<font color='black' size='2' face='Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif'>
<div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent;"></font></div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: 10pt;"><br>
<div id="AOLMsgPart_1_0701a3f9-5a2a-4826-ad48-f2ef27406989">
<div class="aolReplacedBody" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"><br>
<div class="moz-forward-container"><br>
<br>
<table class="moz-email-headers-table" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">
</th>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE"> </th>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE"> </th>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">
</th>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE"> </th>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br>
<br>
<style>#AOLMsgPart_1_0701a3f9-5a2a-4826-ad48-f2ef27406989 td{color: black;} .aolReplacedBody #outlook a{ padding:0; } .aolReplacedBody { width:100% !important; } .aolReplacedBody { -webkit-text-size-adjust:none; } .aolReplacedBody { margin:0; padding:0; } .aolReplacedBody img{ border:none; font-size:14px; font-weight:bold; height:auto; line-height:100%; outline:none; text-decoration:none; text-transform:capitalize; } .aolReplacedBody #backgroundTable{ height:100% !important; margin:0; padding:0; width:100% !important; } .aolReplacedBody ,.aolReplacedBody #backgroundTable{ background-color:#FAFAFA; } .aolReplacedBody #templateContainer{ border:1px solid #4487cf; } .aolReplacedBody h1,.aolReplacedBody .h1{ color:#202020; display:block; font-family:Arial; font-size:34px; font-weight:bold; line-height:100%; margin-top:0; margin-right:0; margin-bottom:10px; margin-left:0; text-align:left; } .aolReplacedBody h2,.aolReplacedBody .h2{ color:#202020; display:block; font-family:Arial; font-size:30px; font-weight:bold; line-height:100%; margin-top:0; margin-right:0; margin-bottom:10px; margin-left:0; text-align:left; } .aolReplacedBody h3,.aolReplacedBody .h3{ color:#202020; display:block; font-family:Arial; font-size:26px; font-weight:bold; line-height:100%; margin-top:0; margin-right:0; margin-bottom:10px; margin-left:0; text-align:left; } .aolReplacedBody h4,.aolReplacedBody .h4{ color:#202020; display:block; font-family:Arial; font-size:22px; font-weight:bold; line-height:100%; margin-top:0; margin-right:0; margin-bottom:10px; margin-left:0; text-align:left; } .aolReplacedBody h5,.aolReplacedBody .h5{ color:#202020; display:block; font-family:Arial; font-size:12px; font-weight:bold; line-height:100%; margin-top:15px; margin-right:0; margin-bottom:10px; margin-left:0; text-align:left; text-transform:uppercase; } .aolReplacedBody #templatePreheader{ background-color:#ffffff; } .aolReplacedBody .preheaderContent div{ color:#505050; font-family:Arial; font-size:10px; line-height:100%; text-align:left; } .aolReplacedBody .preheaderContent div a:link,.aolReplacedBody .preheaderContent div a:visited{ color:#336699; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } .aolReplacedBody #templateHeader{ background-color:#D8E2EA; border-bottom:0; } .aolReplacedBody .headerContent{ color:#202020; font-family:Arial; font-size:34px; font-weight:bold; line-height:100%; padding:0; text-align:center; vertical-align:middle; } .aolReplacedBody .headerContent a:link,.aolReplacedBody .headerContent a:visited{ color:#336699; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } .aolReplacedBody #headerImage{ height:auto; max-width:600px !important; } .aolReplacedBody #templateContainer,.aolReplacedBody .bodyContent{ background-color:#FDFDFD; } .aolReplacedBody .bodyContent div{ color:#000000; font-family:Georgia; font-size:16px; line-height:150%; text-align:left; } .aolReplacedBody .bodyContent div a:link,.aolReplacedBody .bodyContent div a:visited{ color:#336699; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } .aolReplacedBody .bodyContent img{ display:inline; height:auto; } .aolReplacedBody #templateFooter{ background-color:#FDFDFD; border-top:0; } .aolReplacedBody .footerContent div{ color:#707070; font-family:Arial; font-size:12px; line-height:125%; text-align:left; } .aolReplacedBody .footerContent div a:link,.aolReplacedBody .footerContent div a:visited{ color:#336699; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } .aolReplacedBody .footerContent img{ display:inline; } .aolReplacedBody #social{ background-color:#FAFAFA; border:0; } .aolReplacedBody #social div{ text-align:center; } .aolReplacedBody #utility{ background-color:#FDFDFD; border:1px dashed #d3d3d3; } .aolReplacedBody #utility div{ text-align:center; } .aolReplacedBody #monkeyRewards img{ max-width:190px; } .aolReplacedBody ,.aolReplacedBody #backgroundTable{ background-color:#ffffff; } .aolReplacedBody h1,.aolReplacedBody .h1{ color:#003d4a; font-family:Georgia; font-weight:normal; } .aolReplacedBody h2,.aolReplacedBody .h2{ color:#4487cf; font-family:Georgia; font-weight:normal; } .aolReplacedBody h3,.aolReplacedBody .h3{ color:#4487cf; font-family:Georgia; font-weight:normal; } .aolReplacedBody h4,.aolReplacedBody .h4{ color:#4487cf; font-family:Georgia; font-weight:normal; } .aolReplacedBody .preheaderContent div a:link,.aolReplacedBody .preheaderContent div a:visited{ color:#4487cf; text-decoration:none; } .aolReplacedBody .headerNavigation div a:link,.aolReplacedBody .headerNavigation div a:visited{ color:#4487cf; text-decoration:none; } .aolReplacedBody .headerContent a:link,.aolReplacedBody .headerContent a:visited{ text-decoration:none; } .aolReplacedBody #templateContainer,.aolReplacedBody .bodyContent{ background-color:#ffffff; } .aolReplacedBody .bodyContent div a:link,.aolReplacedBody .bodyContent div a:visited{ color:#4487cf; } </style>
<center>
<table width="100%" height="100%" id="backgroundTable" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100% !important; height: 100% !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table width="600" id="templatePreheader" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="preheaderContent" valign="top">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<div style="text-align: left; color: rgb(80, 80, 80); line-height: 100%; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px;"><br>
</div>
</td>
<td width="190" valign="top">
<div style="text-align: left; color: rgb(80, 80, 80); line-height: 100%; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px;"><a style="color: rgb(68, 135, 207); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=831909159d&e=0471473479" target="_blank"><img width="190" height="37" align="none" style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; width: 190px; height: 37px; text-transform: capitalize; line-height: 100%; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/print.png"></a></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table width="600" id="templateContainer" style="border: 1px solid rgb(68, 135, 207); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table width="600" id="templateHeader" style="border-bottom-color: currentColor; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; background-color: rgb(216, 226, 234);" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="headerContent" style="padding: 0px; text-align: center; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); line-height: 100%; font-family: Arial; font-size: 34px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: middle;">
<img style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: currentColor; height: auto; text-transform: capitalize; line-height: 100%; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; max-width: 600px;" alt="" src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/newsletter_header.png" border="0">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="headerNavigation" valign="top">
<div>
<h5 style="margin: 15px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 100%; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; display: block;"> <a style="color: rgb(68, 135, 207); text-decoration: none;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=c178cbc97a&e=0471473479" target="_blank">Homepage</a> <a style="color: rgb(68, 135, 207); text-decoration: none;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=d2537c0350&e=0471473479" target="_blank">My
Profile</a> <a style="color: rgb(68, 135, 207); text-decoration: none;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=bd8c33367e&e=0471473479" target="_blank">Essay
Archive</a> <a style="color: rgb(68, 135, 207); text-decoration: none;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=a9b98e1c7e&e=0471473479" target="_blank">Message
Boards</a> <a style="color: rgb(68, 135, 207); text-decoration: none;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=9498ac9350&e=0471473479" target="_blank">Calendar</a></h5>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table width="600" id="templateBody" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="bodyContent" valign="top" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="20">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<div style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 150%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">
<h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 61, 74); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 34px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">An
Evening with Barbara Walters</h1>
<div>She was born to
non-practicing Jewish
parents. Because her father
owned a series of night
clubs from Boston to Miami,
she grew up in the company
of show business
celebrities. She attended
Sarah Lawrence College in
Bronxville, New York,
graduating in 1953 with a
degree in English. The
“glass ceiling” was very
much intact in that year
largely determining what a
woman could do or be. By
refusing to accept those
limits, this woman, Barbara
Walters, was among the first
to smash those barriers.
