Transatlantic Rescue

Mike Spillane, who lives in Florida, is a frequent correspondent of my friend, Maurice Smith. He read a book about the damage fundamentalism has done to the Bible and sent a photocopied chapter in a letter to Maurice. The excerpt was passed round our small writing circle and stirred interest and comment, not least from me. One of my sons, who also lives in the USA, was due to pass through England on his way to the Continent soon after I saw the chapter, and I commissioned him to get me a copy of the book so I could read it for myself. After the breakthrough in my thinking, which resulted in the "Growing Up" poem, the timing was perfect.

The following article is in the form of a book review and was circulated among the same friends who had seen the photocopied excerpt of Bishop Spong's book (See Note 1). I was critical of the book, as the review shows, but it opened my thinking yet more and enabled me to set into a new phase of study and enjoyment.

For me, the Bible was rescued...

©Derrick Phillips
August 2001