Author

The Christians tried to separate themselves from the Jewish crowd so they wouldn't be the recipients of the persecution of the Romans. And the way they did it was to say, the Jews killed our hero too. And so Christians began to define themselves over against the orthodox party of the Jews as a way of surviving against the Roman onslaught.

From John Shelby Spong

I can only give away the love that I have received.

From John Shelby Spong

Oh the Christian church has encouraged enormous immaturity among the peoples who are its primary adherence.

From John Shelby Spong

We've got to deal with the fact that the church has been violently prejudiced against gay people. We've murdered them; we've burned them at the stake; we've run them out of town for something over which they have no control. And that's immoral.

From John Shelby Spong

The biblical texts that we Christians have used for centuries to justify our hostility toward the Jews need to be banished forever from the sacred writings of the Christian church.

From John Shelby Spong

Inequality for gay and lesbian people is no longer a debatable issue in either church or state.

From John Shelby Spong

I do not live in a world where people can walk on water, or still a storm, or take five loaves of bread and feed 5000 men plus women and children. If that is a requirement of my commitment to Jesus, I find it difficult to stretch my mind outside the capacities of my world view.

From John Shelby Spong

If I were a child of Tibet or of Arabia, I suspect the path I'd walk would be the Buddhist path or the Muslim path. And I don't mind saying that I don't invalidate any of those paths.

From John Shelby Spong

I never really liked the Gospel of John because I never could find the humanity of Jesus in it. I thought it presented Jesus as a visitor from another planet; in addition, John's gospel is and has been interpreted as a document that fuels anti-Semitism in the church.

From John Shelby Spong

Jesus represents the possibilities of a new dimension of existence that transcends all the boundaries that restrict us from opening ourselves to God and allowing this source of love to flow through us.

From John Shelby Spong

John Shelby Spong

Notable Quotes

Authors with Similar Views

Elaine Pagels

Kenneth Scott Latourette

Marianne Williamson

Stanley Hauerwas

John Drane

Authors with Opposing Views

Claudius

Alex Trebek

Alexis Carrel

Alice Walker

Amar'e Stoudemire