Understanding Death beyond Religion in the Thought of John Shelby Spong

Religion and the Fear of Death

Death plays a key role in Spong’s thought because it is viewed not only as the destiny of living entities, but also as a reality which casts a serious shadow over one’s process of life. This is why he is not so concerned with explaining why death occurs—he rather takes that for granted as a fact of life—but what he attempts to do is show why the fear of death is so poignantly present in man’s life. When it comes to man’s life, man’s being must also be defined as clearly as possible, and in this respect Spong is quite naturalistic—an evident implication of his view of death among many others as suggested by Ken Ham (2009: 116). Humans share the biological construction of all living entities, in the sense that life in the human person is not different from life in a non-human being. Consequently, death affects both indiscriminately, so life is brought to an end in both human and non-human entities. The only difference between the two kinds of entities, human and non-human, does not reside in death—since both die the same way—but rather in life and specifically in the consciousness thereof; in other words, Spong’s idea of human consciousness turns the image of the Christian deity into a “new nontheistic Christian God” (Stocco, 2002: 239). The fact that the human being is aware of his life is the only aspect which differentiates humans from non-human animals. The consciousness of death though brings with it anxiety, fear, and even terror about the end of life and the way death encompasses the reality of man’s being. Spong speaks about a relationship which exists between the human being and its death. Man is capable of relating to death in a way which is utterly different from any other being. Man knows he will die and this consciousness produces a reaction against death which affects his entire living. There is an anticipation of death, various attempts to deny it, and even efforts to avoid it. Anticipation, denial, and avoidance with reference to death are all realities which pertain exclusively to the life of the human being, and result in the realization as well as in the admittance that death makes its way into the human life in a pervading fashion. Spong highlights the fact that even man’s dreams are literally invaded by death—actually by the fear of death—which presents the actuality of death within the lines of abnormality and unnaturalness. To be sure, as Spong indicates, while the death of animals is seen as both normal and natural by humans, their own death is considered abnormal and unnatural. Such an attitude towards death is most likely, Spong contends, the result of man’s effort to distance himself from the reality of non-human beings. In other words, according to Spong, man should not consider himself different from animals but rather include himself in the world of non-human life forms. This also indicates that awareness of death is much too unimportant to differentiate between humans and non-humans since the reality of death affects both in the same way and to the same extent. Furthermore, awareness of death should not result in fear of death or in considering death as devoid of naturalness and normality. Such an apprehension of death, however, is impossible unless man rids himself of religion as Spong makes it clear (2009: 74-75).

In Spong, religion is to blame for man’s fear of death primarily because it is religion which teaches man to separate himself from animals. This very sharp distinction between the human being and non-human life forms is fostered by religion through the mediation of myths and, with specific reference to Christianity, the story of creation—Spong believes—lures man into imagining that he is special, so special in fact that he not only rises above the animal kingdom but he also enjoys a status (or has an ontology) which is totally different from that of animals, an idea which is also defended by Stanley A. Fry (2005: 83). Spong harshly criticizes the idea of man’s creation by a deity which reportedly fashioned humanity in accordance with its own image because, in his view, embracing such a perspective produces a religion that is totally unable to talk any sense whatsoever in the human being, a point which is strongly opposed by R. Albert Mohler (2009: 69). This is why, Spong explains, many people reject the notion of evolution which is based on what he calls the evidence that connects humanity to animals. Consequently, the human being must liberate itself from constraining myths and lead a life which promotes freedom in all respects, including one’s sexual orientation. Such a belief prompted Spong to defend the rights of gay people, to the point of having them ordained in the Anglican/Episcopal Church, as shown by Jason Bruner (2010: 112).

