The Life and Ministry of John Shelby Spong

In a society where religious faith and lack of tolerance have come to be seen as synonymous, the life and ministry of John Shelby Spong stands in stark contrast to such an assumption. Spong, a retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark in New Jersey, has stood in defiance of more conventional interpreters of his church's doctrines from both a theological and social standpoint. He has remained a proud advocate for liberal interpretations of the nature of Jesus. He has shown tolerance of so-called alternative lifestyles, like homosexuality, and so-called radical beliefs, like feminism. Rather than defend his Episcopalian faith in absolute terms, Spong has proclaimed the need for openness and plurality and made ecumenical beliefs the core of his ministry.

Although he officially retired in 2001, Spong continues to this very day to advocate change in the church, so that young people will continue to see its message as relevant to their lives. Spong has, in the great tradition of Anglican churchmen devoted to the promotion of political awareness, recently condemned the current Bush Administration and its war in Iraq. Although the Bush Administration has often invoked faith to defend its actions, and cast opponents to its policy as stalwartly secular, Spong believes in no uncertain terms that the administration's actions go against the true nature of Christianity. When the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was exposed, Spong tartly wrote, not of forgiveness of the president but: "The primary reason that 'bearing false witness' is part of the Ten Commandments is that no society survives unless the words of its citizens are trustworthy. The commitment to truth on the part of its elected leaders is even more important. I see no evidence that this administration has the ability to correct itself. The subversion of truth to power is too deep a mark of its character" ("Bishop Spong on Politics," A New Christianity for a New World, 2006). Just as ministers have a special commitment to obey the truth and the law, so do public officials, for they also work in the public trust.

Whenever he believes the American government is being repressive, Spong has asserted that it is absurd to protect freedom by limiting freedom. All true faith derives from the human ability to choose, freely and openly, one's faith and convictions. To have faith means not to deny the rights of others, but to welcome discussion and dialogue. This spirit of openness is embodied in Spong's life, even in his appearance. To better relate to the people he served in the Diocese of Newark, Spong seldom wore a miter. Representing the authority of the church given to him by wearing the robes of his office was less important than teaching the truth in the most immediate and accessible way possible.

Today, even after many years away from his native South, Spong still harbors the accent of his Charlotte, North Carolina roots, where he was born on June 16th, 1931, when Jim Crow was still very much in effect. Growing up, Spong never shared a classroom, a restroom or a water fountain or lunch counter with a black person. This did not foster prejudice within him, rather contrary to the spirit of the times it made him want to overcome hatred and divisions between people. Furthermore, although he was a member of the 'privileged' race in his society, Spong was not unfamiliar with hardship. He grew up extremely poor. His father was an alcoholic. After his father died when Spong was twelve, Spong became man of the house, caring for his mother as best he could. Still, he always had time for church. His mentor and surrogate father became the local parish priest (Barrett, 1997).

Spong pressed himself to achieve, becoming the first member of his family to go on to higher education, and married a woman named Joan Ketner, who helped support him through his work at Divinity School. Spong was an early advocate of full and equal participation of women in the Episcopal Church, and he always defended women's right to work outside the home and to be treated as an equal in marriage. Although Spong deeply loved Joan, Joan also suffered from mental illness, which was a trial when he was beginning his ministry. Navigating the competing demands placed upon him by his parishioners, as well as his early civil rights activism, kept him busy.

Spong became a deacon after his twenty-fourth birthday, and was ordained six months afterward. He was unafraid to take unpopular stances at the time, including supporting integration in North Carolina. While still in North Carolina, Spong wrote frequently, and one of his most controversial works stirred a fruitful dialogue about interfaith relations. After reading Spong's This Hebrew Lord a local rabbi was so impressed by Spong's scholarship that the two men agreed to debate the issues Spong's text raised, as to the Jewish nature of Jesus. Spong was willing to stage the debate in a synagogue. Although the synagogue's faithful were not 'converted' by Spong's words, the media attention the debate generated, as well as the tolerance and friendly exchange between the two religious leaders, inspired many Christians and Jews alike.

