The Anglican Dean, Dr. Steven Ogden, from St Peter's Cathedral in Adelaide said that although Bishop John Spong was not ban from visiting Anglican churches in Adelaide, but nevertheless he was a 'reductionist' who pulled things apart but do not help people restore the pieces back together.
Bishop Spong, an American Episcopalian retired-bishop who is a supporter of female and gay priests, has attracted controversy in his trip to Australia to promote his latest book, entitled 'Jesus for the Non-Religious.'
Talking to the Advertiser, a newspaper publication, Dean Ogden went further and said that Bishop Spong's theories were not new and was a repeat of an 18th century religious scholar's thinking.
"Spong is a reductionist, who pulls things to bits, but he doesn't help people put it back together again," he said. "… Spong's theories were 'not new'. Eighteenth century religious scholar Reimarus said 200 years ago there was no such thing as miracles and no such thing as the resurrection."
Dr. Ogden foray into the controversy came after the Sydney Anglican Archbishop, Dr. Peter Jensen, ordered that all churches within the diocese be closed to Bishop Spong. His spokesman said that it was wrong for the Australian Anglican Primate to invite him here to speak.
"The judgment of the primate is, in our view, ill-advised," the Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth, told the Australian newspaper publication. "It is a mistake. It is the wrong thing to do."
Bishop Spong told the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) news publication that God did not sent Jesus Christ to die for the sins of humankind because that would make Jesus a victim and God "the ultimate child abuser."
Instead, he continued, "The message of Christ was to live fully human lives of love and compassion," reported SMH.
However, the more conservative wing of the Australian Anglican came out strongly against it, saying that the book 'diminished the impact' of Christian witnesses in the Western world.
Mark Thomson, the president of the evangelical Anglican Church League, wrote in the Sydney Anglican newspaper publication of Southern Cross that: "Despite all his (Bishop Spong) 'grandiose' claims in the book, "(It) is really little more than the rehash of long-discarded critical theories and doubts which scholars resolved years ago."
"Far from providing a program for the future, this book simply rehashes the unbelief of the past that has done nothing but diminish the impact of Christian witness in the West," he wrote.
Bishop Spong visit has been hosted by the Progressive Christian Network.