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Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy: A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew's Gospel

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Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy: A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew's Gospel

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Overview

A 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 the various 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 the Gospels took these stories to be factual, distorting their original meaning.

In 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062362315
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/24/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	747,954
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

John Shelby Spong, the Episcopal Bishop of Newark before his retirement in 2000, has been a visiting lecturer at Harvard and at more than 500 other universities all over the world. His books, which have sold well over a million copies, include Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy; The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic; Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World; Eternal Life: A New Vision; Jesus for the Non-Religious, The Sins of Scripture, Resurrection: Myth or Reality?; Why Christianity Must Change or Die; and his autobiography, Here I Stand. He writes a weekly column on the web that reaches thousands of people all over the world. To join his online audience, go to www.JohnShelbySpong.com. He lives with his wife, Christine, in New Jersey.

Preface xi

Part I How the Gospels Came to Be Written: The Liturgical Year of the Synagogue as the Organizing Principle

1 Stating the Problem, Setting the Stage 3

2 Setting Jesus into the Context of History 15

3 The Oral Phase: Entering the Tunnel of Silence 29

4 Discovering the Clue That Organized the Synoptic Gospels 43

5 Matthew's Dependency on Mark 55

Part II From After Passover to Shavuot: Birth to Early Ministry

6 Genealogy and Birth 61

7 Joseph: Myth or History? 81

8 The Magi and Their Gifts: An Original Sermon? 89

9 Herod and Pharaoh; Jesus and Moses 99

10 The Baptism of Jesus: Moses Relived 105

11 Into the Wilderness: Forty Days, Not Forty Years 111

Part III Shavuot and the Sermon On the Mount: Sinai Revisited

12 Jesus' Return to the Symbolic Sinai 121

13 The Lord's Prayer: Taught by Jesus or Composed by the Church? 131

Part IV Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: Miracles and Teaching

