Anyone holding to an orthodox Christian faith should read this to understand the prevailing post-modern thinking about Jesus Christ, which Spong embodies so well as he follows in the tradition of Bultmann, Tillich and, more recently, John A.T. Robinson.

His thesis is basically that Christ makes one "free to be, free to live, free to love." Spong's bibliography includes "I'm OK, You're OK." While most clergy desire to grow up to be like Luther or Augustine or St. Paul, my guess is that Spong wishes he would have been born as Copernicus, Darwin, or Freud, three men whom he seems to regard higher than any Christian thinker.

Spong fails in several areas. He misuses the whole notion of Jewish midrash (read Jacob Neusner's "Midrash in Context: Exegesis in Formative Judaism"); he relies heavily on the theology of a man (Robinson) who mistranslates the Greek New Testament; and he makes some simply incredible statements (I won't spoil the surprises for you).

What serious Christians need to take away from this book is this: post-modernists think that the New Testament is a Jewish, apocalyptic vision/midrashic construct, and that Jesus of Nazareth was an incredibly self-actualized man (but merely a man, mind you) who lived out what he "thought" was his Messianic mission (Spong never does quite address how Jesus manages to get himself crucified between two criminals as prophecy predicted).

Read this book, then read II Peter 2, and then go out into the world and make disciples of all nations. Spong won't slow you down any.

Another thought provoking book. Over the years I have faced the questions I have had about the myth vs the reality of the man people call Jesus Christ.

Like Bishop Spong I believe most of the message that Jesus taught, which was philosophical and not religious has been totally lost and in fact the very things that Jesus warned against have in fact become a reality. He warned people, or at least tried to warn people, to use their own brains and not rely on power hungry leaders be they secular or religious. That G-d and only G-d is our source and that all things work for good to those who love G-d. He never ever taught that there was a trinity. He never ever taught that some people G-d loved and some he did not.

The Jesus Bishop Spong discovered and who many of the rest of us have discovered is a fully human, passionate, and evolved person. Who respected women, who wasn't afraid of being with people that the pious types considered unworthy. The Jesus who said "What you do to the least of them you do to me".

It would be nice if the closed minded or fearful types would read the book and simply have their beliefs tested.

Bishop Spong was one of the first authors to bring the "search for the historic Jesus" to mainstream, everyday Christians, and he does it in a way that opens many eyes to a fundamental, yet often overlooked, truth: Jesus, on whom Christianity bases its entire faith, was an observant Jew! This seems to be a very minor revelation, but centuries of oppression and discrimination against our Jewish brothers and sisters make this a fact worth repeating, and worth exploring in depth -- as Spong does here.

While I don't necessarily agree with all his conclusions, I find Spong's inquiry honest, sincere, and refreshing. The book is an interesting read, and will certainly expose almost everyone to some new questions and ideas about the ministry and divinity of Jesus (as related to his Jewish identity and the culture in which he ministered).

The practical application of which I speak [in the title of this review] is a more loving and understanding relationship between Christians and Jews, a recognition of our common religious roots, and a celebration of our common God (even if we do disagree about whether Jesus was the Messiah). Bishop Spong, in fact, presented a series of lectures with a rabbi friend, which was later transcribed into a separate book, and the realization by both groups (Christians and Jews) was that fear, stereotypes, and prejudice had replaced the love and seeking of truth for which both our faiths call.

I highly recommend this book to all.

I normally am an advocate of any book or magazine published by Cook's Illustrated magazine. Unfortunately, this series of books are too small and the print too tiny to be practical. You have to hold it very close to your eyes to read it which makes it totally impractical for putting in your cookbook holder to refer to while cooking. Since the pages are so small, the recipes span several pages which isn't great for the cookbook holder either! I find it ironic that the subtitle says " An illustrated step-by-step guide to perfect potatoes every time.". There are only 8 illustrations in this particular book.

If you have ever tried to make a potato salad or french fries you will find that the process may sound simple, yet without a few tried and true methods you may end up with less than desirable results. This is the beauty of Christopher Kimball's books. He not only tells you which potatoes work best in each recipe, he explains the proper method for cooking and storing them. You will find a great secret on page 50 when making potato salad. You will also enjoy the descriptive writing these tiny treasures are so famous for. The only thing I would add to this book is the idea of serving the baked sweet potato with butter and maple syrup. If you are tired of boring baked potatoes, this is the book for you. I also recommend The Best Recipe by the same author.

John Cardinal O'Connor was undoubtedly a man of conviction. He was a colorful poltical heavyweight; a significant player in worldwide Roman Catholic politics and in American affairs in general. Sadly, while O'Connor might be commended for his loyalty, he is not a man who should be exalted as one of the great spiritual leaders of the 20th century.

John O'Connor could have been great! He could have been. Instead he chose a different path - favored son in a "family" (in this case an institution) out of touch with the world.

