Let me give you one example of what you will find in this book.

Here's what John Spong says about Jesus' words "I am the good shepherd", "the resurrection and the life" and the like: "Of course Jesus never literally said any of these things. For someone to wander around the Jewish state (sic) in the first century announcing himself to be the bread of life…would have brought out people in white coats with butterfly nets to take him away".

This is the kind of argument and level of scholarship that Spong brings to his book The Sins of Scripture. His main point is that the Bible, especially if read in a particularly unsympathetic way, influenced by one's worst memories of fundamentalism, is inconsistent with the mores of early 21st century progressive Western liberalism, especially the kind you find in the eastern states of the USA. And so he effectively replaces its message with his own.

Now I don't mind Spong inventing a new religion. But I do wish he would stop trying to use the word "Christian' for it. Surely someone from Consumer Affairs ought to do something about that.

The trouble is that this book gives a bad name to investigations into what are genuine, real issues. There is indeed some real tough material in the Bible. The challenge of understanding and wrestling with the meaning of Scripture is a serious one, but this book doesn't help.