Bishop John Shelby Spong is an renowned American Bishop of the Episcopal Church priest who served in Newark until 2000. As a liberal theologian he has represented an alternative voice for Christians and religious persons and for decades has challenged the status quo in today’s religious institutions. As a life long Biblical scholar Bishop Spong consistently challenges the hard held Christian myths such as the virgin birth, miracle stores, the doctrine of atonement and Jesus as a universal savior, the ascension and other theological structures that continue to define modern Christianity. He has been a visiting lecturer to standing room audiences at over 500 universities, including Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge. He holds degrees from the University of North Carolina, Virginia Theological Seminary, has studied Biblical scholarship at Yale, Harvard, Union Theological, Edinburgh, Oxford and others and has received several honorary doctoral degrees. He has published over two dozen books, the most recent being “Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy.” Bishop Spong’s weekly column can be fond on his site JohnShelbySpong.com