While Spong does not explain that evolution itself is a theory, he chastises religion for creating a frame of mind which promotes cruelty towards animals. In other words, religion works with a kind of rationalization which produces comfort at the expense of truth. Man feels comfortable about himself, about his existence in the world, and about his understanding of his own ontology to the detriment of what Spongs proclaims to be the truth of nature based on the fact that death puts an end to each living being, human or non-human. One could react against Spong by using the very same argument, namely that his theory is merely comfortable rationalization which avoids the reality of truth since the human perception of reality is not necessarily confined to the truth of nature. It is evident that, in Spong, phrases such as “infinite worth” or notions like “soul” should either be used to refer to all living things or rejected altogether. Religion, he claims, is based on the idea that the human being enjoys some infinite worth given his creation by God as a soul-inhabited form of life. The reality of death, however, shows that all living things are detached from the process of their own lives in the very same way, and the result is exactly identical in all human and non-human beings. If death strikes all beings without discrimination regarding their human or non-human capacity, it must follow—at least in Spong’s thought—that the religious difference between human and non-human life-forms is arbitrary, unnatural, abnormal, false, and ultimately unreal. Consequently, religion itself is arbitrary, unnatural, abnormal, false, and disconnected from reality, which results in a perception thereof (including death) that pushes man to, and most likely beyond, the brink of a rational understanding of his own life. Such an understanding should be based on man’s awareness that, while religion is superfluous in helping man get a good and responsible grasp of his own life and death, the end of life (both human and non-human) is the most natural thing that can happen to a living entity, so the fear of death instilled by religion is unnecessary, to say the least (Spong, 2009: 74).

Aging and the Fear of Death

Since man’s fear of death is fueled by religion, one should notice that religion itself is merely the spiritual, or non-physical, factor which augments man’s consciousness towards developing anxiety towards the final point of his life. In this respect, Spong comes very close to the Sea of Faith Network and one of its most famous representatives, Don Cupitt, as explained by Tom Frame (2009: 162). Nevertheless, there is also a physical aspect which contributes to man’s development of the fear of death, and this is aging. In Spong, aging is one of the features of humanity which adds to man’s anxiety towards his own death as he realizes that being human is having conscious life—to be more exact, self-conscious life. Being aware of one’s aging and death is part of what Spong calls “the burden of being human”, which presents man with a dual reality that needs to be carried throughout one’s life. To quote Spong again, the fact that man is conscious of his own self is both humanity’s “crown of glory” and its “cross of anxiety” (2009: 75). Glory and anxiety, positivity and negativity are blended together in a form of life which is able to realize that its end may be drawing near, and this happens only with the human being. Spong praises man for his enormous courage in facing death since the human being is “chronically fearful” given its realization that life comes to an end, while this end does not always come in favorable circumstances. Man knows he will die, but he also knows that he is alive, so reconciling the fact of his being alive with the future reality of his not being alive requires that sort of courage which is capable of overcoming the resulting fear of death. In addition to this, before man reaches the end of his life, he may well go through the process of aging, which is almost always accompanied by physical and psychological manifestations that do not make life easier. On the contrary, aging not only accompanies man’s fear of death; it also enhances it, so man’s consciousness is actually constrained to fight against two distinct realities: death itself and aging which results in, as well as leads to death. In human beings, aging and self-awareness of it comes with the capacity to count one’s years; no other living being has the ability to see its passing through time and, although Spong does not make this connection, one should know that the counting of time is also coupled with a specifically religious aspect in Judeo-Christianity. For instance, in Psalm 90:12, the author asks God to “teach us to number our days carefully” in order to obtain wisdom; in Spong though the pursuit of wisdom should not be done within the confines of religion—which is blamed for creating in us the fear of death as pointed out by Jerry Rabe (2010: 163-164)—but beyond its boundaries in the realization that the normality and naturalness of death comes with embracing the equally normal and natural process of aging. Thus, while religion tries to focus man’s self-consciousness on “some continued life” beyond the reality of his actual life, Spong believes that what man should in fact do in order to conquer his fear of death is focus on aging (2009: 75-76).

