Why Christianity Must Change or Die - Book Report/Review Example

Why Christianity Must Change or Die by John Shelby Spong John Shelby Spong is an Episcopal Bishop based at Newark, New Jersey. He is said to have enjoyed his career, which was filled with a lot of controversy. Many controversies rose from some of his novels including Born of a Woman, Liberating the Gospel and Living in the Sin. He has also been able to tap into an audience of people who were once starving spiritually and, in spite of their curiosity, were unable or unwilling to embrace Christianity. Spong describes himself as a believer in exile. He believes that the world in which Christianity was made was provisional and limited, especially when looked at in the perspective of progress in technology and knowledge discovered over the past two millennia. This contradicts the beliefs and ideas formulated in 1st century Judea, which are wholly inadequate for humans’ progressive lives and minds today. He believes that he and other Christians will stay in exile until Christianity is redeveloped to a point of doing away with all its old-fashioned and false tenets (Spong 1). Spong begins Why Christianity Must Change or Die by exploring, line by line, Christian teachings as stated in the Apostles Creed. He then jumps to the epicenter of Christian belief, keenly exploring each aspect, revealing in each case the insufficiencies of Christianity as described in the Bible and the Church traditions. The narration includes Spong’s own creed, and a flashback to reflect the Christian beliefs, relevant to Christianity since the beginning of the twenty first century, according to Spong. The objective of this paper is to explore Spong’s specific arguments in support of his thesis “Why Christianity must Change or Die?” The paper will also provide explanations of his arguments. Theism is Just a Word As a religious reformer, Spong is best seen in his book, “Why Christianity Must Change or Die”, where he ultimately highlights what in his opinion is a true faith for a new era. In his novel, Spong states that theism, the view that a supernatural being creates human beings and provides for them, is just a word. In his view, theism is nothing but a human management device, created by traumatized creatures to give them a chance to tackle their self-awareness and fear. God, according to Spong, is merely a projection of desires and wishes of human beings. He proves this claim by saying that the theistic God is a creation that assists humans in managing their anxieties, traumas, and hysterias, which are common in the society today; due to this, he also asserts that God is dead (Spong 66). As a result, Pong argues that theism is extinct and will never rise again, and many of the fundamental concepts of Christianity, such as the original sin, resurrection, and incarnation, have become useless (77). The Apostle Creed And The Nicean Creed Were Developed In a Certain Worldview And No Longer Exist. At the beginning of the novel, with respect to the creedal consternation, “On Saying the Christian Creed with Honesty”, Spong states that: I define myself above all other things as a believer. I am indeed a passionate believer. God is the Ultimate reality in my life. I am in a constant and almost mystical awareness of the divine presence…I am what I would call a God-intoxicated human being. (Spong 3) In the statement above, Spong argues that the Apostles Creed and its later expansion termed as the Nicean Creed were developed in an already dead worldview, which was relevant long ago. They, therefore, have no value or place in the current world. As such, Spong is of the opinion that these things no longer serve any meaningful purpose. According to Spong, the way reality was perceived by the time the Christian Creed was developed has been obliterated by the expansion of technology and knowledge. This is a fact that speaks for itself. Chapter two of the book talks of “The Meaning of Exile and How We Got There.” Here, Spong attempts to bring to compare what he calls the present exile and the Babylonian exile experienced by the Jews in 586 B.C. Talking of the Babylonian exile, Spong notes: Everything this people valued was gone. Their nation was no more. Jerusalem, God’s special city, was a pile of stones. The Temple, God’s earthly dwelling place, was laid waste. The priesthood, their sacred customs, their creedal statements, the social fabric that gave the order to Jewish life – all was lost. (Spong 26) Likewise, modern believers to a great extent have had the world view of the past entirely changed by modern discoveries, which, consequently, resulted in the loss of many things that people sacredly hold. Spong views this as a development that happened over time. He notes that this process began with the work of Copernicus and Galileo. Galileo argued that the Earth rotated around the sun and not the other way round (Spong 32). This, according to Spong, meant that the Earth could no more be seen as the heart of the universe. Similarly, it became likely that God was not quietly involved in human beings’ daily activities (Spong 32). Spong notes that this is not biblical and neither is it part of the conventional Christian belief. Most Bible writers argue that mankind is insignificant by nature as compared to everything else in the universe. They also state that it is the will of God to be involved in human’s endeavors despite man’s insignificance (Psalms 8:3-5). A New Idea of God Needs To Be Formulated For Christianity to Survive Spong argues that a new idea of God needs to be formulated for Christianity to survive. He supports this assertion by trying to redefine God – he says that the theistic image of God, which he describes as a being who is personal, external, potentially invasive, and supernatural (46), has been discredited. He gives a possible avenue stating that the Buddhist tradition is not a theistic religion. Nowhere in classical Buddhism do the Buddhists conceive the external deity experience (Spong 57). Christ Need to be Redefined as Theological Explanations Can Never be Taken as True or Applicable Spong argues that reworking the experience of Christians would naturally entail finding a meaning for Jesus that differs from that of traditional Christianity. After highlighting the usual argument as regards the gospels not being literary historical, Spong writes about Paul, whom he describes as one who is prone to proclaim that he is able to explain what Christ is (74). He proves his claim by quoting verses in the Bible (2 Cor. 5:1, Rom. 8:39, Cor. 1:23.24, and Rom. 6:23) in which Paul described Christ and His work. He asserts, "these are blissful words that come from one who has been so deeply stirred by the Christ’s experience that he is internally processing” (Spong 74). Here, he is not yet employing the classical, theological descriptions developed to enable him to explain the new meaning he has found in Jesus to dispassionate and curious observers. At the very moment, he changes course from ecstatic proclamations to explanations, definitions, the presuppositions, and how stereotypes of the past begin to shape people’s words. That is unavoidable and explains why theological explanations can never be taken to be true or eternally applicable (Spong75). No Basis for Ethics In the chapter “A New Basis for Ethics in A New Age”, Spong asserts that the commands of the Bible are irrelevant and have no place in modern life, or are extremely offensive to the extent that they cannot be acknowledged by people in the current era. In this regard, he notes that the irrelevance of the Bible is tantamount to taking away an external deity from people’s worldview – a deity that has left people without the basis for determining what is wrong or right. The novel also discusses the issue of prayer. Since people cannot believe in an external deity, praying as it has been known and practiced for centuries is worthless, since, if there is no deity in heaven, there is no one to talk to there. Moreover, Spong has a moral objection to praying. He gives an example – in 1981, when his first wife was diagnosed with cancer (Spong 79), he was informed by people that they were offering their prayers for her. Nevertheless, after going for remission, she eventually died, having battled the disease for six years and a half, which, according to Spong, was still much longer than what a doctor had predicted. Nevertheless, he refused to recognize that it had been the divine intervention brought about by prayers that led to his wife living longer than predicted by the doctor. Conclusion In conclusion, Why Christianity Must Change or Die is indeed a truly powerful book about Christianity. It is a matter of fact that certain aspects that Spong describes are true. However, some are likely to generate heated debate and controversies. Works Cited Spong, John. Why Christianity Must Change Or Die: A Bishop Speaks To Believers In Exile: A New Reformation Of The Church’s Faith And Practice. San Francisco: HarperSan Francisco, 1998. Print. 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