After reading four books by Bishop John Shelby Spong, I have decided to reevaluate the first of his books that I read, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture. As you can tell from the title, this book was written
Are the children really free? Can two people of the same sex live in committed, loving relationships with the blessing of God? This is the question that Rev. Jeff Miner of Jesus MCC of Indianapolis and John Tyler Connoley set out to answer in their
The one choice you can make today to create the beloved community Individually and as a queer community, the time has come to make a bold and decisive commitment to the most congruent and effective means to create change that we can muster given our
Taking the Bible seriously, but not literally There’s nothing quite like the topic of homosexuality to quickly spark a fiery storm of scriptural proof-texting. Both sides marshal all their scriptural evidence. The conservatives whip out their six “clobber” passages and bang them with a hysterical
Throughout the course of his lifetime, respected bishop and author John Shelby Spong has been an outspoken advocate of liberal Christianity. He has been globally recognized as a lightning rod for controversy and has made his name known to religious people everywhere. In addition to
Before I read Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith, I had been “searching” for Jesus. About a year ago, I decided that I could no longer accept the Jesus that conservative Christianity preaches about. I
What Easter is all about As a liberal Christian, I have always had quite a few unanswered questions about the event that is commonly known as Easter. Growing up in a conservative household, I was raised to believe that Easter meant a literal, bodily resurrection
Shaping the face of a new Christianity When it comes to retired Anglican Bishop John Shelby Spong, there seems to be no middle ground. Either you love him or you hate him. Just a quick gander at the reviews posted on Amazon of his new
The gift of otherness Being a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender Christian can be tiring, frustrating even. It seems that we are always on the defensive, always having to explain ourselves, justify our existence or tell people over and over again why the Bible does
Freeing Jesus Like so many other people, I was taught as a child that the biblical books we call the Gospels were eyewitness accounts detailing the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The accuracy of these books, I was also told, was so precise that we