Every woman in America is in
her debt today. Christine
and I had the pleasure of
spending one evening
recently listening to some
of her life story at Drew
University, the wonderful
school in my community that
enriches my life in so many
ways. Ms. Walters was the
featured speaker at the
Thomas H. Kean Lectureship,
named for New Jersey’s
former governor, who was
also Drew’s president for
six years.</div>
<div>The lecture hall awaiting
Barbara Walters’
presentation at Drew was
packed. The president of
Drew, Dr. Vivian Bull,
introduced her with typical
and characteristic grace.
Ms. Walters had earlier that
day been given a Drew
sweatshirt. Clearly this had
happened to her many times
before on other campuses,
but, professional that she
is, she made that Drew
audience believe that this
was the most elegant gift
imaginable, by interpreting
that sweatshirt as having
conferred on her alumna
status. The audience,
purring with approval, was
in the palm of her hand for
the rest of the evening.</div>
<div>This remarkable woman then
began to share with her
audience the insights she
had gained into many of the
people whom she had
interviewed. In one single
program, she had brought
together Anwar Sadat of
Egypt and Menachem Begin of
Israel. At some point in her
career all of the major
players in the Middle East
had been her guests,
including Muammar Gaddafi,
Saddam Hussein, Bashar
al-Assad and King Hussein.
When one focuses on Europe,
she has had one on one
interviews with Margaret
Thatcher, Boris Yeltsin and
Vladimir Putin. Crossing the
Atlantic to America, we
discover that she has
interviewed every president
and first lady of the United
States since Richard Nixon.
Moving into show business,
people ranging from pop star
Michael Jackson to classical
actress Katherine Hepburn
have sat opposite her on her
program. She traveled to
China with Richard Nixon on
the journey that opened
China to the West, a moment
that historians still refer
to as one of President
Nixon’s signal
accomplishments. In the sex
scandal that embroiled the
White House during the
incumbency of President Bill
Clinton, Ms. Walters
conducted an interview with
Monica Lewinsky that was
watched by 74,000,000
viewers, setting a record
that still stands for the
largest audience ever to see
a single television program.
She became such a cultural
icon that other shows would
caricature her with the
certain knowledge that the
audience knew her so well
that she would be
immediately recognized. One
thinks of Gilda Radner’s
take-off on her as “Baba
Wawa,” which set a mark for
Saturday Night Live’s
treatment of a celebrity
that was not approached
again until SNL’s Tina Fey
did her Sarah Palin takeoff
in 2008.</div>
<div>For more than 40 years,
Barbara Walters stood at
that place in the media
world where the daily news
comes together with mass
communications. So
successful was Ms. Walters
in this arena that on one
occasion when she shared an
interview with Walter
Cronkite, the dean of
American newscasters, Mr.
Cronkite expressed great
anxiety, asking his staff
when the interview was over:
“Did Barbara get more
information than I did?” She
changed forever the sexist
perception that television
news required a male
presenter. Every female
television host on both
network and cable television
today is in her debt.</div>
<div>It was not always easy; no
struggle for equality ever
is. When Barbara Walters,
armed with her freshly
conferred English degree
from Sarah Lawrence College,
began to search for
positions in journalism, she
experienced the limiting
stereotype that the only
role in which prospective
employers could imagine a
woman filling was that of a
secretary. She was
frequently asked in job
interviews: “How fast can
you type?”</div>
<div>Yes, even Barbara Walters
had to start in that
secretarial role. After a
few months as a secretary,
however, she applied for and
got an entry level position
in television as an
assistant to a publicity
director for WRCA TV, the
NBC affiliate in New York
City. For this talented
woman, this opportunity was
the nose of the camel under
the tent. She was on her way
and what most believed was a
firm “glass ceiling” was
about to be challenged and
cracked.</div>
<div>She suffered many
indignities along the way.
