The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love by John Shelby Spong Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love
Book Review: In A Time Of Intolerance...
Summary: 5 Stars
along comes John Shelby Spong with a refreshing view of the Bible and Christianity. Obviously, if you are a evangelical fundamentalist you are going to dislike this book because it is going to make you think.
Most of us at one time or another have come across stories in the Bible that strain credulity, i.e., God made the sun stand still so a war could be fought, the story of Adam and Eve, a woman being turned into a literal pillar of salt, bushes bursting into flame with divine fiats to do this or that. It could go on and on.
What Bishop Spong does is to help reveal the times and struggles of a people trying desperately to understand the events of their lives. To these ancient peoples every act of nature was a divine 'message' or act of retribution from a venegeful, spiteful god. Thunderstorms, droughts, famines, earthquakes, disease and the like were not understood scientifically, and the result was a huge amount of fear and bloody, ugly sacrifices to appease this god or gods.
Today as our understanding of God and the physical world continue to unfold, we see these things for what they are.
Ancient peoples didn't have that luxury. It wasn't their fault, they were simply trying to make sense of the world in which they lived.
What I take issue with is the religious 'authorities' of today whose doctrines and dogma seek to perpetrate these myths in an effort to keep people afraid and thereby controlled. And those outside the church or who claim no faith, look at people who not only fervently believe in a god of hate, but claim that others MUST believe the same way or they are eternally damned and they say, "Sorry, not for me." And who can blame them?
John Shelby Spong has had the insight and fortitude to open up a whole new way of viewing God and the Bible. He fearlessly looks at the Bible through the lens of context and invites us to interpret and reason rather than emote and go to our corners and sulk. Some of the topics in this book include:
1.) The Word of God
2.) The Bible and the Environment
3.) The Bible and Women
4.) The Bible and Homosexuality
5.) The Bible and Children
6.) The Bible and Ant-Semitism
7.) The Bible and History
8.) Reading Scripture and Epic History
For those of us who claim faith in God and Jesus Christ, it is far beyond time to take back our faith from those who have hijacked it in the name of politics, greed, and fear. This book will not threaten faith, it will enhance it.
Book Review: Fallacious Pseudo-intellectualism
Summary: 1 Stars
Spong selectively biases his interpretations and analysis of the Bible, and dismisses those sections of Scripture that discount his arguments when challenged on his claims (read his interviews). Anyone that honestly thinks he is making a solid argument likely shows only a piecemeal and hearsay knowledge of Scripture...most likely coming from sources such as Spong, who would rather hold on to their own moral compasses than consider the totality of the Bible and the claims of Jesus. (No offense meant by this, just a matter of fact.) If you were to read this book, you would really need to read the Bible as well before you could even consider making an argument concerning its analysis and validity. If you have not, and have no knowledge of the theological discourse concerning many of these topics that have existed long before Spong's work here (and have been dismissed by nearly all theologians and scholars), then one would really have no place in critiquing this book here.
I can't give the link apparently, but PLEASE go to ChristianityToday and search for "Spong". They have a review of this book entitled, "Spong, the Measure of All Things" that explains his errors in greater depth -- which I am in total agreement with. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE (or after) READING THIS BOOK. Because the reviews that many have posted, including the Amazon review, are very inaccurate! And one's religious affiliation, or lack thereof, should not be the grounds from which to judge this book. This REALLY IS a shoddy examination of the Bible and Christianity, and it's sad to see it being passed off as praiseworthy when it holds no merit of scholarly work or validity. The only reason Spong even gets published is because all his dust-kicking and blind ranting ends up kicking up a few dollar signs along with it. And as long as it echoes with the current sentiments of post-modernity and tolerance at any cost (even at the expense of truth), people will buy it and will feel good about buying into it without questioning it. Don't buy into the hype or controversy. And certainly don't buy into the opinions of Spong without researching into his claims yourself (especially that which he purposely skips over for the sake of upholding his argument).
Book Review: revisionist history = zero credibility.
Summary: 1 Stars
Okay, let's get it straight: Jesus was not married, no matter how much you read The da Vinci Code. At least, the evidence was overwhelming. It's certainly possible, but in His case it's not probable. Like most Jewish holy men of his time, he was celibate. The wedding at Cana was not His, since He stated it's "no business" of His that they ran out of the drinky-drinky. Paul used examples of Jesus' disciple's marriages when defending marriage. If Jesus was married, he would've most likely used, you know, the Son of God's marriage as a good example? But he doesn't. Because He wasn't. Married.