Spong also shows that it is important to understand how fear of death is augmented through man’s understanding of aging if one wants to address it in a helpful way. Consequently, it is necessary to realize that aging is tackled differently by the young and by the old. For instance, while the young try to push the actual number of their years towards a more “mature” age, adults are more than willing not to disclose their exact age. Some are even reluctant to discuss their age since reality reminds them not only of aging but also of approaching the end of their lives. This is why youngsters are always willing to joke about aging, while adults find the reality thereof much too serious to make it the subject of derision. Industry itself reflects the same pattern, Spong underlines, since the isles of birthdays cards presents us with products which take aging seriously especially after the onset of forty. While cards addressing persons of a younger age can still mock aging, those which are meant for people in their late forties and beyond find it less amusing to ridicule the very reality that leads man to death. This also reflects man’s deep awareness that death not only awaits and aging is the normal, natural route to it, but also the realization that man has what Spong calls a “one-way ticket through life” and there is absolutely nothing resembling life beyond life itself. In fact, what lies beyond one’s particular life is anything but life for the person in question, and human beings must come to their senses and accept this once and for all. In presenting religion as non-necessary or even as a burden for humanity, as explained by Laura Desfor Edles (2013: 12-13), Spong seems to be trying to address his message to intelligent people hoping to draw them near to what he believes to be a non-religious and essentially progressive Christianity (2009: 76).

On the other hand, according to Spong, the cosmetic industry is also designed to diminish the effects of aging on man, as it reflects the constant awareness that the human body is slowly but surely going through a gradual process of decay which begins in life and continues after death. Understanding that the human being marches towards its end through the process of aging is a must for every person; this is why, in Spong, human life is endowed both with uniqueness and difficulty. Life is unique because the human being goes through it and enjoys it but, at the same time, life is difficult because it comes to an end through the debilitating process of aging. The cosmetic industry attempts to decrease the effects of aging on the human body which does nothing but show how threatening mortality can be to man’s self-awareness. Spong in fact warns against the underestimation thereof, and—although he does not say it plainly—he may be referring to religion which, in his opinion, downgrades the importance of mortality by inducing the false belief in a future life after death. Consequently, he speaks of the “burden” and the “emotional load” of being aware of one’s own aging and death, which for the human being is both “a heroic task” and “a universal responsibility” (2009: 77). Evidently, being heroic about aging and death, as well as being responsible towards one’s moving towards the end of life has nothing to do with religion in the sense of accepting its doctrines, but this is only half of the story. The other half says that it has everything to do with religion in the sense of rejecting its precepts, as one can read in James A. Herrick (2003: 66-67). Such an enterprise can be done if man is willing to find meaning for his life, which is based on the necessity to understand religion in order either to reject it or move beyond it, an idea elaborated by Norm Carroll (2010: 9). To be sure, in Spong, the source of meaning is not religion as traditionally believed by religious people based on religious tenets, but the human being itself and its efforts to understand its life in the light of aging and death to the point that religion is not only seen as obsolete and highly irrelevant for our times, but also a mental and social reality which—Spong explains—should be given up because of its irresponsible convictions (2009: 77-80). For Spong, religion is so detrimental to the human being that it must be abandoned at all costs and replaced by a humanistic frame of mind which promotes total freedom in all respects.

Meaning and the Fear of Death

Man has traditionally sought meaning in religion, because religion was perceived as a means of coping with the fear of death, as shown by Walter Kania (2009: 240). Once man became aware of his being alive and then of the perspective of his own death, the first means whereby he tried to cope with the fear which resulted from contemplating his own demise was the founding of religion. According to Spong, religion seems to be the result of psychology since man’s profound anxiety in the face of death needed to be countered with a system of reasoning which offered some hope beyond the hopelessness of the natural world. This is why, in Spong, man must study religion in order to be able to put it behind him; in other words, religion must be searched so that it should be eventually discarded. According to Spong (2009: 80), man must realize that the world which created religion thousands of years ago no longer exists, so religion itself is no longer relevant, useful, or meaningful as pointed out by Ian Markham (2011: 211). If one is to believe Spong, religion should be disclosed as full of false claims and even fraudulent. Religion, Spong writes, is entirely a human product, not the revelation of some divinity which lives outside the realm of humanity and nature. There is no divine initiative in religion, Spong claims (2009: 81), because such a proposition can be neither verified nor studied in a meaningful way. This indicates that religion is seen by Spong as a system which lies far beyond man’s capacity to check its most fundamental claims (2009: 81), so it lies outside the confinement of natural truth which can be verified within the range of naturalness and visible normality. Consequently, true meaning for one’s life cannot be found in religion; if meaning for one’s life is to be eventually found then one has to move beyond the realm of religion by ceasing to practice it. Man must study, understand, and practice religion in order to rid himself of it in a way which bestows meaning upon one’s existence in the natural world—this appears to be, according to Susan Wise Bauer (2004: 222), Spong’s most fundamental thesis.