In time she moved to CBS
News as a writer of news
copy, then to NBC’s “Today
Show,” once again as a
writer. At that time, the
working assumption in the
industry was that a woman
did not posses the necessary
“gravitas” to deliver the
news. The Today Show,
however, discovered that
they had a vast female
audience remaining after the
men departed for the “hunt”
each day. So the Today Show
decided to do a daily
“women’s segment.” Barbara
Walters became the writer
and producer for that
segment. In that role she
acquired the nick name, “The
Today Girl,” a title
conveying the same insult
black adult males felt when
they were called “Boy!”
Barbara Walters persevered,
however, and as a result.
her role on the Today Show
began to grow. By 1963, she
had achieved the status of
co-host with Hugh Downs, but
she was never given the
title or the salary her male
co-host was paid.</div>
<div>When Hugh Downs left in
1969, those responsible for
choosing his successor never
once consulted Barbara
Walters about his
replacement. In 1971 Frank
McGee was hired at twice the
salary that Barbara was
paid. With the help of her
lawyer, she did have a
clause added to her contract
stating that if and when Mr.
McGee ever left the program,
she would officially become
the co-host with the next
male lead. Frank McGee died
two years later and Barbara
Walters was finally
recognized with the title
and salary that made her
truly equal. The mountain
had been climbed and she
became the first female
co-host of a morning news
program in America.</div>
<div>In 1976, she became the
first woman co-anchor of a
network evening news
program, joining Harry
Reasoner on ABC’s Evening
News. Reasoner, who had
previously hosted this
program alone, resented her
intrusion. It was not so
much resentment of Barbara
Walters, but of the newly
perceived need to have both
a male and a female in the
anchor chairs.</div>
<div>At 75 years of age after
being not only co-anchor of
the Evening News, but also
chief correspondent and host
for 20/20, she left ABC,
going out in a blaze of
glory. In her last year on
20/20 she interviewed
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Fidel Castro and Martha
Stewart!</div>
<div>Ms. Walters lived in that
generation when for women
marriage, family and career
collided. Neither the world
of journalism nor the world
of business had yet fully
understood the conflict that
every modern professional
woman faces when she refuses
to sacrifice marriage and
the raising of children to
the demand of professional
success. Barbara Walters
exemplified that conflict.
She was married four times,
but only to three men, since
she was married and divorced
from the same man on two
different occasions. She had
only one child and that by
adoption. She opened the
doors, however, and today’s
professional women
increasingly live in a world
that understands far better
the issues that modern
career women face.</div>
<div>I look at my four
daughters, all of whom are
in demanding careers in the
fields of finance, law,
science and medicine. Two of
them know what it is to be
professionally engaged for
60-70 hours a week. They
have all made significant
sacrifices to be able to do
what they do. These
daughters have also seen the
world grow more
understanding of women.
Those who are married have
supportive husbands, who see
parenting as a joint venture
to say nothing of cooking,
vacuuming, shopping and
doing the necessary errands
that every household needs
to keep functioning. In her
generation, Barbara Walters
had none of these supports.</div>
<div>I look at the Christian
Church, traditionally a
bulwark of sexism, and I see
women being welcomed
increasingly into all roles
of leadership. There are
still barriers. The Roman
Catholic Church,
Christianity’s largest,
still regards women as
somehow biologically unfit
for ordination. In a church,
which claims papal
infallibility and in which
power flows from the pope to
the bishops to the priests
and finally to the laity
this means that until women
are ordained, they will
remain powerless in that
church. Separate but equal
is always separate, it is
never equal.</div>
<div>The attempt of males to
subjugate women, to force
them back into the
traditional boxes of male
oppression is seen today in
American politics in the
debate over funding
reproductive health issues
and in attacks on Planned
Parenthood. It is also seen
in male attitudes. Witness
the former CIA director
Michael Hayden suggesting
that Senator Dianne
Feinstein was “too
emotional” about her desire
to see the Senate’s report
on CIA abuse and torture
released to the public; Mike
Huckabee, a potential GOP
presidential candidate,
still wanting to lecture
women on “controlling their
libidos,” and Chris
Christie, New Jersey’s
governor, wanting to blame
his former assistant,
Bridget Kelly, for his
George Washington Bridge
problems, asserting that her
“personal life had impaired
her judgment,” and
gratuitously revealing
inappropriate details about
Ms. Kelly in the process</div>
<div>Thanks to people like
Barbara Walters, we have
come a long way, but sexism
is deep and real. I suspect
that if one of our major
political parties nominates
a woman for president, the
opposing party will seek to
destroy her, unable to cope
with that ultimate
transition in power.</div>
<div>They will fail because the
world has moved beyond that
mentality, but they will
still try. Sexism will
ultimately die. I give
thanks to Barbara Walters
for driving a few more nails
into its coffin.</div>
<div>~John Shelby Spong</div>
<div>Read the essay online <a style="color: rgb(68, 135, 207); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=88d40d893f&e=0471473479" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="20">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<div style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 150%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">
<h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(68, 135, 207); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Question
& Answer</h2>
<div>Patrick Turner, via the
Internet, writes:</div>
<h4 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(68, 135, 207); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Question:</h4>
<div>I enjoy your writings very
much. The question I have
is: Why are the gospels
arranged in the order they
are rather than the order in
which they were written?