14 Jesus' Journey from Shavuot to Rosh Hashanah 145

15 Matthew's Introduction of Jesus as a Miracle Worker 155

16 Matthew's Take on the Work of the Kingdom 161

Part V Yom Kippur: The Challenge of Atonement Theology

17 Introducing Yom Kippur: The Day of Atonement 169

18 Demystifying the Unforgivable Sin: Matthew's Story at Yom Kippur 181

19 The Curse of Atonement Theology 191

Part VI From Sukkoth Onward: The New Harvest

20 The Symbols of Sukkoth and the Food That Satisfies Hunger 213

21 The Beheading of John the Baptist 223

22 Loaves and Fishes, Walking on Water: Moses Stones Expanded 233

23 Two Characters, Two Insights 245

Part VII Dedication-Hanukkah and Transfiguration: The Light of God Reinterpreted

24 Dedication: The Return of the Light of God 259

25 The Transfiguration: A Dedication-Hanukkah Story 269

Part VIII Journey Toward Passover: Apocalypse and Judgment

26 Introducing the Journey Section of Matthew's Gospel 279

27 The Heart of the Journey 287

28 Apocalypse Now: The Final Judgment 299

Part IX Passover and Passion: The Climax

29 The Climactic Events of the Passion Narrative 309

30 Probing the Passion Narrative for Interpretive Clues 319

31 The Passion Narrative as Liturgy 331

Part X Matthew's Easter Story: A New Perspective

32 Easter Dawns: Myth or Reality? 345

33 Matthew's Call to Life 359

Bibliography 369

Scripture Index 375

Subject Index 379

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

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 of explaining how the book of Matthew was written as weekly liturgies for the Jewish Synagogue year. A wonderful book.” — Fred C. Plumer, President of ProgressiveChristianity.org
“This exciting book recovers the original meaning behind Matthew’s Gospel with profound implications for the way we look at Jesus and follow him today. Spong is a truth-teller who stands up to the ignorance spawned by a ‘Gentile Heresy’ that has hijacked the story of Jesus for too long.” — Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing
“Jack Spong confounds biblical literalists by being profoundly biblical. This exciting book is liberating for those looking for a rational and authentic Christian faith that honors its biblical roots and an essential building block in the search for a new Christianity for a new world.” — Peter Francis, warden and director of Gladstone's Library, Wales
“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 Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution
“Delightedly publishing another book as he nears 85, Spong returns to a main theme of his career, the Jewishness of Christianity, denial of which, he holds, amounts to a heresy so malign that it will destroy Christianity in the twenty-first century…vibrantly accessible.” — Booklist
“Skewers historical readings of Matthew and turns the passages toward issues of dignity, social justice, and transformation . . . worthwhile read for the progressive layperson concerned with living out one’s faith and applying the Bible as a touchstone.” — Library Journal
“Spong offers a radical new way to look at the gospels.” — Publishers Weekly
“There is a powerful message that runs counter to the idea that faith offers nothing but a sweet and secure life.” — Religion Dispatches
“The release of Biblical Literalism - a Gentile Heresy brings him back to State of Belief to talk about his dive into a more contentious area of theology, his potentially-controversial use of the term ‘heresy’ and the future - and drive towards inclusiveness - of the progressive Episcopal community.” — State of Belief Radio
“For years-decades, really-the former Episcopal bishop of Newark, N.J., John Shelby Spong…has been proposing various controversial ways of understanding what Christianity is all about […] In his new-and, he says, perhaps final-book (he’ll be 85 years old in June), he’s at it again.” — Bill's 'Faith Matters' Blog
“If you’re keen for a deeper tracing of its history and inscription, then rush to get your hands on a copy of respected theologian Spong’s Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy.” — Chicago Tribute Printers Row Journal

From the Publisher

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 Dowd

For years-decades, really-the former Episcopal bishop of Newark, N.J., John Shelby Spong…has been proposing various controversial ways of understanding what Christianity is all about […] In his new-and, he says, perhaps final-book (he’ll be 85 years old in June), he’s at it again.

Bill's 'Faith Matters' Blog

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 of explaining how the book of Matthew was written as weekly liturgies for the Jewish Synagogue year. A wonderful book.

Fred C. Plumer

The release of Biblical Literalism - a Gentile Heresy brings him back to State of Belief to talk about his dive into a more contentious area of theology, his potentially-controversial use of the term ‘heresy’ and the future - and drive towards inclusiveness - of the progressive Episcopal community.

State of Belief Radio

Jack Spong confounds biblical literalists by being profoundly biblical. This exciting book is liberating for those looking for a rational and authentic Christian faith that honors its biblical roots and an essential building block in the search for a new Christianity for a new world.

Peter Francis

There is a powerful message that runs counter to the idea that faith offers nothing but a sweet and secure life.

Religion Dispatches

Delightedly publishing another book as he nears 85, Spong returns to a main theme of his career, the Jewishness of Christianity, denial of which, he holds, amounts to a heresy so malign that it will destroy Christianity in the twenty-first century…vibrantly accessible.

Booklist

This exciting book recovers the original meaning behind Matthew’s Gospel with profound implications for the way we look at Jesus and follow him today. Spong is a truth-teller who stands up to the ignorance spawned by a ‘Gentile Heresy’ that has hijacked the story of Jesus for too long.

Matthew Fox

If you’re keen for a deeper tracing of its history and inscription, then rush to get your hands on a copy of respected theologian Spong’s Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy.

Chicago Tribute Printers Row Journal

Delightedly publishing another book as he nears 85, Spong returns to a main theme of his career, the Jewishness of Christianity, denial of which, he holds, amounts to a heresy so malign that it will destroy Christianity in the twenty-first century…vibrantly accessible.

Booklist

03/01/2016
Theologian Spong, who served as the Bishop of Newark, NJ, from 1979 to 2000, has long worked to wrest Christianity from fundamentalism to something he considers both more aligned with our current state of knowledge and more faithful to the Gospel. Spong's (Why Christianity Must Change or Die) position is that for the last several centuries, the church has been misreading the Gospels. Using Matthew's account, Spong argues that synoptic gospels (i.e., Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are not ordered chronologically but follow an annual Jewish liturgical cycle and employ an interpretive technique known as midrash. That the synoptic texts were structured to fit into an established construct is compelling; however, it is gospel as midrash that is at the heart of Spong's discussion. With this principle, the author skewers historical readings of Matthew and turns the passages toward issues of dignity, social justice, and transformation. Unfortunately, Spong doesn't offer clear ideas or examples of midrash, leaving the reader to wonder how much is his interpretation of Matthew and how much is wishful thinking. VERDICT A worthwhile read for the progressive layperson concerned with living out one's faith and applying the Bible as a touchstone.—James Wetherbee, Wingate Univ. Libs., NC

Library Journal

Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy: A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew's Gospel

Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy: A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew's Gospel

Paperback(Reprint)

Paperback(Reprint)

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