Biblical Literalism

“After reading Spong’s newest book it will be difficult to read Matthew or any of the Gospels in quite the same way. He’s done an amazing job. . . . A wonderful book.”—Fred C. Plumer President of ProgressiveChristianity.org“Spong offers a radical new way to look at the gospels.”—Publishers Weekly “A brilliant challenge to biblical literalism Bishop Spong reveals the tragic consequences of idolatry of the written word and why it matters today. A timely important book.”—Michael DowdA global and pioneering leader of progressive Christianity and the bestselling author of Why Christianity Must Change or Die and Eternal Life explains why a literal reading of the Gospels is actually heretical and how this mistaken notion only entered the church once Gentiles had pushed out all the Jewish followers of Jesus.A man who has consciously and deliberately walked the path of Christ John Shelby Spong has lived his entire life inside the Christian Church. In this profound and considered work he offers a radical new way to look at the gospels today as he shows just how deeply Jewish the Christian Gospels are and how much they reflect the Jewish scriptures history and patterns of worship. Pulling back the layers of a long-standing Gentile ignorance he reveals how the church’s literal reading of the Bible is so far removed from these original Jewish authors’ intent that it is an act of heresy.Using the Gospel of Matthew as a guide Spong explores the Bible’s literary and liturgical roots—its grounding in Jewish culture symbols icons and storytelling tradition—to explain how the events of Jesus’ life including the virgin birth the miracles the details of the passion story and the resurrection and ascension would have been understood by both the Jewish authors of thevarious gospels and by the Jewish audiences for which they were originally written. Spong makes clear that it was only after the church became fully Gentile that readers of theGospels took these stories to be factual distorting their original meaning Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy Spong illuminates the gospels as never before and provides a better blueprint for the future than where the church''s leaden and heretical reading of the story of Jesus has led us—one that allows the faithful to live inside the Christian story in the modern world.