law, but contrasting the law of God with the Spirit of God. When he says, "The letter killeth," he is making no contemptuous reference to a pedantic literalism which shrivels the soul; but he is setting forth the terrible majesty of God's law. The letter, the "thing written," in the law of God, says Paul, pronounces a dread sentence of death upon the transgressor; but the Holy Spirit of God, as distinguished from the law, gives life.

...And that law, according to Paul, issues a dreadful sentence of eternal death. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die"; not the hearer of the law is justified but the doer of it. And, alas, none are doers; all have sinned. The law of God is holy and just and good; it is inexorable; and we have fallen under its just condemnation.

That is at bottom what Paul means by the words, "The letter killeth." He does not mean that attention to pedantic details shrivels and deadens the soul... The "letter" that the Apostle means is the same as the curse of God's law that he speaks of in Galatians; it is the dreadful handwriting of ordinances that was against us; and the death with which it kills is the eternal death of those who are for ever separated from God.

...God's law brings death because of sin; but God's Spirit, applying to the soul the redemption offered by Christ, brings life. The thing that is written killeth; but the Holy Spirit, in the new birth, or, as Paul says, the new creation, giveth life.

"𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒘 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒘 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉." (𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑣𝑖𝑖𝑖: 2.) The law's just sentence of condemnation was borne for us by Christ who suffered in our stead; the handwriting of ordinances which was against us--the dreadful "letter"--was nailed to the cross, and we have a fresh start in the full favour of God. And in addition to this new and right relation to God, the Spirit of God also gives the sinner a new birth and makes him a new creature.//

[Zach Christensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just not Spong's best. I enjoyed "The Sins of Scripture" more, and likewise found it to be considerably more helpful. This is an older book, so it contains some of Spong's older views. He completely de-radicalizes Paul, which I do not like. In my experience, more generic presentations of liberal Christian perspectives tend to throw Paul under the bus, so this was not surprising. If you are looking for a good and more progressive (but popular level) piece of writing on Paul, see "The First Paul" by Borg and Crossan. But I digress.

It felt like I was waiting for Spong to make a point of how the Bible has been misunderstood, but *here is a revolutionary way to reclaim the Scriptures! That point never happened. It was just rejection of things that I have rejected for some time. Alongside things like "Jesus said people need to be tortured forever, so Jesus is wrong, because eternal torment is stupid." What!? No. Eternal torment is nowhere in the teaching of Jesus. Anyone who thinks that has made a terrible interpretive decision in translating "aionios" from Greek into "eternal." Instead of saying "we have misinterpreted Jesus," Spong is quick to flatly say "Jesus was wrong." While I understand the disputes about what Jesus did or didn't say, to one-dimensionally (and frequently) say that "Jesus was wrong" doesn't seem to be an option for me.

I think I personally am coming to an end of an angry deconstruction phase, and Spong has helped me along the way, but it is time to start rebuilding. I feel like Spong rarely presents a positive case for what Christians should think and why, and while I think deconstruction is important, reconstruction is also necessary. If you are looking for a good, positive presentation of the Bible, I'd suggest "What Is The Bible" by Rob Bell. I'm currently reading that book, and it is turning out to be the book I have wanted Spong's books on the Bible to be.

[Paul Wisniewski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I borrowed this book in hopes of finding a true faith of my own - where I could reconcile my lifelong skeptical nature with my nagging sense of God ever since I started reading the Bible. I found nothing of value in that regard.

It appears in between the lines that the author doesn’t really believe any of the supernatural aspects of the Bible. He avoids terms like “virgin birth” and “resurrection”, preferring “the Easter event”. That would be fine, if he wasn’t an episcopal bishop. All bishops are required to take ordination vows including the Nicene Creed. He never renounced his vows to leave the church, so was he just living a lie until comfortable retirement?

The whole time I was reading the book I was waiting to hear what he actually believes and never got it. In the end there’s some plea for love? Why even be a Christian, if that’s all you take from the Bible?

The book could have used some editing. There were passages I had to re-read several times. I get the impression that the author had a page length requirement to fulfill, the way sentences are left not cleaned up, and how often he repeats the same material.

The grand shocker in this book is that the author believes St Paul was a homosexual because he had male friends. A bit of a stretch I’d say. I would have respected the theory more if it looked like he had done due diligence and provided competing theories for his sexual guilt, of which I could come up with several.

The book starts off decently and his passion surrounding the historical and cultural context around the Bible was apparent.

The author concludes his book preaching a message of love and then says “Religion is but one more mask that insecure people put on to cover their sense of personal inadequacy.” As someone only spiritually seeking, even I felt offended. Who is this book for? Odds are most people reading this book are some degree of religious, so why risk insulting them?

[Lisa Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second reading of Rescuing the Bible, and I have long been a fan of John Shelby Spong. He has the courage to write what few ministry professionals will own up to, much less be willing to own.
I have written a manuscript of my own religious experience, and a big part of it involves the need to do away with the insistence of Christian worship communities of demanding literalism where Biblical matters are concerned. Spong writes his own reasoned arguments based upon his lifelong scholarly study of the Bible and its varied authorship. Unlike me, however, he writes from a strong perspective as a church "insider." His goal is to rescue the Bible in order to help us see its importance as the historically relevant surviving texts of Judaism and Christianity. He understand its value has little to do with the editorialism of the writers and much to do with the God to whom it points a way for all people. The spirtual aspect of the man Jesus is far more valuable to us than having every single gospel writer agree on every word Jesus said. The gospel writers' works ranged from approximately 20 years following the death of Jesus to perhaps 70 or 80 years following his death. Jesus did not write anything about himself or the church he anticipated. For some Christians, the idea that the Bible is not the literal "word of God," is anathema and any acceptable proof of such would cause their faith to crumble like the Jerusalem temple in 70 A.D. In order for faith to grow, it must be seen as a living thing that can be interpreted only with the knowledge and words that each generation has available to it. The book is well written and complete with notes and a bibliography for more informed reading.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1991.

John Shelby Spong is the retired Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey. He has written a series of books with themes similar to this one, but Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism is one of the earlier explorations into this topic. Seeing as how it is an early look, it is a little muddled.

Sprong makes a compelling argument that the entire Bible is not actually literal written history. This is an easy argument to make with some books. Jonah, for example, clearly has a point about people valuing things and/or revenge over other people. This does not mean that the book does not have value - it is my favorite book in the Bible because of the points it makes, regardless of the value of the book as a history text.

Spong's embryonic thesis is that these stories had great value in their time period and had great meaning according to their world view but don't necessarily have to be real. He did not make this analogy, but I will. Compare them to Jesus' parables. No one insists that the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son were real people. Still, those stories are among the most powerful teachings of Jesus and are very instructive for Christians.

Spong argues that the insistence on revering every chapter and verse as unadulterated actual history weakens the overall Christian message because sometimes the verses contradict themselves. Many times, he nitpicks which, ironically, similarly weakens his overall message.

If Spong had stopped there, ...

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