CHICAGO — Official charges have been filed against the liberal United Methodist bishop of Chicago, accusing him of heresy and abandoning the Christian faith.
Twenty-eight people say Bishop Joseph Sprague should renounce his views or resign his office for not believing in traditional doctrines like the virgin birth of Jesus, His bodily resurrection and His role in salvation.
Sprague has come under fire for a speech he gave last January at Iliff School of Theology in which he said the “myth of the virgin birth was not intended as historical fact” and added that “I cannot believe that (Jesus’) resurrection involved the resuscitation of his physical body.”
Sprague, a prominent liberal and social activist, further laid out his beliefs in his recent book, “Affirmations of a Dissenter.”
“He denies the physical resurrection of Christ’s body. He maintains that Jesus Christ is not the only way to salvation and appears to deny the substitutionary atonement of Christ through his sacrificial death on the cross,” the charges said, according to United Methodist News Service.
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