John Shelby Spong, scholar, author and bishop, is the most published member of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States. He is the author of fourteen books. His published articles now number in excess of ninety.

Bishop Spong stands in the tradition of Anglican bishops that has included Will Scarlett, John E. Hines, Angus Dun and, to some degree, James A. Pike in America and William Temple, Hensley Hanson, John A. T. Robinson and David Jenkins in England. He is a frequent lecturer at conference centers and on college campuses.

Bishop Spong has served on a wide variety of diocesan committees and commissions, including being editor of The North Carolina Churchman, president of the Standing Committee and three times deputy to General Convention. He has been president of the Alumni Association of his seminary and a trustee, both of his seminary and of St. Paul's College. He has also been president of the New Jersey Council of Churches.

Nationally, he has been a theo