Spong also contends that we live in a post-religious world which offers us the ability not only to move beyond the doctrines of religion but also to reject religion itself by giving up the practices that were imposed on us through its tenets. Today, man is able not only to dismiss religious claims in a theoretical way; he is also capable of renouncing religion in a practical way. Spong seems to be convinced that religion makes us less human since it hinders us from pursuing the truth as it results from our perception of the natural world. If we want to become more human or, even better, fully human, then we have to put religion behind us and accept the falsity of its dogmatic system. For Spong, religion was devised to help us cope with our death-related anxiety and fear; when man accepted to promote and practice religion, he in fact provided himself with what Spong calls a “believable denial” of the terror that comes with self-consciousness. In other words, man took religion like a drug in order to appease his fear as he confronted his own death; thus, very much within Marxist lines, Spong denounces religion as the “narcotic of supernaturalism” (2009: 82). By practicing religion, Spong insists, man not only intoxicated his judgment but also pushed the reality of truth as far from him as possible. When truth is reclaimed, meaning is restored, but such a move can only be performed when religion ceases to be practised, believed, and promoted in any way. This is why, in Spong’s reasoning, the fear of death will eventually find its worthy opponent in man’s capacity to find true meaning for his life in giving up religion and thus accepting death as natural and normal. Spong is convinced that the supernatural God of traditional religion must die in order that man should be able to reconcile with his own reality of death (2009: 80-82).

In Spong, the death of God brings with it the loss of religion’s credibility, so man is left exclusively with his self-awareness and the reality of death which cannot be appeased in any way by reference to external means, such as the supernatural character of God in religion, as argued by Philip E. Johnson (2000: 57). When God is dead and religion is gone, man understands that he must confront death on his own and it is from this direct confrontation that the meaning of life begins to emerge. In other words, man must learn that coping with the fear of death is not based on supernatural realities which do not exist in natural reality, but on natural facts which can be observed in the physical world. When man understands his standing and role in history, the fear of death begins to fade away as the realization of the necessity of death becomes closer to man’s mind and heart. In doing so, man realizes that religion has always been external to his being, and especially to his naturalness and physical normality; once religion is dismissed as false, the external support on which man’s hopes for eternal life beyond death were always leaned against crumbles into the meaningful acceptance of natural truth (death included). This is why, Spong believes, the ultimate truth of man’s life—and also the embracing of death—must be found outside and even beyond the externality of religion in the interiority of man’s own being, rationalization, and feelings, an idea also defended by John Churcher (2009: 7).

What Spong really wants to say is that, for as long as religion speaks about things which are said to exist in a reality beyond nature, it will always remain external—and thus meaningless and useless—to the human being and its fear of death. Man’s terror in front of death can never be dealt with by using references to supernatural things for the simple reason that such supernatural things cannot be proved to exist. Man must conquer and defeat his fear of death but only through accepting his natural constitution which includes the inevitability of death as normal. As far as Spong is concerned, man must never surrender to religion if he really wants to find the true meaning of life in the natural world, the only real world which can provide humanity with the means to suppress its fear of death. If this is true, then it means that true humanity is defined by the rejection of religion; in other words, what it means to be human must never make any reference to religion—by extension, the true meaning of man’s life is not to be found in religion but outside its most fundamental beliefs. In Spong, true humanity and religion are incompatible, so man’s fear of death must be crushed by appealing to things, ideas, and realities which lie beyond the boundaries of religion or at least beyond what man has always accepted as traditional and supernatural religion (2009: 82-83).

