Background
Spong was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and educated in Charlotte public schools. He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1952, and received his Master of Divinity degree in 1955 from the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. (That seminary and Saint Paul's College have both conferred on him honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees.) He wrote: " immerse myself in contemporary Biblical scholarship at such places as Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Yale Divinity School, Harvard Divinity School and the storied universities in Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge."
Spong served as rector of St. Joseph's Church in Durham, North Carolina from 1955 to 1957; rector of Calvary Parish, Tarboro, North Carolina from 1957 to 1965; rector of St. John's Church in Lynchburg, Virginia from 1965 to 1969; and rector of St. Paul's Church in Richmond, Virginia from 1969 to 1976. He has held visiting positions and given lectures at major American theological institutions, most prominently at Harvard Divinity School. He retired in 2000.
Recipient of many awards, including 1999 Humanist of the Year, Spong is a contributor to the Living the Questions DVD program and has been a guest on numerous national television broadcasts (including The Today Show, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, Dateline, 60 Minutes, and Larry King Live). Spong's calendar has him lecturing around the world.
Spong is the cousin of former Virginia Democratic Senator William B. Spong, Jr. who defeated the incumbent Absalom Willis Robertson, the father of television evangelist Pat Robertson.
A play about the life of Spong, called A Pebble In My Shoe, has been written by Colin Cox and produced by Will & Company. Spong has seen the play at least a half dozen times at different places in the United States.
Read more about this topic: John Shelby Spong
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