After reading a fair amount
of your writings and now
some of your new book about
John, (<em>The Fourth
Gospel: Tales of a Jewish
Mystic</em>) I began to
wonder if the gospels are
arranged as they are due to
their paralleling, to some
degree, the development of
Christianity? My point:
Matthew is the most Jewish,
then Mark not so much, Luke
more
Hellenistic/mythological and
finally John which is not
only advanced theology and
mystical, but can be read as
anti-Semitic, the very
opposite of Matthew. It is
possible that the council of
Nicea, which arranged the
canon, recognized John as
anti-Semitic and was unaware
of the theory you embrace
about this book being about
different factions within
Judaism? Did they want to
show two very different
points of view at very
different locations in the
canon?
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div> </div>
<h4 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(68, 135, 207); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Answer:</h4>
<div>Dear Patrick,
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>Thank you for your letter
and your question. When the
Canon of the New Testament
was being drawn up, I doubt
if people knew the order in
which the books were
written. I also doubt that
they followed your
suggestion of moving from
the gospel that was the most
Jewish to the gospel that
was perceived as
anti-Jewish. I suspect it
had more to do with the
popularity of the various
gospels in various parts of
Christianity and with
accidents associated with
timing.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>If one scans early church
records, it is clear that
Matthew was the most popular
gospel; Mark appeared
truncated by comparison.
Indeed, it was thought that
Mark was a kind of “Reader’s
Digest” or shortened version
of Matthew. Matthew had a
birth story and a
resurrection narrative that
Mark did not have. Matthew
expanded the story of Jesus
being tempted in the
wilderness by giving content
to the temptations and by
supplying the biblical texts
that Jesus used to reject
those temptations. Matthew
drew the portrait of Jesus
as “The New Moses” and added
much teaching material that
Mark did not include. One
finds, for example no Sermon
on the Mount in any other
gospel.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>When John’s gospel emerged,
near the end of the first
century, it challenged
Matthew’s popularity and the
two of them became the most
influential of the gospels.
John’s star was destined to
rise in Christian history,
although a recent poll about
people’s favorite books in
the Bible still places
Matthew ahead of John with
Luke third and Mark bringing
up the rear. If we were to
put the gospels in the order
of their writing they would
line up Mark, Matthew, Luke
and John. The biggest debate
in scholarly circles today
is about the date of Luke.
Some scholars now advocate
dating Luke as late as 140
CE. I disagree with that,
but I am fascinated by their
arguments.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>Matthew also in the minds
of early church leaders best
reflected the transition
from the Old Testament to
the New Testament, which may
have been a factor in
letting it open the New
Testament. He wrote his
account of Jesus by wrapping
Jesus deeply into the Hebrew
Scriptures. “This was done
that it might fulfill that
which was spoken by the
prophets” was a familiar
line in Matthew.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>The gospels were placed at
the beginning of the New
Testament, although all of
them were written well after
the authentic letters of
Paul. I think it was done
this way because it was
believed that the gospels
described the life of Jesus,
while the epistles described
life in the Christian Church
after the time of Jesus.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>The Pauline Epistles were
organized according to
length for the most part,
that is why Romans is first
and Philemon is last. When
the Canon of the New
Testament was finalized
fourteen epistles were
attributed to Paul. Today
modern scholarship has cast
great doubt on the Pauline
authorship of half of them.
