Dialogue: In Search of Jewish-Christian Understanding

by John Shelby Spong

Book by Spong, John Shelby, Spiro, Jack D.

109 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

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

[Nancy Davison]

This is a transcript of a series of dialogues between John Spong and Rabbi Jack Spiro that took place in the mid 70's in Richmond, Virginia. Mr. Spong had recently published his book, "This Hebrew Lord," which had intrigued Rabbi Spiro, and the two got together, a meeting which led to these talks that took place in a Christian church and a Jewish synagogue.

I've read nearly all of Bishop Spong's books, and am, as usual, delighted by his clear insights, combined with those of his friend, the rabbi, on the subject of how Christianity is the child of Judaism, and how that fact has been, for centuries, not only obfuscated, but outright denied by the tribal fundamentalists who have attempted to destroy Judaism at its very roots, completely misunderstanding the beauty of the inherent connection between the parent and the child.