Fundamentalist: "I Get No Respect from Spong."

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In the world according to Spong, there are no fundamentalist

scholars or theologians. Works supporting liberalism are "well

written and even brilliant works of biblical scholarship," whereas

works supporting biblical inerrancy are "tracts, pamphlets, and

books from the pens of fundamentalist Christians" . "No biblical

scholar" thinks Adam was a historical person ; he knows of no

biblical scholar who thinks John the apostle wrote the Fourth

Gospel , nor any "reputable" scholar who accepts the Virgin

Birth . Apparently, Spong lives a very sheltered life.

The bishop has little respect for fundamentalists. In his

opinion anyone who holds that the Bible is without error "is simply

unaware of vast areas of reality that are common knowledge to

people of this century". They are "afraid of knowledge" .

Not only are they ignorant, they are culturally backward; thus

Spong refers to "fundamentalists and their more sophisticated city

cousins". They are apparently not even capable of abstract

thought . They are fearful, insecure people who are not

serious Christians and who do not even bother to read the Bible

they pretend to defend . "The periodic revivals of fundamentalism are momentary blips on the EKG charts of

religious history" .

It must be admitted that there is a cultural fundamentalism

that deserves criticism. Associated especially with the "Bible

Belt" (although, of course, it is not limited to that region, and

many believers there do not fit this stereotype), it is

characterized by fear, hate, insecurity, prejudice, sexism, and

anti-intellectualism. Spong was evidently raised in such a

fundamentalism . He rightly criticizes its segregationist

views . He mentions its taboo against women wearing makeup,

to which might be added a long list of taboos against

drinking, card-playing, watching television, and the like. If this

were the fundamentalism from which Spong wished to rescue the

Bible, I, for one, would be happy to join the rescue effort.

Unfortunately, Spong's attacks against this easily criticized

fundamentalism are really only target practice for a much more

formidable enemy. Though he never defines the term

'fundamentalists,' it is clear that in most cases he means by it

all those who take the Bible "literally" and regard it as

"inerrant". In fact, at one point he explicitly

equates fundamentalism with evangelicalism .

Spong's target is not limited to card-carrying evangelicals who

affirm without embarrassment the inerrancy of the Bible. Spong

wants to rescue the Bible from all who take its historical,

doctrinal, and ethical statements seriously. "There are concepts in

the Bible that are repugnant to the modern consciousness" --

and repugnant to him, as well . The Bible presents a

nationalistic, sadistic God that Spong "cannot respect, much less

worship". The Gospels present a Jesus who is

sometimes "narrow-minded, vindictive, and even hypocritical" .

The "list of objectionable passages could be expanded almost

endlessly", and unbelievable things "are discoverable and

present in almost every part of the Bible". Spong confesses,

"A literal Bible presents me with far more problems than assets."

In the view of Bishop Spong, the resurrection of Jesus as a

"literal" restoration of the dead body of Jesus to life is a myth.

As such, it must be "demythologized" -- that is, its mythic

elements must be identified and stripped away. But he warns that we

cannot stop there, but must go on to "remythologize." That is, we

must reinterpret it according to our own world view, which is also

destined to be discarded by future generations as mythological.

According to Spong, for Paul the Resurrection "occurred not on

the literal third day but on the eschatological third day, for it

was beyond time and history". This sounds more like the

German theologian Paul Tillich than Paul the apostle. For Paul the

very significance of Christ's resurrection was that the

resurrection of the dead had been inaugurated in time and history

with Jesus as its "first fruits" (1 Cor. 15:12-28).

Robert Lyle

Released August 31, 1994

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