The genuine Pauline epistles
(and in the order in which
they appear to have been
written) are: I
Thessalonians, Galatians, I
Corinthians, II Corinthians,
Romans, Philemon and
Philippians. The epistles
that are generally dismissed
as the work of Paul today
are: II Thessalonians,
Colossians and Ephesians.
The epistles that are all
but universally dismissed as
Pauline today are I Timothy,
II Timothy, Titus and
Hebrews. I laid all of this
out in much greater detail
in my book: <em>Re-Claiming
the Bible for a
Non-Religious World</em>.
I hope this helps.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>My best,
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>John Shelby Spong</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="20">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<div style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 150%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">
<h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(68, 135, 207); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Announcements</h2>
<div><span style="font-size: 24px;">Bishop
Spong is a guest lecturer
at Pacific School of
Religion this Summer for 5
days.</span><br>
<br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-size: 18px;">Topic: <em>The
Fourth Gospel: Tales
of a Jewish Mystic</em></span></strong><br>
<br>
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Dates
and Times: July 14-18 (1
wk), 9:00am-1:00pm</span><br>
<br>
PACIFIC SCHOOL OF RELIGION
PSR,<br>
Chapel, 1798 Scenic Avenue
Berkeley, CA US<br>
<br>
Credits: 1.5 academic
credits / 2.0 CEUs (20
contact hours)<br>
<br>
Course Number: NT-2221 (for
credit) or NT-0001 (for
CEUs)<br>
<br>
<a style="color: rgb(68, 135, 207); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=3d4e926d14&e=0471473479" target="_blank"><img width="200" height="310" align="right" style="margin: 5px; border: currentColor; width: 200px; height: 310px; text-transform: capitalize; line-height: 14px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; display: inline;" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/3D_cover_Spong_fourth_gospel.jpg"></a>Description: This
class will lift the Gospel
of John out of the Bible in
general and away from the
other gospels, in
particular, so that it can
be studied in its own
integrity. We will identify
the unique themes found in
the Fourth Gospel and seek
to understand those themes
in the light of the context
of the history of the late
first century when this
gospel was being written.
This means we will spend
some time analyzing the
different patterns of
thought revealed in the
Fourth Gospel, from the low
Christology of the earlier
part of this book to the
higher Christology of the
latter parts. We will
speculate on the number of
authors that might be
revealed in the analysis.
The course will proceed by
breaking John’s Gospel into
its constituent parts and
studying each in turn.<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table width="600" id="templateFooter" style="border-top-color: currentColor; border-top-width: 0px; border-top-style: none; background-color: rgb(253, 253, 253);" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="footerContent" valign="top">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td id="social" valign="middle" style="border: 0px currentColor; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);" colspan="2">
<div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(112, 112, 112); line-height: 125%; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;"><span style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></span> </div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td id="utility" valign="middle" style="border: 1px dashed rgb(211, 211, 211); background-color: rgb(253, 253, 253);" colspan="2"> <br>
<div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(112, 112, 112); line-height: 125%; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;">
<div class="vcard">
<div class="adr"><font size="2"></font> </div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td id="utility" valign="middle" colspan="2">
<div style="text-align: left; color: rgb(112, 112, 112); line-height: 125%; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;"><font size="2"></font> </div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</center>
<center> <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<table width="100%" id="canspamBarWrapper" style="border-top-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top" style="padding-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 20px;">
<table id="canspamBar" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top" style="text-align: center; color: rgb(96, 96, 96); line-height: 150%; padding-right: 20px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 20px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">
<br>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<style>#AOLMsgPart_1_0701a3f9-5a2a-4826-ad48-f2ef27406989 td{color: black;} @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td{font-size:14px !important;} .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td a{display:block !important; margin-top:10px !important;} } </style> </center>
<img width="1" height="1" src="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/open.php?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=6d617345b8&e=0471473479">
<br>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</font>