Concluding Remarks

Having blamed traditional religion and its supernatural God for man’s fear of death, Spong attempts to explain the the human being is still able to find meaning for its life despite the process of aging which leads to death. As a matter of fact, even if man’s life is anything but eternal since it has an end in the natural realm of this world, Spong claims that the idea of eternity can still be attached to man’s existence in the physical universe. He claims that he reached this conclusion after he had studied the life of Jesus of Nazareth, who—far from being a religious figure or anything related to the supernatural God of traditional religion—appears to us as a fully human being devoid of any religious symbolism, as indicated by Glenn H. Utter (2007: 187). Everything related to Jesus is human and the God he himself mentions in his public discourses is nothing short of humanity itself. In other words, we should either rid ourselves of religion if we want to be free from the fear of death which comes to us as aging gradually sets in or find meaning for our lives by dramatically redefining religion as non-religion. In doing so, we should see Jesus as a non-religious figure who exemplifies what each individual life can be. Thus, the supernatural God of traditional religion turns into the human being itself since its sheer exteriority becomes our most evident interiority. In Spong, the deeper one goes into himself or herself—or the deeper the human being reaches within its consciousness—the sooner God will be found. The human being is advised to see itself as God; the meaning of what traditional religion has ascribed to God must change into something which does not escape the boundaries of humanity. Based on this argument, Spong claims that human life, despite its end in death, can be said to be eternal because the example of Jesus in practical love as well as the idea of God confined to humanity are not restricted to individual human lives, but to the totality of man’s existence in the world, an argument which can also be seen in Isaac Lindstrom (2008: 39). This is perhaps why Spong should have spoken of “eternal existence” rather than “eternal life”, although this aspect is less important than his attempt to “pack” divinity within humanity, an issue of great importance for Spong (2009: 208-210).

To be sure, in Spong, life and death are part of an existence which, for the human being, is eternal since while life stops at a certain moment in time, death goes on forever. There is no life after death, but there is existence after death in the sense that images of the deceased human person remain within the consciousnesses of the loved ones or even beyond that, in public memory. There is no spiritual-spatial dimension, Spong warns (2009: 210), when—following death—the human being is able to recognize its loved ones in a realm which is said to be ontologically real since it belongs to a supernatural God. No supernatural God, no reality beyond the natural world, and no life outside the physical universe—these are the fundamental dimensions of Spong’s thought as convincingly argued by Emilio Gentile (2008: 30), although the idea of eternal life can be supported based on the eternity of death and the image projected by the personality of the deceased on the memories of other human beings. In other words, after death, the human being becomes integrated into the general reality of being, which is essentially wordless. Man becomes being through death, but this process is what ascribes eternity to its finite life. The finitude of life stretches into the eternity of existence, personal awareness or consciousness turns into collective remembrance, and fear of death fades away into enjoyment of life, aging, and the meaning we find in understanding the naturalness of life and death. Spong clings to the idea that despite man’s finitude of life and because of his eternity of existence, man should be capable of finding joy as the journeys through life towards death (2009: 211). Fear of death is conquered when the human being understands that both eternity and God can be found within itself, not as supernatural realities or entities but as natural features of a finite life which can become happily diluted into an existence which he stubbornly calls “eternal”, as Val Webb keenly notices (2007: 46). Thus, access to what Spong calls eternity is through the acceptance of finitude, so the very core and foundation of eternity is the finite reality of man’s life. This is why Spong underlines that, after death, each human being is capable of living again through the “bonds of love” which were established in life with family, friends, and acquaintances. Each individual human being is able, Spong contends (2009: 210-212), to live again after death “through them”, as a sign that fear of death can be cancelled if one finds purpose in meaningful relationships despite the reality of aging which leads to the end of physical life.