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| Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture | 
 enlarge | Author: John Shelby Spong
Publisher: HarperOne
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (133 reviews)
Sales Rank: 7226
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0060675187
Dewey Decimal Number: 220.601
EAN: 9780060675189
ASIN: 0060675187
Publication Date: April 10, 1992
Release Date: April 10, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 128 more reviews...
 Best if Not Taken Literally September 18, 2008
I just finished reading this book, and my conclusion is the title of my review.
Originally I picked up the book for a compound reason. On the one hand, I agree with the title. Though I consider myself an evangelical of sorts, I am somewhat wary of an overly literal treatment of the Bible. On the other hand, I knew Spong's reputation of being... for lack of a better term... "far left" and at times even "heretical" by some standards.
What I most liked about the book was the way that Spong did get behind the words of Scripture and reveal some of the themes which would be lost to a modern reader. The significance of certain structures and symbols found in the Gospels are things that only those familiar with Jewish custom at the time would recognize. Spong lays them out for the everyday Christian, and they make for interesting reading.
His critique of Biblical literalism, however, is terribly lacking. He seems to be unaware of how much his own strange blend of modernism and post-modernism influences his handling of the Bible, and as a result makes some (to my mind... which is a slightly different strange blend of modern and post-modern) very odd claims. For example, in defending why the Christmas story is "literal nonsense", he goes through various aspects of the traditional story and declares that "Of course this doesn't happen." But, really, I think that's part of the point of the stories. NORMALLY, these things don't happen. However, God can intervene in time and space and "break the scientific rules". That's actually (part of) the point that the pre-modern Gospel writers were making with the stories. True, in a modern age which believes that the scientific laws are absolute, unalterable, and mostly understood, we'd have to deny that the virgin birth could EVER happen. But, that only holds if we accept the modernistic worldview... even post-modernism can (at times) acknowledge (seeming) violations of scientific laws, and that our ignorance of the way the world works is vast.
Spong also seems to offer a false dichotomy. Either the Scripture is literally true OR it has the deeper meaning which Spong advocates. However, this is far from a true dichotomy. It seems to me (as it did to St. Augustine) that it's perfectly possible that the Bible is true on both a literal level (depending on what is meant by "literal"), and also on a metaphorical level (and many other levels besides!). Such a possibility doesn't seem to enter into Spong's head... which makes me question his education. The idea that the Scripture is true on several levels is not new. It is very old, and any seminary which doesn't recognize and teach this extremely useful idea is doing its students (and their congregations!) a serious disservice.
In the end, Spong falls to one of the universe's "fits of irony". In seeking to be inclusive, he excludes (seemingly cheerfully) not only a literal interpretation of Scripture, but even people who would interpret the Bible literally. For example, he is very careful to always say "homosexual people", not allowing people to be defined by their sexual orientation. However, he insists on referring to people as "fundamentalists" or "literalists", allowing fundamentalists to be defined by their fundamentalism. Even "fundamentalist Christians" would be a little bit more acceptable. One is tempted to write this off as an oversight - a place where Spong's prejudice shone through - but Spong does not leave that option available to us, if we take him literally. He says "[The call of Christ] is an invitiation to work for those things that create life and to oppose those PEOPLE [emphasis mine], those attitudes, and those systems that distort life." All throughout, Spong has repeated the case that literalism "distorts" the meaning of Scripture... a meaning which points to life. The only conclusion then is that Spong not only opposes the fundamentalism of these people (which would be "the attitude" or "the system"), but opposes these people as people. Hardly characteristic of the "inclusive love that breaks all human barriers" that Spong claims to advocate.
The solution, then, is to not take Spong too literally. The book is certainly valuable in some sense. After all, I did learn from it. However, when I try to take it as literal truth (not even of the "inerrant" variety... just normal literal truth), I find it to be seriously lacking.
 The Greatest Book on the Bible August 25, 2008
Everyone in America who calls themselves Christian needs to read this book. I was brought up Catholic; my dad was Catholic and my mother Jewish. At seventeen, I joined a Christian, non-denominational church.
I was young and have not yet developed the skills necessary to discern truth from error. In the early 70's some of wanted security. The government was full of corruption, the Catholics did not explain my questions, I did not drugs, so off I went.
The two words of the title of this book jarred my attention: From Fundamentalism. I thought, 'wait a minute, I was a member of a fundamentalist Church from 1973-86; maybe, just maybe this book can help explain some of the false teachings that the Fundamentalist church taught me.
I cannot put this book down. I keep re-reading pages of it; I stop and think how come I did not see this sooner like this author.
In addition, before you and anyone else you know gives one dollar to a television evangelists, read this book. Most television evangelists are after only one thing money.
They stole their approach from Johnny Carson. In addition, the reason that television evangelist exist at all is because there is a market for them. I call most of them "snake oil salesman."
One of my goals is to to put these television evangelist out of business. This book will become my main tool. Most of them are a hoax. Worse, some of them are Cults.
Unless a person practices the idea of Socrates, "The unexamined life is not worth living," no religion will save them. Religion as it is shown on television is mass hypnosis and worse the opium of the people.
