Unbelievable: Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today

Written by John Shelby Spong

Narrated by Bob Souer

Five hundred years after Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses ushered in the Reformation, bestselling author and controversial bishop and teacher John Shelby Spong delivers twelve forward-thinking theses to spark a new reformation to reinvigorate Christianity and ensure its future.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Christianity was in crisis-a state of conflict that gave birth to the Reformation in 1517. Enduring for more than 200 years, Luther's movement was then followed by a "revolutionary time of human knowledge." Yet these advances in our thinking had little impact on Christians' adherence to doctrine-which has led the faith to a critical point once again.

Spong contends that there is mounting pressure among Christians for a radically new kind of Christianity-a faith deeply connected to the human experience instead of outdated dogma. To keep Christianity vital, he urges modern Christians to update their faith in light of these advances in our knowledge, and to challenge the rigid and problematic Church teachings that emerged with the Reformation. There is a disconnect, he argues, between the language of traditional worship and the language of the twenty-first century. Bridging this divide requires us to rethink and reformulate our basic understanding of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jun 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9781977378293

John Shelby Spong

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.

Reviews for Unbelievable

[gt5879c · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you struggle with the Christianity you've been handed but still desire to stay within the tradition, Spong offers a Christianity that's both intellectually and spiritually satisfying.

[spbooks_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Spong's essential premise is that the traditional beliefs of Christianity as described in the biblical texts are no longer believable in the 21st century. These beliefs include God, Jesus Christ, original sin, the virgin birth, miracles, atonement theology, the resurrection, the ascension, ethics, prayer, life after death, who is saved and lost. For Spong, the Copernican Revolution, the Newtonian view of the world, the insights from Freud, and the knowledge explosion that has resulted from scientific enquiry all lead to the conclusion that these beliefs and doctrines are no longer sustainable. From Spong's perspective, all of these are unbelievable for educated people and hanging on to them is one of the reasons that the people are giving up on Christianity in droves.I agree with Spong's analysis and his argument that most of what Christians believe is no longer unsustainable in the modern world. Spong writes in an easy and engaging style and mounts a compelling argument. Despite this, I do wonder why Spong believes that his call for a new "Reformation" is actually ever going to happen. For Spong, his experience of the divine leads him to retain his connection with Christianity and he wants to see Christianity radically change and preserve its relevance in providing people with a "living faith". But his radical reformation wouldn't leave much of "historic" Christianity left so I do wonder why he wants to hang on to it so tenaciously.In the Epilogue of the book, Spong presents what he calls is "mantra" -- a positive statement of what he does believe. It all boils down to '"live fully, to love wastefully and to have the courage to be all that I can be."' Christian or not, this mantra will undoubtedly be something we can all subscribe to whatever we believe.

[hjvanderklis_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

There have been many that denied the Gospel of Jesus Christ and there will be many more in the future. The current postmodern era with blogs, books, videos, television, radio, and podcasts provides a stage for individuals redefining their position in faith matters. I never read any of John Shelby Spong's previous books. The subtitle to his latest Unbelievable: Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today attracted, and still gets my 'amen'. I disagree however with the approach in the book to find the relevance of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit for today's generation. John Shelby Spong was born and raised in mainstream Roman Catholic circles, served various congregations before starting to doubt, deny, and ditch everything he once believed in. As far as non-biblical convictions and constructs are concerned, e.g. purgatory, indulgences, immaculate conception, and transubstantiation, I'm fine. If you want to discuss evolution versus a creation in six days, or want to point out inconsistencies in Bible books written by men in a time span of generations, you're welcome.Meeting an author having ambitions to redefine Christianity as a reader it's always good to understand the author's background and personal agenda. Spong studied philosophy in an era when deconstructivism emerged, papal's supreme rulings were doubted, and many people left their churches. For John Shelby Spong there's no creation, (original) sin, and therefore no atonement or Jesus dying for our sins. According to the author, the ones who penned the gospels simply copied the lives of Moses, Elijah, and Elisah to Jesus's life. There's no devil, spiritual warfare, physical resurrection, afterlife, or Great Commission, Trinity. Forget the Ten Commandments, Sermon on the Mount. Ethics become an individual, situational choice. Spong's remarkably silent on the Church, non-western branches of the Christian faith, and many parts of the Bible he didn't explicitly throw away in his theses. What's left for the author who still claims to be a Christ follower, is vague, a human experience of God's being without responsibility or accountability towards anyone. After 90% of the book is spent on deconstructivism, no time's left for a real redefined theological paradigm that helps faith moving forward and encourage fellow believers to a specific direction. Despite the many sharp insights on topics where human beliefs deviated from the Bible, I would have expected the author to bid Christianity farewell. Why he stayed aboard such a weak religious construction -as he perceives Christianity - is a mystery to me.