Description

John Shelby Spong, bestselling author and Episcopal bishop of Newark, NJ, challenges the doctrine of the virgin birth, tracing its development in the early Christian church and revealing its legacy in our contemporary attitudes toward women and female sexuality.

Reviews

From Library Journal

Spong, an Episcopal bishop and best-selling author ( Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism , HarperSanFrancisco: HarperCollins, 1991), provides a courageous look at the biblical stories of the birth of Jesus, and their implications. Spong is careful to acknowledge previous scholars and to distinguish fact or knowledge from speculation. He encourages a midrashish or imaginative approach to the Gospels and points out how literalism of scripture and creed in the Virgin Mary references led to sexism in church teaching. This book is a marvelous combination of scholarly, speculative, and imaginative reflection written in language accessible to the theologically unsophisticated. Highly recommended.

Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Library Journal

"A marvelous combination of scholarly, speculative, and imaginative reflection written in language accessible to the theologically unsophisticated. Highly recommended."

Ron Hansen, author of Mariette in Ecstasy

"Spong restores a flesh-and-blood humanity to the mother of Jesus."