11/20/94


Dear John,

          Thank you for sharing some personal dramatic
and poetic  output of conviction,  depth,  and beauty!

          I hope you get a response from Bishop Spong. It
seems to me  that  he would be very appreciative  of your
message.   From  my very limited awareness  of the modern
situation,   I should think that EDS in Cambridge and the
United Church of Christ  constituency  would be nuclei of
acceptance, along with many liberal minded Methodists and
Presbyterians.

          Unfortunately  the Church  seems to  follow  rather
than lead political trends. With the present reaction towards
conservatism  still  augmenting,  I have  a gut feeling  that
the  majority  of  Episcopalians  are  sufficiently  insecure
that they are resisting rocking the boat. If they have doubts
about the Virgin Birth,  they don't want to get them into the
open.  Even  liberal-minded  people  would  prefer  to  fight
instead for  women in the priesthood,  gay rights,  and Bible
and  liturgical texts  which are  not  gender-specific.  They
don't want  to give energetic attention  to Credal anomalies,
and this also includes  "filioque",  which as you know failed
in the Prayer Book revision.

          I  am  glad  that  you found  the  publisher ready  to
accept "Logos and Bethlehem, (or "Logos Supra Bethlehem"?), but
I  am  not  surprised  that her staff  had  cold  feet. Remember
what  happened  after  the  Presbyterian  Women's Conference  in
the  Midwest  not long ago.  (I thought myself it went a bit too
far)
	
          Anyhow,   your  characters  were  very  believable,
and  you  successfully  made the point  that one doesn't have
to  believe  in  the V.B. to  be  a Christian.  It brought to
mind what Charles Lowrey, of all people, taught us in system-
atic  theology  at YTS 50 years ago;  the V.B. is not  of the
"esse" of the Faith!
	
          Character-wise, you might have perhaps strengthened your cast
by  including  a  stubborn,  conservative  male.  I have the impression
that  conservative,    "hard-headed"  males  are  the   most  resistant
to  any  "deviations";  such  a person  would  have  quoted  the  Creed
and  been  unconvinced   both  by  Hartford  and  Dayton.   The  others
could  have  wound  up  saying  they  still  loved  him  and would pray
for him!?

          Anyhow,  as  you say,  Christianity  is  controversial and has
been  from  the start.  But  people  love  legends,  and  that's  one of
the  reasons  people  have  always  loved  the Lucan Gospel.  It blended
more  into  propular  cultism;  the Johannine churches,  as Brown points
out in The Churches the Apostles Left Behind, had great influence
but did not survive as organic entities.
	
          A great lesson implied in your play is that where there is
a  community  of  love,   disagreements  are  not  threatening.   If
you  had   a  preface,  stating  this,  it  might  help. With proper
preparation,  an audience should not be threatened;  without it - in
many settings - they would be.

          Do you want me return the material?  I did enjoy the
poems too. Keep me advised on any other responses you receive, 
please.

All the best,

Ben