As one might expect, the African bishops were quite upset. "He is really looking down on us,'' said a Ugandan bishop. "I am portrayed as someone who does not know Scripture or doctrine.''

"If they feel patronized, that's too bad,'' replied Spong. "I'm not going to cease being a 20th century person for fear of offending somebody in the Third World.''

This contempt for disagreement is entirely typical of Spong. After a recent lecture, a friend of mine had the temerity to question Spong's casual dismissal of Genesis as unscientific. "I don't talk to fundamentalists," was Spong's reply, though such a word would hardly describe my friend.

Spong is hardly an appropriate choice to deliver a lecture founded to extend the "influence of Jesus as 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life.'" Though many people may disagree with the Noble Lectures' purpose, we should not countenance such a misuse of funds that Harvard accepted without reservation.

J. Stuart Buck is a third-year student at Harvard Law School. His is also an editor of the Harvard Law Review.