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319:. I will post my theses on the Internet and send copies with invitations to debate them to the recognized Christian leaders of the world. My theses are far smaller in number than were those of Martin Luther, but they are far more threatening theologically. The issues to which I now call the Christians of the world to debate are these:
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481:. Williams wrote that "... I cannot in any way see Bishop Spong's theses as representing a defensible or even an interesting Christian future. And I want to know whether the Christian past scripture and tradition, really appears to him as empty and sterile as this text suggests."
454:, Professor of Fundamental Theology, Gregorian University, Rome, argued that Spong’s "work simply does not belong to the world of international scholarship. No genuine scholar will be taken in by this book. ... What is said about a key verb
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must be separated forever from the behavior control mentality of reward and punishment. The Church must abandon, therefore, its reliance on guilt as a motivator of behavior.
438:, as a result of ideological tension resulting from initially unforeseen and increasing hostility between Jews and Christians in the early history of the church.
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Since God can no longer be conceived in theistic terms, it becomes nonsensical to seek to understand Jesus as the incarnation of the theistic deity. So the
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Resurrection is an action of God. Jesus was raised into the meaning of God. It therefore cannot be a physical resuscitation occurring inside human history.
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All human beings bear God's image and must be respected for what each person is. Therefore, no external description of one's being, whether based on
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There is no external, objective, revealed standard written in scripture or on tablets of stone that will govern our ethical behavior for all time.
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The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed.
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Spong himself responds to this criticism by saying many of
William's points are invalid and that they are already answered in Spong's book
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The book was controversial when it was first published because it proposed to entirely re-invent core areas of
Christian teaching, such as
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The story of the
Ascension assumed a three-tiered universe and is therefore not capable of being translated into the concepts of a post-
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that he knew. ... advice for his next book is to let some real experts check it before publication."
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The
Biblical story of the perfect and finished creation from which human beings fell into sin is pre-
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A New
Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith Is Dying and How a New Faith Is Being Born
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Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity to act in human history in a particular way.
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Spong holds fundamentally that the expanding detail given to Judas' betrayal from the
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within both
Christianity and society at large. Towards these ends, he calls for a new
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that he wished to debate. I will publish this challenge to
Christianity in
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is a result of active embellishment on behalf of those authors postdating
299:, in which many of Christianity's basic doctrines should be reformulated.
275:, instead of simply making cosmetic pastoral reforms within Christianity.
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wrote a response to Spong's 12 points in 1998, when he was the
550:(2/3). The Wellington Christian Apologetics Society: 112–113.
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51:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
488:from which the 12 theses are drawn and explained.
462:1:15f. shows that the bishop has forgotten any
505:Bott, Michael; Jonathan Sarfati (1998-04-07).
219:is a theological book by Episcopalian bishop
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577:"No life, here - no joy, terror or tears"
111:Learn how and when to remove this message
307:by nailing to the door of the church in
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368:events performed by an incarnate deity.
360:can no longer be interpreted in a post-
346:mythology and post-Darwinian nonsense.
513:. Creation Ministries International.
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557:from the original on 13 October 2007
517:from the original on 10 October 2007
60:"A New Christianity for a New World"
49:adding citations to reliable sources
486:Why Christianity Must Change Or Die
124:A New Christianity for a New World
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507:"What's Wrong With Bishop Spong?"
535:O'Collins, Gerald (1994-09-10).
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305:Reformation of the 16th century
36:needs additional citations for
583:. Anglican Ecumenical Society.
575:Williams, Rowan (1998-07-17).
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