Biblical Literalism

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A global and pioneering leader of progressive Christianity and the bestselling author of Why Christianity Must Change or Die and Eternal Life explains why a literal reading of the Gospels is actually heretical, and how this mistaken notion only entered the church once Gentiles had pushed out all the Jewish followers of Jesus.A man who has consciously and deliberately walked the path of Christ, John Shelby Spong has lived his entire life inside the Christian Church In this profound and considered work, he offers a radical new way to look at the gospels today as he shows just how deeply Jewish the Christian Gospels are and how much they reflect the Jewish scriptures, history, and patterns of worship Pulling back the layers of a long standing Gentile ignorance, he reveals how the church s literal reading of the Bible is so far removed from these original Jewish authors intent that it is an act of heresy.Using the Gospel of Matthew as a guide, Spong explores the Bible s literary and liturgical roots its grounding in Jewish culture, symbols, icons, and storytelling tradition to explain how the events of Jesus life, including the virgin birth, the miracles, the details of the passion story, and the resurrection and ascension, would have been understood by both the Jewish authors of the various gospels and by the Jewish audiences for which they were originally written Spong makes clear that it was only after the church became fully Gentile that readers of the Gospels took these stories to be factual, distorting their original meaning.In Biblical Literalism A Gentile Heresy, Spong illuminates the gospels as never before and provides a better blueprint for the future than where the church s leaden and heretical reading of the story of Jesus has led us one that allows the faithful to live inside the Christian story in the modern world. Free Download [ Biblical Literalism ] Author [ John Shelby Spong ] – kino-fada.fr Once again John Shelby Spong startles the fundamentalists and educates the intelligent with his latest and I think best book yet In Biblical Literalism A Gentile Heresy A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew s Gospel, Bishop Spong uses the Gospel According to St Matthew as an example of how the Christian canon relates to the Jewish calendar each section of the gospel to a month of the Jewish year To name a few Shavout relates to the Sermon on Mount Matthew Once again John Shelby Spong startles the fundamentalists and educates the intelligent with his latest and I think best book yet In Biblical Literalism A Gentile Heresy A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew s Gospel, Bishop Spong uses the Gospel According to St Matthew as an example of how the Christian canon relates to the Jewish calendar each section of the gospel to a month of the Jewish year To name a few Shavout relates to the Sermon on Mount Matthew 5, 6, 7 , which Bishop Spong says was modelled from Psalm 119 Yom Kippur to the destruction of the temple in 70 CE Hanukkah to the light of God that was switched from the Temple to Jesus himself Jesus replaced the temple Passover to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Bishop Spong also relates the Christian canonical writings to the Hebrew s...The quest for the historical Jesus has tended to devolve into an act of looking into a well and seeing one s own reflection That was Albert Schweitzer s analysisthan a century ago and it still remains true to this day The way in which this reflection is cast will change, but not necessarily the truth involved Christians like a Jesus who is in sync with their vision of reality John Spong is no different than the rest of us In this book the former Episcopal bishop of Newark, NJ seeks to The quest for the historical Jesus has tended to devolve into an act of looking into a well and seeing one s own reflection That was Albert Schweitzer s analysisthan a century ago and it still remains true to this day The way in which this reflection is cast will change, but not necessarily the truth involved Chr... I will put a quote here when this book is published.I lived in New Jersey for the first 18 years of my life and have continued to visit family and friends in the garden state Some of my friends are Episcopalian and Spong was their bishop forthan 20 years His theology is very liberal and he managed to offend most of the Episcopalians that I knew in NJ Spong also has connections in Richmond, VA which is near my home So I have been hearing about him for decades I had never read anything I will put a quote here when this book is published.I lived in New Jersey for the first 18 years of my life and have continued to visit family and friends in the garden state Some of my friends are Episcopalian and Spong was their bishop forthan 20 years His theology is very liberal and he managed to offend most of the Episcopalians that I knew in NJ Spong also has connections in Richmond, VA which is near my home So I have been hearing about him for decades I had never read anything by him, so the opportunity to read a free ebook seemed well worth my time.Spong is an excellent writer and a good scholar as far as I can tell He very carefully lays out his thesis at the beginning of this book and then attempts to prove it by going through the Gospel of Matthew chapter by chapter I had no trouble following Spong s ideas and I have a good understanding of what he is proposing Basically...This book COULD do a lot of things to its readers It could make you angry It could make you throw something It could make you change your views about religion It could make you question everything you hold dear Or it could make you say, FINALLY This book WILL do one thing It will make you think.Written by the Right Rev John Shelby Spong, retired bishop...3 very conflicted stars Let s break it down.5 stars for the concept buried within here Namely, that the Gospels in particular, Matthew and to a similar degree Mark were written not for biography or posterity but for liturgical use by the early Christians within a Jewish synagogical setting That s killer Yes But 1 star for how it s packaged This is not a book primarily about biblical literalism, or even how Gentiles ruined everything It s primarily a commentary on Matthew s origins and pr 3 very conflicted stars Let s break it down.5 stars for the concept buried within here Namely, that the Gospel...The author of this book was actually labeled a heretic you know, like, recently So know that going in This is not a book for anyone who does not have a firm grasp on his her faith or a strong knowledge of the Bible I enjoyed the author s argument and its explanations and I agree with many of the author s ultimately truths about God,but in the end, I had to reject all of his conclusions because to do otherwise would reduce Christ to a literary fiction created by anonymous writers in order t The author of this book was actually labeled a heretic you know, like, recently So know that going in This is not a book for anyone who does not have a firm grasp on his her faith or a strong knowledge of the Bible I enjoyed the author s argument and its explanations and I agree with many of the author s ultimately truths abo...This must be the best book I have ever read about the Bible Whether or not you find yourself agreeing with Spong s scholarship methods or his conclusions, this book does a fantastic job addressing topics and specifics that every person with an ambition to take the Bible seriously needs to wrestle with.Personally I find the author s process and conclusions to be very valuable and helpful Rarely do I feel that one single book has this much to teach me in a single reading This book has helped me This must be the best book I have ever read about the Bible Whether or not you find yourself agreeing with Spong s scholarship methods or his conclusions, this book does a fantastic job addressing topi...Spong is a problematic writer While not a scholar he enjoys taking leaps without any data to back up his claims While he poses a quite interesting thesis he fails, in the end, to back up his claims What was most interesting in this book what Spong s digging into the OT to see its reflection in Matthew I can accept Spong s theory ...A Book Reviewer s Struggles I struggled to write a book review for this book almost gave up writing it all together Let s just say I had mixed feelings after getting to around page 50 of the book On one hand, I recognise the problems to which the author is proposing solutions On the other hand, I am suspicious of his intentions and wonder if he really thought things through the implications of what he suggests and proposes on the Church In the end, I concluded that the author knows the c A Book Reviewer s Strug...John Spong s thesis is that the gospel of Matthew was originally written with the liturgical year of the synagogue as the organizing principle and that the Christian gospels are deeply Jewish and reflect the Jewish scriptures, Jewish history and Jewish patterns of worship When the congregations of the Jesus movement changed from predominately Jewish to predominately Gentiles, the culture, sym...

Biblical Literalism
  • 09 April 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 416 pages
  • 0062362305
  • John Shelby Spong
  • Biblical Literalism