Living in sin? : a bishop rethinks human sexuality

by John Shelby Spong

Paperback, 1988

Status

Available

Call number

Sc Spo

Series

A Bishop Rethinks

Collections

Your library, S - Scripture, commentary

Publication

San Francisco : Harper & Row, c1988.

Subjects

Sex Religious aspects Christianity

ISBN

0060675055 / 9780060675059

Description

Is celibacy the only moral alternative to marriage? Should the widowed be allowed to form intimate relationships without remarrying? Should the church receive homosexuals into its community and support committed gay and lesbian relationships? Should congregations publicly and liturgically witness and affirm divorces? Should the church's moral standards continue to be set by patriarchal males? Should women be consecrated bishops? Bishop Spong proposes a pastoral response based on scripture and history to the changing realities of the modern world. He calls for a moral vision to empower the church with inclusive teaching about equal, loving, nonexploitative relationships.

User reviews

LibraryThing member jd234512

This is a book that I was very much looking forward to. Being on the heels of reading his autobiography, I anticipated some orthodoxy from him which was not found in Here I Stand(although understandable as this was not the place for that). Unfortunately, what I found was a book that had some good

general arguments, but did not have much support to them. I was eagerly hoping that this book would open my eyes farther open to a theology which was open while still having a strong foundation. This seemed to be a mile wide and an inch deep however. Spong failed to write a book that was accessible for anyone but his normal followers and as such I would estimate did not convince many to embrace a loving and open response to the different items of sexuality discussed here. With that said, there were still good points made and I am starting to understand better from a theological perspective the inclusivity Jesus offered/offers(my heart's understanding of this was much more progressive in this manner than my head)

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LibraryThing member richardderus

I read this book while dating a gay christian in the middle 1990s. (A mistake I will not repeat.) The Bishop earned my admiration for his completely commonsensical approach to interpreting his denomination's patchwork of responses to QUILTBAG persons in their congregations expressing their needs

and wants for services provided to cishet people without question: marriage, baptism, the like.

It did not take.

Nonetheless, he tried, and was most eloquent and persuasive in his reasoning. The thunderation of the Haters was comforting to the small and evil, of course, and as religion would vanish if it were not in service to the lowest (term used advisedly) common (see previous) denominator, it prevailed. There has been, I'm told, progress made but I'm not involved in any way anymore so...whatever.

Bishop Spong has died. He was 90. I hope y'all's gawd receives him with joy and celebration and honors him for believing the best about others and doing his best to bring it forth in them as in himself.

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