Trashy Novels

"Trashy Novel" is the only way I know how to describe anything from the pen of the former Bishop of Newark, NJ, John Shelby Spong. My first encounter was when my philosophy professor at university thought it would be a good idea for his budding students to read Rescuing the Bible from the Hands of Fundamentalism. Let's just say that experiment got real ugly real quick. Spong has continued to put out his brand of ideas over the last decade disclaiming any form of biblical orthodoxy on issues from the virgin birth to homosexuality. His latest work is called The Sins of Scripture where he continues his diatribe against Christianity from the “inside.” I thought about writing a review of it but I was pleased to see Dr. John Makujina had written a fine piece for CT. Spong should not be taken seriously for the merits of his writing because they have as much merit or scholarly insight as a harlequin romance novel. However, he should be taken seriously for the fact that many have been duped by his fanciful research and enormous popular appeal. His publisher, Harper of San Francisco, has made sure that the target audience of his writing is the people that we pastors are entrusted to shepherd and feed. See Makujina’s review here.