Jesus for the Non Religious

A Review of John Shelby Spong's new book (from The Center for Progressive Christianity) by Jim Burklo, pastor at Sausalito Presbyterian Church.

With a coroner’s scalpel of scholarship, John Shelby Spong autopsies the corpse of doctrinal Christianity. In Jesus for the Non-Religious, he cuts away at the miracle stories and dissects the myths and the theological constructs that were written into the texts of the gospels. His quest is to reveal the Jesus of history.

Spong reveals a Jesus who crosses the borders between insiders and outsiders, Jews and gentiles, male and female, clean and unclean, sacred and profane, and leads us through to the other side of chauvinism. This Jesus reveals, by his own action and example, the way that divinity can be found in humanity. This Jesus was so present, so whole, so free, so devoted to justice and compassion, that he filled his followers with remarkable hope and courage even after his crucifixion by the Romans. This Jesus inspires John Shelby Spong so deeply that he holds hope for a Christianity devoid of many of its most commonly-cherished beliefs.

Read the whole review here: Jesus for the Non Religious