Unbelievable: Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today
336Unbelievable: Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today
336Hardcover
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
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.
Bible scholar and Episcopal bishop John Shelby 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among Christians for a radically new kind of Christianity—a faith deeply connected to the human experience instead of outdated dogma.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.
With its revolutionary resistance to the authority of the Church in the sixteenth century, Spong sees in Luther’s movement a model for today’s discontented Christians. In fact, the questions they raise resonate with those contemplated by our ancestors. Does the idea of God still have meaning? Can we still follow historic creeds with integrity? Are not such claims as an infallible Pope or an inerrant Bible ridiculous in today’s world?
In Unbelievable, Spong outlines twelve "theses" to help today’s believers more deeply contemplate and reshape their faith. As an educator, clergyman, and writer who has devoted his life to his faith, Spong has enlightened Christians and challenged them to explore their beliefs in new and meaningful ways. In this, his final book, he continues that rigorous tradition, once again offering a revisionist approach that strengthens Christianity and secures its relevance for generations to come.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780062641298 |
---|---|
Publisher: | HarperCollins |
Publication date: | 02/13/2018 |
Pages: | 336 |
Sales rank: | 1,082,211 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Preface xi
Part I Setting The Stage
1 Why Modern Men and Women Can No Longer Be Believers 3
Part II Stating The Problem
2 How the First Reformation Began 17
3 Differentiating the Experience from the Explanation 23
Part III Thesis 1: God
4 The Challenge of the Copernican Revolution 33
5 The Impact on Theism from Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin 41
6 Dealing with the Insights of Freud 49
7 A Place to Begin-Being Not a Being 55
8 The Quest for God: A New Form 61
9 Our Definition of God: Evolving, Never Fixed 69
Part IV Thesis 2: Jesus The Christ
10 Escaping the Idolatry of the Incarnation 77
11 The Collapse of the Salvation Story 83
Part V Thesis 3: Original Sin
12 The Garden of Eden 93
Part VI Thesis 4: The Virgin Birth
13 The Story of the Virgin Birth 103
14 The Actual Details Behind Jesus' Birth 111
Part VII Thesis 5: Miracles
15 When Miracles Entered the Bible 121
16 The Miracles in the Moses/Joshua Story 129
17 Elijah and Elisha-Miracles Expanded 135
18 The Miracles of Jesus 141
19 Messiah Miracles-The Final Clue 149
Part VIII Thesis 6: Atonement Theology
20 Renouncing "Jesus Died for My Sins" 155
21 Incomplete-Not Fallen 161
Part IX Thesis 7: Easter
22 The Resurrection 169
23 Paul's List of Resurrection Witnesses 177
24 The Gospels' Understanding of Easter 183
Part X Thesis 8: The Ascension
25 Elijah Magnified 191
Part XI Thesis 9: Ethics
26 Finding the Basis for Ethics 199
27 How the Ten Commandments Have Changed Through History 207
28 Meet Moses' Father-in-Law 215
29 The Questionable Relevance of the Ten Commandments Today 221
30 Modern Ethics 227
Part XII Thesis 10: Prayer
31 The Death of Prayer 237
32 Prayer: An Act of Being or of Doing? 243
33 Driving Prayer Toward a New Understanding 249
Part XIII Thesis 11: Life After Death
34 Life After Death-Still Believable? 257
35 A New Perspective on Eternity 263
Part XIV Thesis 12: UNIVERSALISM
36 The Marks of Tomorrow's Christianity 273
Part XV Epilogue
37 My Mantra: This I Do Believe 283
Bibliography 289
Scripture Index 299
Subject Index 303