He could have dared to speak up for those who were marginalized.He could have told the poor faithful people of his church that he understood their need to practice birth control. He could have advanced the recognition of women as full and complete members of the church. He could have recognized that so many American Catholics felt out of touch with the message of their Church. While he visited dying gay men and opened places where they cold die with dignity, he continued to deny their legitimate place on the earth.

Perhaps the greatest lost opportunity was the fact that John O'Connor could have changed the Church -- but didn't!

I finish this book sadly feeling that here was a man who had the forum to do great things but sadly chose not to. It is the sadness of "the could have ... but didn't".

A Man of Conviction is small book which poorly conceived and dully written. If this book is some effort to advance O'Connor's spiritual legacy in the hope that he will yet again be promoted, perhaps to Sainthood, it is a bad start.

John O'Connor,late Cardinal Archbishop of New York, was a large figure on the political and religious landscape for almost 17 years. One time Hawkish military chaplain{his pro military stances influenced many of the documents that came out of the bishops conferences],he became bishop of scranton, Pa.,then very quickly{I mean real quickly} Archbishop of the largest archdiocese in North America. He sparred with polticians early{Publicly berating democats Mario cuomo and Geraldine ferraro for their pro-choice stands}though not republicans{though he did criticise R Guliani 's policies as viscious against the poor}, so often putting his foot in his mouth that all three of the major dailies began putting reporters at the Sunday 10 am mass. This collection, has nomne of that. O'connor was a vociferous supporter of the state of Israel, and is warmly remembered as such. He was also an avowed opponenet of homsexuality, and some of his worst moments came in trying to defend his position. He was also a man of great generosity, refusing to close any schools{no matter how poor they were]. begging, literally, begging some of the moneybags catholics{Simon, Grace, et,al. } for donations.He opened doors of catholic hospitals to aids patients{while condeming thier lifestyle. }In short, a man of immense contradictions, who died a slow, painful public death, and did so with great dignity, and without some of the macabre operatic flourishes of so public a demise. The best of these remembrances come from ordianry folks,not the politicians nor clergy{what on earth do youthink a priest of another bishop would say about him? Now if they gave archbishop rembert weakland of Milwaukee a free hand to discuss OConnors lack of support for him with this problems with rome, that would have been interesting]. In all, a well done,though curiosly unsatisfying collection, too much warm fuzziness, not enough exploration.For those who admired him,a very good book. see also Nat Hentoff's ear;lier Biography{also very flattering] for more sources. A loyal soldier of the church.

I am admittedly a very devoted friend of the late Cardinal. I miss him greatly as a former regular Mass-goer at St. Patrick's Cathedral in the late 90's. I miss him still more as my old guardian angel who did more than one favor for a skinny little kid from Brooklyn, without recompense. Nor did he seek it, except for my soul, and the hope that I would always love Jesus. So if you ever admired this man, his honesty, his frankness, his gift for trying his best in every circumstance, even if you did not agree with everything he said, you will indeed like this book. He was, as his friends reminisce, a mensch. You will hear his words, recognise his wit, recall his stature. I miss him too much, this man who fought tooth and nail, for whatever he thought was truly important for the well being of body and soul of his flock. But then, anyone in New York, or anyone in his line of sight was his flock. Oh, I miss him, and I am glad to hear from him again. Requiescat in pace.

John Peale Bishop was primarily a poet and journalist, and as far as I know this was his only novel. He died fairly young, and might well have written more had he lived.

The novel is set in the South, where Bishop grew up (in his case the part of West Virginia near Virginia), and by now that world of the Border South in the 1910s or 20s seems very foreign.

The act is a rape; the novel follows the set-up and the consequences of an act that most polite people won't even name, let alone discuss.

I read this novel out of family curiosity--he was my grandfather.

This book is a good cookbook for someone who is just beginning to experiment with cooking meat on the outdoor grill. It focuses primarily on indirect cooking methods. The book is easy to read and informative. Unfortunately, the recipes for barbcue are tomato-based recipes, not REAL barbecue like we have here in North Carolina. :-)

i didnt find this book to be that helpful

I found this book rather disappointing. Let talk about the size of this book. It is slightly larger than a larger post card. It has lots of illustrations, so it has less space for recipes. The recipes, and information are helpful, insightful, and useful, but there are not very many recipes. The folks at Cooking Illustrated are always top notch when it comes to content, but the packaging of their material lacks in this book. I was hoping for a book to be filled with salads, salad dressing recipes, and more. This book did not deliver to those expectations.

Bishop Dingman was a very interesting fellow

I don't know, it could be just me but I think that they could have done a better job of keeping your attention. One of my family members is an avid golfer and even for him it took a long time before he got bored enough to try to finish it.

As a person who grew up in a very strict fundamentalist pentecostal church and have serious questions about fundamentalism I have enjoyed reading Spong's other books especially "Living in Sin?" and "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism". I don't agree with everything Spong says in these books but at least they have given me a different perspective. However, I found this book to be weak in argument and poorly written. What I don't understand about Spong's argument against the resurrection is he thinks its physically impossible for Christ to rise from the dead. If God is God then why should s/he be confined by natural laws. A God who has to conform to the laws of the natural universe is not truly God. This book has made me realise that Spong is not a Christian as he claims but a humanist, or worse, a Christian who has lost faith in God.

