I had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Bishop John Shelby Spong on Friday night after his arrival in Toledo for a weekend engagement. The retired Episcopal bishop and best-selling author spoke at First Unitarian Universalist Saturday in a series of lectures, and then preached this morning's service at the church in the Old West End.
I also was honored to be invited to dinner with Bishop Spong and his wife, Christine, along with a group from First UU after our interview. The bishop is a most extraordinary man, and although I had interviewed him by phone it is always so different to do the interviews in person.
Bishop Spong is a radical, no doubt about it. He does not believe Jesus was born of a virgin, nor that Jesus performed any miracles, nor that he was resurrected bodily. But the bishop is a brilliant man who knows the Bible better than just about anybody I've ever met. He is genuine in his interpretration of the scriptures and is on a mission to liberate Christianity from what he believes are misguided views of the Bible.
I will be writing an article about this interview, probably for the Dec. 16 edition. I'm sure it will rile people up. But Bishop Spong is a lightning rod for controversy, saying he has received 16 death threats, and always from fundamentalist Christians, never atheists or Jews or Muslims.
Seems there's never a dull moment on the religion beat.
Toledo, Ohio
Dec. 2, 2007