Unbelievable
Why Neither Ancient Creeds
Nor the Reformation
Can Produce a Living Faith Today
By
John Shelby Spong
Reviewed by
Geoffrey W. Sutton (suttong.com)
Spong provides examples of Unbelievable doctrines of the church
and calls for a second reformation. He presents 12 challenging theses as
foundational to building a new understanding of the Bible by relying on a more
rational appreciation of the metaphorical and meaningful truths of the
scriptures rather than the implausible literal interpretations that obscure a
meaningful spiritual life.
His presentation appears focused on educated adults who have
not lost their interest in Christian spirituality but are not satisfied with current
presentations of Christianity found in Protestant or Catholic pulpits. He is
particularly concerned with the distortion of faith found in those who present
simplistic and literal, or near literal, views of creation, biblical violence, and
miracles as well as church traditions of teachings like a trinitarian view of
God.
His reformation ideas reflect a summary of what Christian
scholars have learned about science and the Bible in the past century as well
as experience in trying to communicate a coherent message of Christianity to educated
audiences.
Following introductory comments, Spong invites readers to
reconsider the character of God with a focus on God as Being. Next, he addresses
the difficult teaching about the incarnation and the nature of Jesus as a person
and as Christ. He challenges beliefs in original sin, the virgin birth, and
many miraculous stories from ancient Israel to the works of Jesus and his
followers.
Other teachings re-examined include atonement theology,
beliefs about Easter, and the ascension of Christ. Matters of practice include
two theses on Ethics and the relevance of the Ten Commandments as well as a new
understanding of prayer. He closes with discussions on life after death and
universalism.
**********
A sample of quotes from Unbelievable may help you get a sense of Spong's challenges to traditional Christian doctrines.
About God: "God is. Because God is, I live, I love, I
am. Does that mean that God exists? I do not know what that question means. I
experience God; I cannot explain God. I trust my experience."
Jesus and the resurrection: "So the first step that
those of us who wish to explore the meaning of resurrection must take is to
recognize that the founding moment of the Christian story is not about either
an empty tomb or the resuscitation of a deceased body. Its original
proclamation asserted that in some manner God had raised Jesus into being part
of who God is. Jesus was raised by God into God."
The Virgin Birth: “There is no possibility that the virgin
birth was ever meant to be literally believed."
On miracles: “We do not have to twist our brains into
first-century pretzels in an effort to believe the unbelievable. We can read
the miracle stories as the symbols they originally were…”
About the “Fall” of humanity: “If Christianity is to have a
future, the paradigm must shift from being saved from our sins to being called
into a new wholeness from our sense of incompleteness.”
The resurrection: “Whatever it was that constituted the
Easter experience, the obvious fact is that there was enormous power in that
moment that cries out for explanation. That power changed lives…”
Some Thoughts
I'm a psychologist and not a theologian so I do not have the background in theology and biblical studies as seminarians would have. I have seen a lot of young people from conservative backgrounds upset with the way fundamentalists and evangelicals write and speak about their faith in social media posts. Some have come out as having left Christianity and some have moved on to other churches. Whatever form a reformation takes, Christian teachings are surely due for an update in language understood by contemporary young people.
As a clinician, I am reluctant to attack a person's understanding of faith when that understanding provides comfort and support that promotes their wellbeing. However, Spong offers some helpful perspectives for those disenchanted with traditional dogma. For example, those who notice their traditional prayers have not been answered may find his discussion of divine presence encouraging.
As a psychological scientist and a Christian, I find some of Spong's ideas make it easier to integrate Christianity and Psychological Science because Spong does not attempt to minimize scientific findings about the age of the earth and its origins, human evolution, natural disasters, disease, and mental illness.
I suspect even liberal thinkers will be reluctant to embrace some of his speculations, which are unbelievable in a different way. For example, although he makes a reasonable case for distorted views about God, Spong's philosophical musing about God qua being doesn't offer a persuasive alternative.
In Unbelievable, Christians find a way to be spiritual and not religious.
Reference (I listened to the unabridged audio version and looked at the eBook, which is where I obtained the quotes.)
Spong, J. S.
(2018). Unbelievable: Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can
Produce a Living Faith Today. New York: HarperCollins.
You can find a few lectures by Spong on YouTube. Here is one example.
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Geoffrey W Sutton
Hey Geoff, Thanks for going through this. I think you're right that many will have problems with Spong's thinking, but he's not entirely wrong about the paucity of spirituality in modern Christianity, so tied to problematic interpretative methods and twisted foci of past decisions about dogma. Your reference to miracles and the virgin birth being "not literal" seems a bit hasty, but I would be interested in exploring his rationale on it. However, it sounds like a naturalist's suggestion instead of one with a full-featured spirituality I would hope for. I think there's a contradiction in that suggestion. But Spong has been right in the past, and I wouldn't want to toss his suggestion out without a read.
ReplyDeleteThough I agree it is simple to get caught in a cul de sac on the "what is God" issue, (atheists congregate there,) that doesn't seem to be reason enough to stop thinking theologically. Yes, we've gotten it wrong so often as to be near to throwing our hands up, but I don't think we have to toss our logic out over past mistakes, just acknowledge that our theologies are limited, not leading us to certainties.
I think he's right about the fall, but the text of Scripture, and the errors of dogmatics, logic, and experience are enough to convince me of that.
I know you offer the "I am not a theological expert" caveat in front of you theological musings, but you have long experience in the Christian world. I would wager that your humble theological musings are more reliable than those of some recent graduate of theological education. As Dr. McCoy said to Spock, "The captain trusts your guess more than the certainties of anyone else."
Cheers