As a liberal Christian, I have always had quite a few unanswered questions about the event that is commonly known as Easter. Growing up in a conservative household, I was raised to believe that Easter meant a literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ that occurred on the third day after he gave himself up to be executed for the sins of the world. Although I had long ago dismissed the theory that Jesus died for the sins of the world, Spong changed my opinions drastically as I read "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism." In this previous book, Spong convinced me that a physical resuscitation of Jesus had never taken place at all; he argued that the resurrection stories are heavily symbolic and must not (along with the rest of the Gospels) be taken literally. Still, the event called Easter remained shrouded in my mind. It wasn't until I read "Resurrection: Myth or Reality" that I began to realize what Easter is all about. Spong took me on a thrilling journey through history and beyond Scripture as I arrived at an understanding of why the resurrection stories were written, why certain symbols were used, and most importantly, what this all means to Christians today.

In order to reconstruct the Easter moment, Spong employs a Jewish literary device known as midrash. Much like a parable, midrash uses supernatural or otherwise incredulous events as symbols for a timeless truth. In essence, it captures the present inside the symbols of yesterday, preserving the inner meanings of the faith story for current and future generations. Midrash cannot be found in a literal reading of the text; one must read between the lines to capture the hidden (true) meaning of what is being said. When the traditional Easter story is examined under this midrashic lens, a whole new story emerges.

The story that Spong recreates is much more believable and appropriate than the traditional tale. Spong's rendering of Easter begins when Jesus and the disciples travel to Jerusalem for Passover. During the Passover celebration, Jesus is recognized by the Jewish authorities as a rebel and a political threat, for which he is put to death. The disciples, shocked, flee to their homes in Galilee to mourn their loss. Over the course of the next six months, however, Peter and his companions realize that there was something about the life of their rabbi that made him divine. They understood that the spirit of Jesus transcended death because the way Jesus died was exactly like
they way he lived. He gave his life to others and for others. He loved wastefully and selflessly. In that living and
dying, the disciples concluded that Jesus revealed the meaning of God. God is not victory, their point of view stated. God is the presence of transcendent meaning in the midst of human defeat. God is not the promise of an infinite reward. God is the meaning that is present in the face of fate, tragedy, and undeserved pain. God cannot be seen in Jesus's escape from death at Easter until God is first seen in the crucified one who gives life as he dies, who offers forgiveness as he is victimized, who shows love as he is hated.

Spong's rendering of Jesus as one who gave his life away to others also reveals the true meaning of Easter. Easter is not about believing in incongruent stories that have been disproved by the laws of science. Easter is about realizing that Jesus is the meaning of God. It is Easter that caused the disciples to travel back to Jerusalem six months later during the feast of the Tabernacles to proclaim that "He has risen!" and "Death cannot contain him!". Easter also caused the need for early Christian writers to capture the sentiments in subjective, nonliteral words so that we, too, can enter the text and experience the moment anew every day. We, too, can proclaim that Jesus lives on in each one of us as Easter becomes a timeless invitation to enter the meaning of God by living for others, expecting no reward, loving wastefully no matter what the cost. When we do that, we are Easter people and resurrection becomes real.

I have the distinct pleasure of saying that "Resurrection: Myth or Reality?" is one of the most influential, spirit-giving books that I have ever read. Each time I read Spong, I marvel at the way that this one man can shatter all of tradition and yet make the new experience even more sincere and invigorating. I highly recommend Spong's books to all Christians searching for a new way to approach the Scripture. "Resurrection: Myth or Reality?" and "This Hebrew Lord" are the best two of the ones that I've read so far. But make no mistake, everything he writes is a gem and I can't thank him enough for giving me a religion and a strong sense of spirituality that I otherwise wouldn't have. All of Spong's writing is nothing short of an extraordinary blessing.

This book has an unfortunate title. It must have been titled by the greedy publishing company in an attempt to sell more books. Most of the book doesn't directly address the dilemma "Myth or Reality".

The book views the resurrection as the crowning moment for Christianity, but in a larger sense it examines the New Testament gospels as being understood as midrash--a Judaic form of sermon and storytelling. Indeed, one of the obstacles in my faith was the fact that so much that the traditional church views as "history" is merely copying from the Old Testament Torah.

Unlike G.A. Wells, or Earl Doherty, Spong does not want to dispel the entire Jesus episode as legend or myth, but rather he wants to distill the non-literal spiritual "truths" of Christ from the sermons that are Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. From those truths, he looks back and reconstructs some historical possibilities, but still doesn't view the historical literalism as a good foundation for faith.

All in all, this is a well-written book and will give the reader something new to consider. Although I suppose those who claim the literal resurrection as truth will mark Spong's theology as some sort of modern-day gnosticism, his viewpoint is a good compromise for those of us who find it intellectually irresponsible to view the New Testament as historical.