[Dialogue] Comment on Spong

[LAURELCG@aol.com]

I forwarded the recent Spong newsletter on to the Doctor of Ministry network, 
and got this comment, for Ken Wilber fans, from a D.Min. alumnus in 
Australia.  I forward it with permission.

Dear Friends of the DMin Network


We welcomed the John Spong article on “religion” as we have a deep

appreciation of the work he is doing to expand options for understanding

Christianity beyond the fundamentalist mentality. We are also involved is

some similar work on a much smaller scale in our corner of “Down Under.”


We think, however, that his analysis would be more helpful if it gave

recognition to the developmental stages in the dimension of religious

beliefs and practices. So, we offer some summary thoughts on the issue.


Both individuals and cultures experience many changes in their

understandings of God, religion and the roles of men and women as they go

through developmental phases. For cultures, these are largely linked to

changes in modes of production.


We first became more aware of this when reading Ken Wilber’s “A Brief

History of Everything.” This is a simplified version of his tome, “Sex,

Ecology and Spirituality.” While he recognises that there are diverse models

of human development – many of which he summarises in “Integral Psychology”

– he finds the model of Spiral Dynamics particularly useful, and we have

come to share that opinion.


For anyone unfamiliar with Spiral Dynamics we would encourage you to seek

out information from Wilber’s websites and from the SD websites. Once you

get a hold on the colour codes you will find them a valuable form of

shorthand for understanding many processes at individual and cultural levels



Cultures can be seen as changing and increasing in complexity as they move

from hunter-gatherer, to horticultural, to agricultural, to industrial, to

post-industrial – each with dominant modes of understanding about the divine

 the role of the sexes and appropriate interpersonal relationships. These

can be summarised as pre-modern, modern and post-modern (with many of the

UCS/WU community being more post-postmodern.) We suggest Spong’s analysis of

premodern attitudes to women could be helped with some fine-tuning of the

differences between these cultural stages.


What Spong describes as “religion” refers particularly to the great

religious traditions that emerged from about 2,000 BCE onwards with the

development of broad-acre farming and associated patriarchal structures –

along with the empires made possible by food surpluses that could be

generated. Whereas earlier cultures had rigid role differentiation, they had

a degree of equality between sexes, as well as having male and female

deities. 


Agrarian cultures were more advanced in many ways, with the rule of law,

education and complex social systems, including formalised systems of

religious belief and practice. They were also largely dualistic and

patriarchal, with this extending to notions of the divine. Virtually all the

major world religions developed within these cultures and embody these

attitudes in their doctrines and sacred writings. It has also contributed to

the resistance from these traditions to attempts to overcome racism, sexism

and homophobia. Efforts to develop more progressive interpretations have to

deal with that heritage, and with the fact that many people continue to be

pre-modern in their religious beliefs even when they have moved past that

stage in other areas of life.


While it has been fashionable in some circles to condemn modernism for its

emphasis on rationalism and its misuse of the environment, the rise of

modernism in the late 1700’s and the 1800’s challenged the accepted social

order. With it came the push for democracy (with French and US Revolutions)

and the rise of liberation movements such as the Women’s Movement and the

Abolition of Slavery Movement. (This also indicates the problems in trying

to “impose” democracy on pre-modern cultures that lack an industrial base.) 


It has been suggested that the American Civil War was a conflict between a

predominantly agrarian South (most agrarian cultures have had some form of

slavery) and a more industrialised North, where slavery was no longer

acceptable. Of course many other values and attitudes contributed to the

conflict, and these continue to be represented within the dynamics of the

political and religious landscape of the USA. A summary of the so-called red

and blue States after the last Presidential election illustrates the power

of modes of production that are dominant in each of the States.


Acceptance of a developmental model can help understand where people are

“coming from,” as well as providing a basis for encouraging processes of

growth and change. As Wilber has noted, we are all born at zero and have to

develop through all the stages. This means that each stage has a

contribution to make and the tendency of moderns and post-moderns to debunk

premodern religious beliefs may just serve to rip necessary rungs out of the

ladder of development. It has also been suggested (e.g. by Karen Armstrong)

that the rise of fundamentalism, rather than being an essential element of

agrarian religions, was a reaction to the threat from the attacks of

modernism. This is a worrying aspect of Spong’s agenda, even though we may

agree with his approach to Christianity and the Bible.


Recognising that “religion” changes with emerging cultural perspectives and

worldviews seems more helpful than the distinction often made between being

“religious” and being “spiritual.” Similarly, we think that a concept of

developmental stages would enrich the important points being made by Spong

and others with a progressive approach to Christianity. It sometimes sounds

as if they are saying “the Church must stop being this way and should become

that way.” Perhaps the Church has to be “all of the above” to support people

as they grow and develop. 


A major challenge for mainstream denominations has been to cater effectively

for those who have moved into the postmodern and post-postmodern mindsets,

have become dissatisfied with premodern beliefs, and who feel that they are

no longer welcome in the fold. For these, Spong is making a great

contribution.


Thanks again for all the interesting information that we have been receiving

as members of this group.


Best wishes


Deirdre Hanna and Ian Mavor


Queensland, Australia