Crafting a More Inclusive Christianity

Yesterday, I heard about the death of John Shelby Spong.  I'm fairly sure that I read a book or two of his long ago.  I can't remember which ones, and whether or not they had a significant impact on me.  I remember that he seemed to scandalize people, long ago in the 1980's or 90's when I was first aware of him.  I remember picking up whichever book was scandalizing people--did I pick it up from someone's book shelf?  More likely the library.  I remember shrugging and wondering why we were arguing over this stuff.  But I can't remember exactly what the stuff was.

Was he one of the first contemporary male thinkers to propose that God is not anti-gay?  I can't remember.  That would have scandalized plenty of people in the 1980's and 90's.

I vaguely remember that he argued that we didn't need to worry too much about the creeds, and that scandalized people.  He probably also argued that we didn't need to take the Bible literally, which seems obvious, since chunks of the Bible contradict other chunks of the Bible.  How can both be true?  But still, people were scandalized.

As I read about his writings now, in 2021, the items that scandalized people in the 1980's and 90's don't seem as extreme to me today.  And yet, I realize that many of his beliefs would still be dealbreakers among a significant amount of the Christian population.

While his work didn't influence me, I'm grateful that he had an impact on many of my contemporaries who have gone on to craft a more inclusive Christianity.  Many of the testimonies I've been reading have mentioned Spong's books as the ones who broke a restrictive world open for them and made them glimpse what might be possible.

For that, among many other reasons, I am grateful to Spong.