However, it was more orthodox Christians, rather Jewish people who were more disturbed by the tenants Spong's philosophy highlighted about the connections between Judaism and Christianity. In his essay "A Call for a New Reformation," written on the "eve of the new millennium," Spong wrote: "Theism, as a way of defining God, is dead. So most theological God-talk is today meaningless. A new way to speak of God must be foundSince God can no longer be conceived in theistic terms, it becomes nonsensical to seek to understand Jesus as the incarnation of the theistic deity. So the Christology of the ages is bankrupt" (Spong, 2000). The divinity of Jesus is always less important to Spong than the humanity of Jesus. In fact, Spong fears that doctrines like the virgin birth and the notion of Jesus as God incarnate can often alienate modern believers, rather than inspire them to come back to the faith from secularism. Believers turn because they feel that the church is no longer relevant or rejects them because of lifestyle choices like cohabitating before marriage.

Jesus' message, Spong stresses, is about inclusion and love of all people, never hatred. Religious Christians who attempt to rally the faithful by hating 'others' like gays, feminists, and members of other faiths run counter to Jesus' teachings. "May I say to my Christian friends as powerfully as I can, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about love not hate, acceptance not rejection. It celebrates the essence of one's humanity. It calls people beyond the prejudices of tribe, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. It challenges those who have elevated their religious convictions to the realm of infallible or inerrant truth. But even more powerfully it calls those of us who claim to be disciples of this Christ to stand at the side of those our world would victimize, to counter the rhetoric of religious prejudice, to risk our lives for justice, and to do it quite publicly" (Spong, 1998).

Spong raised even more controversy after he gained a wider platform in his ministry even more politically divided Northeastern region of America. In 1976 John Shelby Spong was consecrated the Bishop Coadjutor of Newark, succeeding as Diocesan in 1978. "Neither he nor the Episcopal Church has been the same since," not just in Newark, but worldwide (Barrett, 1997). Spong was welcomed by his largely African-American congregation. However, controversy brewed as Spong's conviction and defense of civil rights nurtured a conviction within his Christian conscience that gay marriage was not contrary to the mission of God. "Three or four years later," after he came to his position, "the Bishop commissioned a diocesan task force to study what he considered to be three key points: The overwhelming increase in young people living together outside of marriage; unmarried older people living together for various economic reasons; and whether people living in homosexual relationships could be called into the church's desire to consecrate human partnership. The underlying theme was the pastoral recognition that sex inside of marriage is not always holy, but can be abused. Might it then follow that sex not blessed by the sacrament of matrimony might sometimes be holy, or at least tend in that direction" (Barrett, 1997).

Spong wanted to make Christianity meaningful and accessible to everyone, and no doctrine remained unquestioned. He was willing to accept gay believers as equals. He did not accept the notion of 'hating' gay unions as a sin, but loving the 'sinners,' rather he did not feel that gay relationships were sinful at all. Even extramarital heterosexual relationships should not be the focus of church vitriol. He was more concerned with fighting poverty in the depressed area where he worked, rather than worrying about notions of chastity and theology. Spong has repeatedly stressed, noting his historical studies of the evolution of the history of the church, that what seemed relevant to Christians in ancient times, like Trinitarian controversies, now seems antiquitated to us now. It is always the mission of contemporary Christians to make Christ's message relevant to modernity, rather than trying to twist the words of patriarchs of the past to condemn minor sins or life choices in the present.

Of course, not all church leaders share Spong's believes. A nationwide controversy broke in 1987 when the press reported Spong's endorsement gay marriage, controversy that intensified with his later even more controversial support of ordaining openly gay bishops. There was talk that such a stance would split the Anglican Church for all time, even drive some Anglicans back to Catholicism. There was particular fear that the growing Anglican ministry in the developing world would be threatened, given the strong taboos against homosexuality in Africa and Latin America.

This was a turbulent time in Spong's life. His wife had also recently died, so Spong admits that he was feeling estranged from both his congregation and his faith, but just as he was willing to be unpopular in his support of civil rights in the South, he held fast to his support of the ordination of gays. After his wife's death, Spong remarried. One author wrote: "This experience of mutual respect and support in his marriage has deepened the Bishop's conviction that those not especially called by God to a life of celibacy deserve the chance to sanctify their relationships with the church's blessing. He remains determined to affirm the biblical teaching that it is not good for human beings to be alone" (Barrett, 1997). Rather than celebrating solitude and a contemplative existence, Spong celebrates Christians who live in the world, and apply the principles of the Gospels to solving social problems. Not being alone makes one stronger, thus Spong sees marriage for both homosexual and heterosexual persons as a positive thing.

