Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile: A New Reformation of the Church's Faith and Practice

William James would say that the reason I like Bishop Spong so much is that because he reconfirms all of my already existing prejudices. But this book rang like a revelation to me. At a time when I continued to be disillusioned with the Christian church, yet was beginning to despair that I would find anything else spiritual that would be truly meaningful to me, Bishop Spong opened a door and told me that it was okay to go back inside. That the fundamentalists don't own Christianity. That I could believe as I did and still call myself Christian. I've said before that without reading this book, I never could have married Andrew, that my whole life would have been different. And I still believe that to be true. I can't really explain how show more grateful I am that I found it. show less

I wish this book was titled __How Christianity Might Change. I am turned off by the combative title and the tone of the early chapters, but perhaps this is how Spong felt he would reach his desired audience. He calls this audience "believers in exile," meaning people of faith who still identify as Christian, but whose scientific and contemporary perspective feels incompatible with the traditional Christian doctrine and practice.

I am one of those people. Once I got past the drama of the early chapters, I was incredibly grateful for this book. It helped me articulate the things I can't swallow about Christian practice, including the belief in a personal God, the idea that this God required the blood sacrifice of his son to "save" show more humankind, and the efficacy of intercessory prayer.

I loved Spong's restatement of a Christian creed in the final chapter of the book, and I loved his insistence on God being something that cannot be easily put into words, and on Jesus of Nazareth as a window into relationship with God.

I highly recommend this book, and ultimately I agree with Spong that if there is to be a new generation of Christians who embrace science, some of the core ideas of traditional Christianity will have to be rethought. show less

Make sure you read the chapter "The Meaning of Prayer in the World with No External Deity". Compelling! The subtitle of this book brought a wonderful debate with my dear friend that is reading this also. "A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile." We both find we no longer feel at home in our church. They church hasn't changed, we have. Nothing wrong with the church, we just have either grown or changed our vantage point. This book has been perfect for those pursuing what she and I decided to simply call "the truth" (no caps). It's been a wonderful series of books I have read lately and posted here. Titles I would never pick up for fear of being deceived, disobedient, oh.. and one of my favorites my pastor use to throw around like unholy show more water... a "BACKSLIDER"! “Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear”. Thomas Jefferson. This book is a healthy way to question. show less

Spong writes as if he thinks he's the smartest one in the room. He isnn't; he's merely the most belligerent and egotistical. That conceded, his ideas have some value, in their own right, and to shake-up the troops, so to put, in the ranks of contemporary Christianity. A basic truth, that everything which is life-affirming is Godly, is sound. On the other hand, how much turns on one's definition of what is life-affirming, and beyond that, is religion only about a human sense of life-affirmation? After a while one wishes that Spong would develop even a single point calmly, and use persuasion, wit, and warmth. Knocking everything off the table and then saying, "Well, I guess I showed YOU!" is more than a little jejune. One doesn't have to show more be a conventional Christian to read these pages and end-up asking, "Er, un, well, what about Jesus?" show less

John Shelby Spong is one of my heroes, and this is the book that first introduced me to his work. It is a deeply personal, yet also scholarly and thoughtful account of how his theological views gradually changed over a lifetime of service as a priest, and then a bishop in the Episcopal church. His reasoning is backed with solid Biblical references as well as information from modern science and Biblical scholars.

Note: This work is basically the first section of a two-book study. This section discusses the weaknesses in traditional Christian theology, and why it needs to change. There is not much discussion here of what the church might look like after that change; that topic is covered in his next book: A New Christianity for a New World.

The author is a retired bishop of the Episcopal Church, and is noted for his controversial, progressive, some say heretical, views about Christianity: its doctrines and dogmas, teachings and practices. I enjoy his work -- he presents well-reasoned arguments to support his positions. While I don't necessarily agree with all of his conclusions, he appears to operate from the same mind-set about his faith that I do about mine: God gave me intelligence and I'm allowed to use it.

This sounds like the handbook of an atheist, but it's not. Read this book if you've ever felt or wondered about the conflict between Christianity and science and how we might resolve it.

The book speaks to those who feel they are in exile from Christianity, but even if you don't identify with that (such is the case with me) or consider yourself a Christian, you will enjoy it. If nothing else, it helps to articulate the problems you might have noticed with today's version of Christianity.