Part XVII Matthew - The Story of Jesus from Shavuot to Rosh Hashanah

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 27 March 2014 1 Comments
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Question

First of all, I want to thank you for all you do. A few years ago, I was introduced to you through the writings of Phillip Gulley. The first of your books that I read was Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Virgin Birth and The Place of Women in a Male Dominated Church. I remember thinking maybe I shouldn't be reading this! I had never read anything before that made me question what I’d been taught my whole life in church and I was very uncomfortable with it. I felt like I was made privy to some secret information that I had no business knowing.

Thankfully I did finish the book and went on to read your autobiography Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love and Equality. Shortly after that, I came to hear you speak at Lake Junaluska, the Methodist Center in Western North Carolina, with my daughter, a friend of mine and her daughter. I remember that weekend so well - it was a true turning point of my beliefs and my Christian life. I felt like my eyes had been opened and I had heard the truth. I knew that I would never be the same. I have traveled to hear you speak since then to Bloomington, Indiana; Atlanta, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee (on my birthday), where we were able to talk to your wife during the lunch break. What a delightful woman.

I’m a very active member of the United Methodist Church and have tried since that time to share my newfound knowledge with my congregation, but without much success. The recently publicized punishment of a long time UMC pastor in Pennsylvania for officiating at the marriage of his gay son has bothered me very much and just today, I resigned from my church as choir director. This was a very hard decision for me because I’ve been a very active member of this church for the past 28 years, but I can no longer be part of an organization that willingly minimizes the value of another human being’s life by refusing them the right to marry.

Having said all that, here are my questions: Where were all of these New Testament books of the Bible kept in the years following Jesus’ life? How was their existence communicated? You talk about different authors knowing about other wirings. How would they have known? I’m imagining a world where communication with other cities was minimal and travel was slow. I don’t remember reading anything that you’ve written about this but, if you have, please refer me to the essay or book.

Thank you again Bishop Spong. You are such an inspiration to me.

 

 

Answer

Dear Dale,

Thank you for your letter and your witness. The United Methodist Church nationally is clearly on the wrong course. It will have to turn around. Its choices are to change or die and majority vote will not determine the outcome. I hope they will turn and they will need people like you to help guide them when they do. I urge you to reconsider your resignation and to be an uncomfortable presence within your church. You will accomplish far more that way than by leaving.

In answer to your question: “All those New Testament books” did not exist in the years following Jesus’ life. Most scholars date the crucifixion in or near the year 30 CE. In the next 21 years we have no data, no written source to read in search of the life of Jesus. We call that time “the Oral Period.” Paul breaks this silence about the year 51 when he wrote I Thessalonians. He followed this by writing Galatians, I & II Corinthians, Romans, Philemon and Philippians, probably in that order, prior to his death about 64 CE. The other epistles attributed to Paul were all written after his death and obviously not by him. Some of them like II Thessalonians, Colossians and Ephesians were written about a decade after his death and I & II Timothy and Titus, were written at least a generation after his death.

The gospels were written between about 72 CE (Mark) to about 100 CE (John), with Matthew coming about a decade after Mark and Luke about a decade after Matthew. None of these gospels was written by an eyewitness, but they all clearly do go back to the oral tradition.

About three years ago I published a book under the title Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World in which I went into the date, background circumstances and key message of every book in the Bible. It has just recently been newly published in a paperback edition. I commend that book to you for your question is far too complex to be adequately addressed in the limited space of this column.

I hope you will stay in touch. People like you represent the hope for a Christian future.

John Shelby Spong

 

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