This book may expose some of your misunderstandings of the Bible and apparent contradictions. Many have taken the Bible literally, when in fact, the bible is neither scientifically correct or historically accurate. It is a document of many folks who call themselves Jews and Christians. Although the Bible is not literally true, we can learn some things from this book, only some.
I love this man so much for all the hard work he has done to set me from ignorance. I have only one question, "Why did I now only find this book seventeen years after its first publication?"
I want to shout it from the housetops, but not yet. Finally, this book explains, to some degree, the hooks some use to get people to join religious cults.
An excellent overview of biblical scholarship October 30, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
When I looked at this on Amazon, I KNEW that the reviews would be polarized. There are people who don't know anything about biblical scholarship who will give it five stars automatically, because it's all eye opening. There are devout Christians who don't want the scholarship to be true who will give it one star no matter how accurate the contents are.
On top of that, there were people who complained that the scholarship was poor, or that it was introductory only, or even some who complained that it was not relevant in the modern world (the bible is 1900 years old, how "modern" do you have to be?).
The book is exactly as advertised. The introduction says it clearly that it is introductory biblical scholarship and there any biblical scholar would find it boring or elementary. I can't fault the book for that and would dismiss any reviews that do.
The book is an overview of modern biblical scholarship (focusing more on the new testament than old) discussing when and where the particular book was written and what conditions were for the author. He also discusses the author's target audience.
While I have read more detailed analysis, few of them are more readable. It is a gentle introduction.
Even though it is introductory, it has details in it that I haven't read elsewhere that I found quite interesting.
No one would argue that it is a liberal view of Christianity, so if you aren't a liberal Christian, you may disagree with some of the statements. Most likely, those to do with the resurrection and the virgin birth would probably be offensive.
If you are looking for in-depth, authoritative analysis of the bible from a linguistics and historical point of view, look elsewhere. If you are looking for an easy introduction to the bible and know very little about it, it's one of the best books available.
Personally, I felt comforted that there are devout Christians out there as reasonable as Spong is.
From A Thinker Comes Words The Christian World Needs To Hear! October 8, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Biblical literalists insisting that theirs is the only way to correctly understand/interpret the Bible turn many a would-be believer into one who runs in the opposite direction-quickly. Not to mention the fact that that those who believe in the complete inerrancy of the bible, usually act in less than gracious ways, i.e. "You don't believe like me, well then you're goin to hell, buddy." And what troubles me most is that they almost seem to like saying it.
But in this book, John Shelby Spong takes the Bible and reveals a living, breathing work. He speaks of the first century Christians as those who struggled with limited understanding of the laws of nature, and a theology in transition from law to grace. Spong eloquently and with great conviction reveals a God who wants to be involved with His creation, rather than a stern, demanding autocrat issuing edicts, requiring blood atonements, and self-hate.
As a Christian, I am not proud that through the centuries every bit of emotional, technological, and social progress was in spite of Christianity instead because of it. What did the church say when it was discovered that earth wasn't flat? Heresy! How did the church handle slavery? Not very well. How did the church handle women being eclesiastically involved? Terribly. When science sought discovery, instead of being enlightened, most Christians were threatened. The result? Thinking men and women of all times turned away from a wonderful, life-giving faith in God because religionists insisted it was their way or the highway.
Thankfully, that type of thinking seems to be waning. Or is it? Unfortunately, some politicians of the right-wing variety insist on marrying fundamentalism with politics for their own purposes. But the fact remains that no matter who says it or how large their number, you can't "scare" someone into a true relationship. If your primary fear is one of burning in a tormenting hell for eternity, then you have basically been manipulated. Nothing genuine then comes from the heart because your motivation is based on fear rather than love.
Jesus Christ brought a new concept of God and religion to the human race. He did not follow the accepted religious laws of His time. He took on the scribes and pharisees-constantly questioning, probing, teaching through parables, and loving the unlovable. It got him the cross. And many Christians have been crucifying him anew with ungracious theology in His name.
John Shelby Spong will challnege you to think of God and Jesus Christ in a whole new way. Past all the creeds, dogmas, and superstitions, God still waits with outstretched arms for a relationship with His children. This book is an excellent way of coming to understand a God of grace who bestows His love unconditionally and whose mercy endures forever.
Thank you, Bishop Spong.
Sometimes scholarly, sometimes atheistic January 10, 2007
11 out of 16 found this review helpful
Spong has some valid points in this book. He accurately notes discrepancies between what literalists of the bible quote and what they ignore. This part of the book is an eye opener and provides food for thought. After establishing himself as an expert at picking the bible apart, however, Spong makes some claims that have little or no scholarly basis. For example, after establishing inconsistencies in the written text of the bible, he then completely discounts all of the miracles of in the bible claiming that they are not "scientific" enough. The tendency for some people reading this (and the danger therein) is that once readers accept Spong as an authority on scripture, they will accept anything he says, including statements he makes in a blanket fashion without supporting evidence. I, personally, agree that his concerns with taking everything from the bible literally are valid, yet I see no reason to think that every single miracle listed in the bible is therefore a lie.
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