Williams v. Spong

bls at The Topmost Apple blog has a timely reminder that not all, or even most, progressive Anglicans derive their theology from the writings of the Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong, retired Bishop of Newark.

The former Bishop of Monmouth, for example, had this to say about one of Spong's theses:

[Spong's] objections seem to be to God as a being independent of the universe who acts within the universe in a way closely analogous to the way in which ordinary agents act. The trouble is that, while this might describe the belief of some rationalist divines in the modern period, and while it might sound very like the language of a good many ordinary religious practitioners, it bears no relation at all to what any serious theologian, from Origen to Barth and beyond, actually says about God - or, arguably, to what the practice of believers actually implies, whatever the pictorial idioms employed.

Whatever their disagreements with Rowan Williams in his role as the Archbishop of Canterbury, many progressive Anglicans still revere him as a theologian.

Posted by Jim Naughton on July 7, 2007 6:33 PM | |
Comments (2)

And whatever one may think of Spong, when I was wrestling with my crisis of atheism in 2002, Spong's writings were crucial to my being able to approach the church at all. His theology is not my theology, but his theology was my bridge to being able to approach God and Christ.

I think that's an argument for why views such as his are important to the church. Even though I seldom agree with him anymore, I'm sympathetic to his viewpoints because they make sense to those in exile, as he calls them, as I once was.

Posted by Helen Thompson (Gallycat) [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 9, 2007 8:45 AM

This is very deep, and timely (because Spong's caricature of Christian theology is reflected in the CoE bishops explanations of the floods of a few weeks back). And, well, just important.

I don't think it's immediately clear, though, who is saying what until one goes over to bls to see - your quote of Rowan Williams isn't sufficient. I encourage readers to go over to bls to see the rest.

Once again the Anglican way is not merely the middle way. As Williams explains, God is not outside, and God is not merely a super-powered agent either. Both of those ways makes God too small. Williams attempts to help us get of a glimmer of what God is.

Posted by John B. Chilton [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 11, 2007 11:22 AM

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