There is nothing in the discredited gnostic gospels that say he was married, either. Where does Spong get this idea?
Spong just has a chip on his shoulder with conservatives, theologically and politically. Nothing new to see here.
Book Review: What a pity
Summary: 1 Stars
So the good bishop is at it again ... asserting the supremacy of the modern over the timeless. I read the tome (it could have used a sharp-eyed editor) and found it to be rather pedantic and predictable. Bishop Spong claims he's a Christian, albeit a modern one, yet he disavows every single tenet of the faith: the Resurrection, the divinity of Christ, the supremacy of God over His creation, and so forth. I wish he would simply make it official: Declare he's no longer a Bible-believing, God-fearing Christian and join the Unitarian Universalitists, where he's fit in intellectually from Day One. Such a pity so many trees had to die for this book.Book Review: 2 steps off the shoulder of the road
Summary: 2 Stars
The Bible is a very dangerous book, especially in the hands of the ignorant. It spans the spectrum of literary effort - from mythic/moral storytelling, to half-reconstructed history, to religio-poltical critique, to religious poetry to old-fashioned advice. Misunderstanding the writers' intentions and biases can lead to all sorts of odd beliefs.
John Shelby Spong is at the very margin of those who hold the Bible to be religiously important. In "Sins of Scripture," he does his best to winnow biblical chaff from wheat, by critiquing biblical verses and interpretations that lead people to embrace causes and actions he finds deplorable. While normally I would find this a worthy activity, Spong often comes up short.
For instance, Spong claims that the biblical injunction to be fruitful and multiply is at the root of the population explosion that is a factor in impoverishing large areas of the world. But even the Roman Catholic Church, long pilloried as the major culprit in banning birth control, does not base its anti-BC position on this verse. It uses a natural law argument: God's purpose in creating sex being reproduction, interfering with the purpose of the sex act is tantamount to interfering with God's will. While intelligent and faithful people may disagree with this position, and argue that population control is both moral and necessary, Spong is just plain wrong to ascribe the Christian position on birth control to Genesis 1:22.
Spong's non-scholarly speculation does no service to his arguments. He speculates on the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene (or Mary of Bethany) based on a few verses from John's mystical gospel. He ignores the fact that three evangelists used the story of an anointing for quite different purposes, then picks John's gospel as the "historical" one, based largely, it seems, on his desire to present a married Jesus. Again, it's not that I disagree with his conclusions or his politics, just with the way he supports them.
Spong's take on the Bible's view of women is reductionist in the extreme. While there is no doubt that the Bible springs from a patriarchal culture, Spong ignores its tales of strong-willed and independent women - from Eve through Sarah, Rebecca and Judith. Eve is described (in Spong's biased retelling of the creation myth) as a sub-human servant of Adam, even as he exclaims that she has a more equal stature: "This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh." Having rewritten Scripture, he then proceeds to denigrate its meaning.
Politically and morally, I share much with Spong - appreciation for women's equal value in the eyes of God, tolerance and acceptance of homosexuals, appreciation for the gift and wonder of the natural world. But to rewrite Scripture for one's own purposes is the greater sin, to my mind. And to deny that it is the "Word of God," as Spong does repeatedly, is both wrong and misses the point. Scripture need not (and should not) be taken at face value as an instruction guide for modern behavior - a lot of lobster fishermen would be out of a job if it were (see Leviticus 11:10 -- "But of the various creatures that crawl or swim in the water,...all those that lack either fins or scales are loathsome for you, Their flesh you shall not eat..."). The humanity and morality of Scripture often lie on its surface or barely beneath it. Interpreted correctly, many of its seamier stories are lessons in how NOT to behave toward our fellows. The story of David's rape of Bathsheba (and abandonment of her husband to death) is not a lesson in how to acquire new wives, but a condemnation of such behavior. By attacking the Bible's status as "The Word of God," Spong merely inflames those who see it as an unerring guide to morality, while doing little to advance the understanding of those who wish to use the Bible more fruitfully in advancing the cause of righteousness.