Over the years, Spong continued to grapple with the church's teachings abut homosexuality. After the death of Matthew Shepard, out of the compassion he felt for Newark's gay community, he asked a New Jersey gay and lesbian organization to help him commemorate the death of the young man who fell victim to a hate crime. But when he asked them on behalf of the church: "To our surprise they declined stating that Christianity had killed Matthew Shepard. When we protested this charge and said that this was only the religious right, they responded by quoting the resolution passed by the Anglican/Episcopal bishops of the world at last summer's Lambeth Conference which proclaimed by a large majority that homosexual persons are sinful, and voted to continue to exclude them from full membership in the life of the Church. Despite my personal opposition to that resolution, I was forced to admit that my church worldwide had sent a very negative message to the gay and lesbian people of the world, a negativity that they have almost come to expect from religious sources" (Spong, 1998). Spong believed the gay and lesbians leaders were wrong, for he saw faith as necessary to all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation-he disliked the beliefs of some of his fellow bishops, but still was a devout believer, just as he also believed the bishops were wrong in their resolution.

As well as reinterpreting doctrines that limit social inclusiveness and tolerance, Spong is also grappling to this day with the issues raised by Newton, Darwin, and Freud for modernity, and attempting to find a place for religion in the new intellectual framework of the millennium. Although is health has become more fragile (a bout with viral meningitis spurred him to retire), he still continues to write and teach and he is constantly thinking of where the church will be in the 21st century. "After Freud, it was not surprising to see Christianity degenerate into an increasingly shrill biblical fundamentalism where thinking was not encouraged and preconceived pious answers were readily given, but where neither genuine questions nor maturity were allowed or encouraged. As Christianity moved more and more in this direction, contemporary people, who think with modern minds, began to be repelled and to drop out of their faith commitments into the Church Alumni Association. Between these two poles of mindless fundamentalism and empty secularism are found the mainline churches of Christendom, both Catholic and Protestant. They are declining numerically, seem lost theologically, are concerned more about unity than truth, and are wondering why boredom is what people experience inside church walls. The renewal of Christianity will not come from fundamentalism, secularism or the irrelevant mainline tradition. If there is nothing more than this on the horizon then I see no future for the enterprise we call the Christian faith' (Spong, 2000). Spong calls for a new reformation of Christianity, filled with a new passion, the kind of fervor that ignited by Martin Luther. This zeal must fuse social justice with Christ's teachings, and welcome all Christians, regardless of whether they are gay or straight, black or white. Christianity must speak the language of the times, and be relevant to all Christians.

Although Spong dwells in modernity, he does not celebrate all of its values, including its individualistic focus, which has turned people away from the true meaning of prayer. The original need for prayer was to participate in the community, not to ask for things like a child penning letters to Santa Claus. When struggling with his feelings during his first wife's cancer, he said that he could not make a bargain with the divine that he would believe more fervently if God would save her and he prayed harder. Prayer is not God's popularity contest, he writes (Liberator, 2001). Thus Spong is always challenging-challenging society's assumptions about race, sexual orientation, the meaning of Christ, and the place of doctrine in the Church, and values both sacred and secular. Although he remains widely controversial, the good he has done over the course of his life cannot be denied, in his pursuit of truth and justice.

Bibliography

"Bishop Spong on Politics.' A New Christianity for a New World. 2006. 2 Feb. http://www.johnshelbyspong.com/bishopspongon_politics.aspx

Barrett, Ellen. "John S. Spong." Reproduced from the September and October 1997 Edition of The Voice, newspaper of the Diocese of Newark. 2 Feb. www.dioceseofnewark.org http://www.dioceseofnewark.org/jsspong/profile.html

Liberator, Mark. "John Shelby Spong: A Revolutionary, Rational, Anti-Religionist." The Liberator. 2 Jun 2000. 86321. 2 Feb. http://www.liberator.net/articles/LiberatorMark/Spong.html

Spong, John. S. "Statement from The Rt. Rev'd John S. Spong on the death of Matthew Shepard 22 October 1998. 2 Feb. www.dioceseofnewark.org http://www.dioceseofnewark.org/jsspong/shepard.html

Spong, John S. "A Call for a New Reformation." 2000. www.dioceseofnewark.org http://www.dioceseofnewark.org/jsspong/reform.html

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