This week on Religion For Life I begin my four-part series on the historical Jesus, “Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?”  For four weeks, I will interview four of the most prolific and provocative scholars in the United States, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Robert M. Price, and Dr. John Dominic Crossan.

The series begins with Bishop John Shelby Spong.  The retired Episcopal Bishop who has written over twenty books on religion, with such titles as Why Christianity Must Change Or Die, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, and Jesus for the Non-Religious talks about his new book, Reclaiming the Bible for the Non-Religious World.  Bishop Spong explains the concept of midrash in understanding how the stories about Jesus came to be written.