"Living in Sin" - John Shelby Spong

It's interesting that at a time that the same-sex debate is raging in the MCSA once again, Jenny and I both happen to be reading books on this issue. However, this one by Spong seems to be at polar opposites to the one by Webb.

I must confess that I was hesitant to read this book, given that some of Spong's views, not only on sexuality, but on the interpretation of Scripture in general, are - shall we say - "controversial". And I probably would not have read "Living in Sin" had it not been sent to me. Then again, I've always maintained that one cannot offer commentary honestly on something that one has not read/seen, so it was with this in mind that I pressed on...

So onto the book itself. One can gather from the subtitle, "A Bishop Rethinks Human Sexuality", that this is not likely to be a volume that reaffirms the traditional position of abstinence of sex outside of marriage, marriage as being solely between a man and a woman, and so forth - and so it proved.

The book is divided into three main parts.

Part I ("The Revolution") covers topics such as "A Biblical Call to Inclusiveness", in which Spong asserts that his re-think on human sexuality is not so much about the sexual act but about discrimination against those who hold to different sexual mores than the mainstream. Indeed, with the sexual revolution in the 1960s, the spiralling divorce rate, and the increasing phenomenon of couples living together outside of marriage, those holding onto the traditional view are fast becoming a minority. Spong argues that, by continuing to "swim upstream", the Church has become a place of exclusion.

In Part II ("The Bible"), Spong turns to Scripture itself - more specifically, the misuse of Scripture to advance a particular point of view. Warning against a literal interpretation of the Bible, Spong traces our "faith story" back to its origins - about 4000 years - when the first of what is included in today's Bible was recorded, and compares this to the presence of human life (albeit in primitive form) for around a million years, he argues that since our "faith story" is so relatively young, one has to wonder "why a gracious God would leave human beings in both ignorance and sin for 99.9 percent of the time that they have inhabited the earth". It is for this reason, states Spong, that Scripture contains many passages that would appear to be in conflict with an understanding of a loving God. Given this background, one begins to understand why Spong is heavily critical of what he terms the Biblical attitude towards women, as well as its pronouncements on homosexuality, viewing these as the product of a patriarchal hetrosexual-dominated society rather than pronouncements of God. Indeed, Spong argues further that the Bible is not the Word of God, but words that lead to the Word, Who is God.

In the final part - Part III (Some New Proposals") - Spong deals firstly with marriage and celibacy. Arguing from the point of view that people are marrying a lot later in life nowadays, he sees no reason why sexual expression should be excluded from relationships formed prior to marriage. He then turns to the issue of the Church and divorce, and puts forward a proposal for an order of service in which the end of a marriage is formally acknowledged (in a similar way to life's end being acknowledged through a funeral service. The next chapter deals with the blessing of gay and lesbian commitments, which Spong is in favour of - not surprising, given what has been written in this book thus far. Also covered are sexual relationships among "post-married singles" such as those who are divorced or widowed. His argument here is that divorcees may wish to avoid remarriage because of past hurts, while widowed persons may risk losing certain benefits (such as spouse's pensions) should they remarry; however, this does not take away the need for physical intimacy. Finally, this section deals with women as clergy - something that is still not widely accepted by a number of churches.

The book concludes with an epilogue entitled "Enduring the Present to Claim the Future", in which Spong declares that today's controversies may well be tomorrow's norms, and invites his readers to endure the storms that will surely erupt when adopting a new attitude towards sexuality. Finally, included is a report of a task force (in which Spong participated) on changing patterns of sexuality and family life.

If your thinking on sexuality follows the more traditional approach, this book will be likely to jar your thinking - anger you, even. I can't say that I felt particularly comfortable with its content, and find it strange that someone who claims to have devoted his life to the Bible seems to spend so much energy in trying to refute its contents. But it is probably worth ploughing through once, even if only to get a glimpse into what the "liberal thinkers" are basing their arguments on concerning changing sexual attitudes and the interpretation of Scripture around this subject.