Why Christianity Must Change or Die

by Bishop John Shelby Spong of the Episcopal Diocese of NewJersey

notesby DougMuder ;send comments to dougdeb@gurus.com

pagenumbers from the HarperCollins paperback edition 1999

Sometimes the dead wood of the past needs to be cleared out sothat new life has a chance to grow. -- p 83

Before one is able to raise new theological questions, one mustbecome convinced enough of the bankruptcy of old theologicalsolutions. -- p 137

These two quotes tell you a lot about how this book is structured. Each chapter begins by raising a blunt and difficult question. Spong then recounts how traditional Christianity has answered this question. He critiques this answer and ultimately rejects it, showing how it is based on a premodern worldview that is no longer credible. Then he faces the other side of the question: Does rejection of the traditional answer mean that we are left without hope of an answer? Or are we stuck with answers that are in no way religious? He responds that he has found answers that satisfy him as a religious person, and concludes by attempting to communicate his answers in words, while admitting the inadequacy of words to capture the ultimacy of religion.

He begins the book with a critique of the Apostles' Creed, and ends it with a belief statement of his own that echoes much of the wording of the Apostles' Creed. In the meantime, however, the words have been redefined. His religion centers on God, but a God who is found within us, not an external presence with whom we can negotiate for favor. He believes in Jesus not as the divine hero of the story of sin and salvation, but as a man who found the God presence in himself and manifested it in his life.

The book can be broken into four parts: Chapters 1 and 2 lay out the problem of trying to apply the premodern words and concepts of traditional Christianity to a postmodern world. Chapters 3 and 4 deconstruct and reconstruct the idea of God. Chapters 5-8 deconstruct and reconstruct the role of Jesus. Chapters 9-13 show how these conceptions allow him to reconceive the everyday life of religion: prayer, morality , worship, and the hope of eternal life. The book ends with an epilogue that is essentially a new Christian creed.

Preface

The preface is Bishop Spong's story of how the word "controversial" came to be associated with his name. Its purpose seems to be to reassure the reader that he has never tried to destroy Christianity, and that he has not been seeking controversy for its own sake.

This book ... is a work of faith and conviction. It is my witnessas one who desires to worship as a citizen of the modern world and tobe able to think as I worship. -- p ix

Actually, I am grateful to each of my critics. What theyunwittingly did was to identify me as a resource for the religiousseekers of our world who yearn to believe in God but who are alsorepelled by the premodern literalizations that so frequentlymasquerade as Christianity. -- p xvii

Surprisingly, to some of my mentors ... I am a hopelessconservative for remaining committed to the church and the Christianfaith. -- p xviii

When all is said and done, I write out of a faith commitment as aChristian and not in an attempt to create controversy. But where thisfaith has been corrupted into literalized propositional statements, Ihave become its exposer and its critic. I have come to see thecontroversy that ensues not as negative and not even as destructiveto the church. ... It reveals that any god who is threatened by newtruth from any source is clearly dead already. Such a deceased godneeds to be snatched away from threatened believers so that the anxiety of "a god vacuum" at the heart of some peoples'lives will drive them into honesty and integrity as either believersor non-believers. There is no hope for the revival of worship so longas an idol lives undisturbed in the place reserved for a living God.-- p xix