Quotessence
Home / Authors / John Shelby Spong
John Shelby Spong

John Shelby Spong Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleThinkingHumansWayIfsChurchChristianityJesusWorldChristian

Famous John Shelby Spong Quotes

“The God of the Hebrews is a God that human language, we're not even supposed to speak the holy name. We were told in the Second Commandment we could make no images of this God, and I don't think that means just building idols, I think that means also trying to believe you've captured God in your words, in the Creeds, in the Scriptures.”

ThinkingTryingBelieveHumansMeanNamesSpeakLanguageBuildingHolyScriptureIdolsCreedsCommandmentsCapturedHebrewHuman Language
Author:John Shelby Spong
Create image

“God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. All of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God. I honor my tradition, I walk through my tradition, but I don't think my tradition defines God, I think it only points me to God.”

ThinkingTryingHumansGodHelpingChristianReligionHuman BeingsWalksMysteryHonorWalkingTraditionJewBuddhistTheologianDefiningBishopsChristian GodMystery Of God
Author:John Shelby Spong
Create image

“When the dust settles and the pages of history are written, it will not be the angry defenders of intolerance who have made the difference. The reward will go to those who dared to step outside the safety of their privacy in order to expose and rout the prevailing prejudices.”

MadeOrderDifferencesStepsHistoryWrittenDiversityPagesPrejudiceSafetyAngryRewardsToleranceDustSettlingPrivacyIntoleranceDefendersPrevailingReligious Tolerance
Author:John Shelby Spong
Create image

“If the resurrection of Jesus cannot be believed except by assenting to the fantastic descriptions included in the Gospels, then Christianity is doomed. For that view of resurrection is not believable, and if that is all there is, then Christianity, which depends upon the truth and authenticity of Jesus' resurrection, also is not believable.”

IfsReligionJesusViewsChristianityAtheismDependsAuthenticityFantasticDescriptionResurrectionDoomedBelievableJesus Resurrection
Book:Resurrection: myth or reality? : a bishop's search for the origins of Christianity
Create image

“I do not think of God theistically, that is, as a being, supernatural in power, who dwells beyond the limits of my world. I rather experience God as the source of life willing me to live fully, the source of love calling me to love wastefully and to borrow a phrase from the theologian, Paul Tillich, as the Ground of being, calling me to be all that I can be.”

ThinkingWorldLoveI CanWillingSourceCallingLimitsMindfulnessPhrasesTheologianSource Of Life
Author:John Shelby Spong
Create image

“Praying and living deeply, richly and fully have become for me almost indistinguishab le. Prayer is being present, sharing love, opening life to transcendence. It is not necessarily words addressed heavenward. Prayer is entering into the pain or joy of another person. Prayer is what I am doing when I love wastefully, passionately and wondrously and invite others to do so.”

PersonsPainJoyPrayerPrayingOpeningInvitesEnteringTranscendenceSharing Love
Author:John Shelby Spong
Create image

“Jesus becomes the captive of the hysterically religious, the chronically fearful, the insecure and even the neurotic among us, or he becomes little more than a fading memory, the symbol of an age that is no more and a nostalgic reminder of our believing past. To me, neither option is worth pursuing.”

BelieveLittlesAgePastJesusReligiousMemoriesSymbolsFearfulInsecureRemindersNeuroticNostalgicCaptivesFading
Book:Jesus for the Non-Religious
Create image