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Quote by John Shelby Spong

“The powers of nature are so great, and our power is so inept. So,in order to cope with the incredible anxiety that human self-consciousness produced, I think we created God in our own image, and then portrayed this God as having supernatural power that we didn't have.”

Quote by John Shelby Spong

Author

John Shelby Spong

John Shelby Spong is an American author and theologian known for his modern interpretations of Christian doctrine and his challenges to traditional religious beliefs. His work spans multiple fields, including religion, theology, history, and literature. more

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“The time has come for us to think of Christianity in a different way. Instead of thinking of God entering human life from outside in the person of Jesus, we have to begin to see human life evolving to the place where it opens itself into an experience of divinity.”

Thinking Way Humans Persons Different Jesus Christianity Evolve Human Life Different Ways Divinity Entering

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“I'd like to turn the whole Jesus story around and look at it from a different vantage point, to consider that he was a human being who achieved such promise of humanity that he entered into what I think God is: mainly, the power of life, the power of love and what Paul Tillich, a German theologian of the mid-twentieth century, called "the ground of all being."”

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Author:John Shelby Spong

“As for the status of Western Christianity, we are in a place where our task is to redefine the primary symbols of our faith or tradition in a more human direction. That's the thing I spend my time doing.”

Humans Christianity Tradition Tasks Western Symbols Primaries My Time

Author:John Shelby Spong

“My audience is made up of two groups of people. The first group includes people whose roots are deep in the Christian faith, but for whom the traditional symbols, as traditionally understood, no longer make sense. The other audience is the audience that has left. I call them the Church Alumni Association, citizens of the secular city. They are a bit nostalgic about this faith of their childhood, but they aren't really interested in trotting it out or becoming involved with it again as it is presently organized.”

“When I look back at the Christian faith, I see that we have had to retranslate, almost reinvent ourselves a number of times.”

Looks Christian Numbers Christian Faith

Author:John Shelby Spong

“We were born in a Jewish world, as part of a Jewish faith tradition. We had to translate ourselves into the neo-Platonic thinking Greek world; that took us about 400 years. Then, finally a man named Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, recast Christianity in terms of neo-Platonic thought.”

Thinking Men World Years Term Born Christianity Tradition Greek Translate Bishops Platonic Augustine Hippo Jewish Faith

Author:John Shelby Spong

“What happened in the Western world was that Plato ceased to be the way people thought. Aristotle was rediscovered, and the modern, educated world moved toward Aristotelian thinking.”

People Thinking World Way Happened Modern Moved Western Educated Plato Western World

Author:John Shelby Spong

“The Protestant reformation was an attempt to recast the Christian faith in terms of the new learning of the 16th century, the enlightenment learning. It was the first time that the Christian church did not have the capacity to keep itself unified as it recast itself, so it split into Protestant and Catholic traditions.”

Firsts Christian Term Church Century Enlightenment First Time Capacity Tradition Catholic Splits Reformation Protestants Christian Faith Unified Christian Church Protestant Reformation

Author:John Shelby Spong

“It's the 21st century, and somebody has to rise from within this faith tradition and retranslate it for the post-modern world... The Earth is not the center of the universe, therefore, God is not a being who lives above the sky, who splits the Red Sea from time to time, or creates a miracle, or whatever.”

World Earth Universe Sea Sky Modern Century Red Tradition Miracle Posts Splits 21st Century Modern World Center Of The Universe Red Sea

Author:John Shelby Spong

“I don't like to talk about it in those terms; it's impossible to describe who or what God "is." Suppose you were a horse, and you were asked to describe what a human being was like. You couldn't do it.”

Humans Term Human Beings Impossible Like You Horse

Author:John Shelby Spong