NEWARK-- Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong is recuperating after suffering a stroke before a planned speaking engagement in Michigan Saturday, the Episcopal Diocese of Newark said on its Facebook page.
"Many thanks to all of you who have been praying for Bishop Jack Spong and his family since we received the news that he suffered a stroke last Saturday morning. Bishop Beckwith is in contact with the Spong family, and reports that Bishop Spong is stable and talking, and that our prayers offer hope and help. Updates will be provided as they become available," the diocese said Monday.
Spong, 85, served as bishop of the diocese for nearly a quarter-century before his retirement in 2001 but has remained active as a speaker and writer promoting an inclusive form of Christianity that acknowledges some problematic aspects of the Bible while recognizing its centrality to the Christian faith.
"I am a believer who knows and loves the Bible deeply. But I also recognize that parts of it have been used to undergird prejudices and to mask violence," Spong wrote in a biography appearing on his Web page.
Spong, who has sold more than a million books, is the author of Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, A New Christianity for a New World, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, and Here I Stand and has also been a guest on television shows including Fox News Live and Politically Incorrect.
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