A week ago, I spent the weekend in Milwaukee promoting my novel to the 2,000 participants of the Roman Catholic Call to Action Conference. One of the keynote speakers was retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong. The Bishop is an outspoken proponent of progressive Christian causes, and he has published a dozen or so books in the last several decades that have attracted a huge liberal readership.
I was greatly pleased to have the opportunity to visit with the Bishop for a short time. For those unfamiliar with my novel, A Wretched Man, a novel of Paul the apostle, the characterization of the man from Tarsus suggests he struggled with homosexual urges, which he characterized as his “thorn in his flesh”. Bishop Spong shares this view, and we briefly discussed our common impression. Bishop Spong said he first read of this idea in a 1930’s treatise by the British theologian Arthur Darby Nock. I offered the bishop a copy of my book as a gift, which he graciously accepted and asked me to sign it for him.
A video of the bishop explaining his rationale has appeared on You Tube. Watch and enjoy:
