Episcopal Bishop Spong wrote in Why Christianity Must Change or Die that Christianity must adapt to a changing world or risk becoming irrelevant. I remember when the controversy about him was live. He ordained the first gay bishop, and thought that St. Paul was a homosexual. He believed Jesus was adopted by God, denied the virgin birth and the resurrection. If one doesn't believe and want to defend the core tenets of the faith, there is no one forcing any of us. Yet it is dishonest to continue to take a bishop's salary, power, and status if that is the case. To take Lewis's example, a person may decide he no longer holds to communist beliefs and have arrived at that conclusion quite sincerely. But then taking a salary working in the headquarters of a communist organisation should be off the table.
Spong was on TV a lot.
He was heavily influenced by and friends with John A. T. Robinson, Bishop of Woolwich, who wrote Honest To God, which CS Lewis criticised in God In The Dock. I only put that in for background.
My point here is to draw your attention to Spong's book title again and note that no one much reads Spong anymore.
5 comments:
Well, it did change. Doesn't look a thing like it did when I was a kid. But it's still dying. So what now, Spongo? Keep doubling down on the stupid, right?
"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." -- C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves
"Spong was on TV a lot"
I entered that phrase in Google search to see where and how frequently.
Google's AI assistant 'Gemini' was unsure if I was asking about Spong or Spongebob.
"How to distinguish which "Spong" was meant
If your memory of "Spong" involves religious debates and serious discussion, you are likely thinking of Bishop John Shelby Spong.
If you remember a bright yellow character living in a pineapple under the sea, you are referring to the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants. "
That made my day
It might have been interesting if they had switched roles.
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