In his bestselling book Why Christianity Must Change or Die, Bishop John Shelby Spong described the toxins that are poisoning the Church.

Now he offers the antidote, calling Christians everywhere into a new and radical reformation for a new age. Drawing on his lectures at Harvard University, the author confronts the collapse of theism, setting aside the ancient image of an external deity who invades history from above the sky.

This study traces how scripture gradually clothed Jesus in supernatural dogma, discarding literal accounts of the virgin birth and substitutionary atonement.

Here the emerging ecclesia abandons clerical hierarchies and claims of infallibility to foster an honest community grounded in compassion.

Spong looks beyond traditional boundaries to open new avenues and a new vocabulary into the Holy, proposing a Christianity premised upon justice, love, and the rise of a new humanity -- a vision of the power that might be.

• Progressive Theology: Dissects how the evolutionary trauma of self-consciousness birthed early theistic religion as a protective coping device against human anxiety.
• Biblical Studies: Reevaluates the liturgical development of the New Testament gospels, demonstrating how synoptic accounts were patterned on ancient Jewish festival calendars from Rosh Hashanah to Passover.
• World Religions: Urges an end to conversion-driven global missions, affirming that traditions from Judaism and Islam to Buddhism provide authentic doorways into the divine.
• Modern Faith: Reimagines personal and corporate prayer as contemplative engagement in daily life rather than magical requests directed at an intervening parent-deity.
• Also by This Author: Unbelievable, Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy and The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic.