Here I Stand
My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love, and Equality
by John Shelby Spong

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This remarkable memoir by one of liberal Christianity's most outspoken leaders recounts Spong's struggle to discover and to champion a Christianity worthy of Jesus. A southerner, with a gift for storytelling, Spong spent much of his early life in North Carolina and Virginia where he was born into a dysfunctional family. Surrounded by racism, fundamentalism, sexism, and homophobia, he has struggled to discover and create a Christian life based on love, not hate, inclusion rather than exclusion, opportunity not discrimination and intelligent/questioning faith rather than blind belief. His book tells the story of how he came to these views and has fought for them, challenging leaders like Jerry Falwell and Cardinal O'Connor and the Episcopal/Anglican hierarchy, and much more along the way. He tells moving stories about childhood poverty, his first wife's mental illness, his grief after her death and the pain of standing alone for his convictions.

Book Reviews

	"The poignant account of someone who loves the church deeply and has frequently been misunderstood."
	-Archbishop Desmond Tutu
	"This autobiography, which shows the courage and integrity that we have come to associate with Bishop Spong is more than a personal testimony. Spong demonstrates how it is possible to make the faith a force against the injustice and lack of compassion in our modern society."
	-Karen Armstrong author of the bestselling A History of God
	"The remarkable story of a soul raised in the segregation and racial prejudice of North Carolina, who garnered the sensibility and courage to stand for genuine equality - risking all in order to bring a clear vision into the Church he loves so much."
	-Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D. author of Women Who Run With the Wolves
	"Written by America's most controversial bishop, this autobiography should be required reading for any liberal Christian, especially if one's agenda includes any hope of reform in one's own church... we'd do well to draw some lessons from Spong's experience."
	-National Catholic Reporter
	"...a rare and compelling exercise in spiritual and intellectual autobiography."
	-Peter J. Gomes author of The Good Book