Jesus for the Non-Religious

Writing from his prison cell in Nazi Germany, theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer envisioned what he called “religionless Christianity.” In Jesus for the Non-Religious, John Shelby Spong expands on Bonhoeffer’s idea; the result is a strikingly new and different portrait of Jesus of Nazareth – a Jesus for the non-religious.

Spong challenges much of the traditional Jesus story, from the Virgin Birth to the ascension into Heaven. He also addresses those contemporary critics of Christianity who call God a “delusion” and express fears that Christianity has become evil and destructive. Spong proposes a new way of understanding the divinity of Christ: as the ultimate dimension of a fulfilled humanity.

Jesus for the Non-Religious may be the book that finally brings the pious and the secular into a meaningful dialogue, opening the door to a living Christianity in the post-Christian world.

John Shelby Spong was the Episcopal Bishop of Newark before his retirement in 2000. He is one of the leading spokespersons for liberal Christianity. His books include Sins of Scripture, A New Christianity for a New World, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, Resurrection: Myth or Reality?, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, and his autobiography, Here I Stand. He has initiated landmark discussions of controversies within the church and has become an outspoken advocate for change.

“Sparkling with personal anecdotes and nurtured by a wide range of scriptural scholarship, Spong’s book deconstructs conventional religion and then fashions a new Jesus consonant with modern consciousness.”

– Hal Taussig, author of A New Spiritual Home: Progressive Christianity at the Grass Roots