Meet our rotating team of amazing authors, here to expand upon the writings of Bishop Spong.
Join us as we Chart the New Reformation and more, co-creating an international society dedicated to perpetuating and expanding the work and theology of Bishop Spong.
Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox is author of 28 books including “Original Blessing,” “The Reinvention of Work,” “Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet,” “One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths,” “A Spirituality Named Compassion” and his most recent “A New Reformation!.” He was a member of the Dominican Order for 34 years. He holds a doctorate (received summa cum laude) in the History and Theology of Spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris. Seeking to establish a pedagogy that was friendly to learning spirituality, he established an Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality that operated for seven years at Mundelein College in Chicago and twelve years at Holy Names College in Oakland. For ten of those years at Holy Names College Cardinal Ratzinger, as chief Inquisitor and head of the Congregation of Doctrine and Faith (called the Office of the Holy Inquisition until 1965), tried to shut the program down. Ratzinger silenced Fox for one year in 1988 and forced him to step down as director. Three years later he expelled Fox from the Order and then had the program terminated at Holy Names College. Rather than disband his amazing and ecumenical faculty, Fox started his own University called University of Creation Spirituality nine years ago in Oakland, California. He is currently lecturing, teaching and writing and is President of the non-profit that he created in 1984, Friends of Creation Spirituality. Fox is a well received lecturer who has spoken at many professional and community gatherings on many continents and in many countries around the world. Fox’s books have received numerous awards and he is recipient of the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award of which other recipients have included the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa and Rosa Parks. He has led a renewal of liturgical forms with “The Cosmic Mass” that mixes dance, techno and live music, dj, vj, rap and contemporary art forms with the western liturgical tradition.Fox believes that by “reinventing work, education and worship we can bring about a non-violent revolution on our planet” and has committed himself to this vision for many years. More Here.
Rev. Gretta Vosper
Vosper was raised in the United Church and is now pastor of West Hill United in Scarborough, Ontario, where she “remains captivated” by the ministry being explored by the congregation. She has been growing the CCPC since its impressive launch in November of 2004. The Centre’s contact list has grown from a few isolated individuals in Ontario to include members in six denominations and every province across the country.
Gretta’s notoriety grew following an article, “Believing Outside the Box,” published in The United Church Observer (Feb, 2005) in which her unorthodox beliefs about a non-interventionist God and the authority of the Bible were exposed. The article provoked a stream of letters to the Editor that continued for a full year alternately vilifying her or lauding her honesty. Several demands were made for her dismissal from her position as a minister in the United Church including an attempt by a colleague to convene a panel to question her about her beliefs, a process internationally renowned author Bishop John Shelby Spong, immediately labeled a heresy trial. Bishop Spong introduced Vosper to the readers of his weekly online column calling her “a brilliant, insightful and courageous young woman…one of the most exciting voices in 21st century Christianity” and “the leading voice for a scholarly and progressive Christianity” in Canada. Her best selling books include With or Without God: Why The Way We Live is More Important Than What We Believe in 2008, and Amen: What Prayer Can Mean in a World Beyond Belief in 2012. She has also published three books of poetry and prayers. More here.
Rev. David Felten
Since 2006, David has served as the pastor of The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. Active in the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church, David chaired the Conference worship design team for many years, assembling a diverse and creative team that produced innovative and engaging multi-sensory worship. He has also served on both the Board of Ordained Ministry and the Board of Education, focusing on Adult Education offerings. David has especially enjoyed the opportunity LtQ has given him to hone his writing and curriculum-development skills. A co-founder of the Arizona Foundation for Contemporary Theology, David works with a gifted ecumenical group of the theologically curious, hosting speakers and workshops that counter Biblical illiteracy and challenge the prevailing conventional wisdom in many churches. David is also a founding member of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice, an outspoken voice for GLBT rights both in the church and in the community at large. David has been a guest on a number of local TV and radio programs and has enjoyed becoming something of a regular on KTAR radio’s “The God Show” with host Pat McMahon.
Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester
Kevin is a close personal friend to Bishop Spong, Kevin was the first person elected bishop in the Episcopal to have his election turned down by the house of Bishops since 1875 on strictly theological grounds. Kevin G. Thew Forrester is an Episcopal priest, a student of the Diamond Approach for over a decade, as well as a certified teacher of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. He is the founder of the Healing Arts Center of St. Paul’s Church in Marquette, Michigan, and the author of five books, including “I Have Called You Friends“, “Holding Beauty in My Soul’s Arms“, and “My Heart is a Raging Volcano of Love for You” and “Beyond my Wants, Beyond my Fears: The Soul’s Journey into the Heartland“.
Rev. Fred Plumer
Fred is President of ProgressiveChristianity.org in USA (previously known as The Center for Progressive Christianity). After an extensive background in building management, real estate development and restaurant ownership and management, Fred Plumer made a career shift in 1981. He earned his M.Div. degree at the Pacific School of Religion while doing work in an inner city community center. In 1984 Rev. Plumer was called to the Irvine United Congregational Church in Irvine, California to lead a UCC new start church. The church became known throughout the denomination as one of the more exciting and progressive mid-size congregations in the nation. Rev. Plumer served on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Conference of the United Church of Christ (UCC) for five years, and chaired the Commission for Church Development and Evangelism for three of those years. In that time the Southern California Conference put in place one of the most aggressive church development plans in its history. Rev. Plumer regularly gives workshops on church growth. He became a member of the Executive Council for The Center for Progressive Christianity in 1995 and has written The Study Guide for TCPC’s “eight points.”
Rev. Plumer has been active in the inter-faith dialogue since his seminary years. In 1989 under his leadership the UCC church agreed to host a small group of Jews who wanted to start a Reconstructionist Synagogue. The congregations shared space, operating expenses, teaching forums, mission outreach projects, special services and meals for over 15 years. The synagogue became one of the fastest growing congregations in the nation with nearly five hundred families when they found it necessary to build their own facility. The unique relationship between the two congregations was the subject of numerous newspaper articles and radio talk shows providing Rev. Plumer many opportunities to speak of the importance of inter-religious dialogue. In 2000 with the support of the synagogue, a Mosque joined in this unique mix of religious traditions sharing space and ideas. The new relationship was covered by numerous newspapers, two talk shows and was a special feature that ran on CNN news, Christmas Eve and Christmas day.
In September of 2004 Rev. Plumer retired from the Irvine church so he could devote more time to writing and his passion – reclaiming the message of Jesus. In January of 2006 after Jim Adams, founder of TCPC retired as President, Fred was elected as the new President.
In addition to those veteran voices, we have some of the most compelling leaders of the social media movement out there today:
Rev. Mark Sandlin
Mark is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the South. He currently serves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, The God Article, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. His work has been published on “The Huffington Post,” “Sojourners,” “Time,” “Church World Services,” and even the “Richard Dawkins Foundation.” He’s been featured on PBS’s “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly” and NPR’s “The Story with Dick Gordon.” Follow Mark on Facebook and Twitter @marksandlin
Eric Alexander
Eric Alexander is an author, speaker, and activist. He is a board member atProgressiveChristianity.org, and is the founder of Jesism, Christian Evolution, and the Progressive Christianity and Politics group on Facebook. Eric holds a Master of Theology from Saint Leo University and studied negotiations at Harvard Law School, and authored the popular children’s emotional health book Teaching Kids Life IS Good
Rev. Roger Wolsey
Roger Wayne Wolsey, author of Kissing Fish, Christianity for People Who Don’t Like Christianity, is a free spirit who thinks and feels a lot about God and Jesus. He’s a progressive Christian who identifies with people who consider themselves “spiritual, but not religious.” A trumpeter, Roger grew up during the “Minneapolis Sound” era of the 1980s and ‘90s. These experiences contribute to a musical approach to his theology. Roger studied philosophy and political science, graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, and earned a Master of Divinity degree at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO. Roger is an ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church. He has taught Introduction to Religion classes as an adjunct instructor at Graceland University in Lamoni, IA. He has served as a pastor for churches in Minnesota, Iowa and Colorado. He currently serves as the Director of the Wesley Foundation campus ministry at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO. Roger was married for ten years, divorced, and co-parents a delightful child. He loves music, yoga, dancing, rock-climbing, motorcycling, trail running with his dog Kingdom, and hosting house concerts. Roger on the board of directors of the Boulder International Fringe Festival and blogs for Patheos, Elephant Journal, and Huffington Post. More Here.
Cassandra Farrin
Cassandra Farrin is the Editor of Polebridge Press and Marketing Director of the Westar Institute, for which she hosts the Ethics and Early Christianity blog. A US-UK Fulbright Scholar, she has an M.A. in Religious Studies from Lancaster University (England) and a B.A. in Religious Studies from Willamette University. Her poetic retelling of the Nag Hammadi text “On the Origin of the World” is forthcoming in Gender Violence, Rape Culture, and Religion (Palgrave MacMillan).
Plus these occasional guest authors: Fred Plumer, Deshna Ubeda, Irene Monroe and More!
If you haven’t heard of any of these folks I assure you they are out there in a big way helping to lead the next generations along the new reformation. These authors will be on a regular rotating schedule to write a series of columns that will not be published anywhere else, for our new Bishop Spong inspired and endorsed series, called Transformation Now (Charting the New Reformation). We envision this series forming a virtual society around the world that serves to perpetuate and expand upon his thoughts.
Each week we will feature an original column, a Q and A, as well as stories from around the world from people who are actually putting these transformational path into practice, whether that is in churches, gatherings, intentional communities, or study groups.
