A Heretic's Guide to Eternity

I am midway through Spencer Burke's new book, A Heretic's Guide to Eternity. As a pastor, and a person of faith who finds himself to be too evangelical for many Unitarians and too Unitarian for many evangelicals, this book has been truly refreshing.

I find the trends in emergent theology to be extremely exciting. The emergent conversation can be summed up very simply. There is a generation of "believers" who are discovering a spiritual depth that was previously hidden because of the way their faith has been presented in the past. It is truly fascinating to see this evolution occuring in in both evangelical and Unitarian circles - though they are coming from different directions they may well be heading toward one another.

One of my favorite passages from the book:

"As we enter this brave new world of the spirit, we can come with fear or arrogance or armed to the teeth with dogmatism. But that is not my desire. I venture into this world to conquer no one, to plant no flags and claim no territory, but to share what I hold dear from my tradition and offer my story about the grace of God as a gift to all who journey beyond religion."

To summarize what I've read so far, and what I personally resonate with:
While my understading of God, and our covenantal response to God, is certainly articulated through a religious tradition, there is a relationship with God that is beyond religion. Perhaps it is the nature of religion that it is like a pendulum swinging from priestly orthodoxy to prophetic heresay. The orthodoxy needs the prophet, just as the prophet needs the orthodoxy. They shape one another, they give faith both its roots and its wings

I recommend the book for any who dare to seek a God whose love is unbounded and are unafraid of the fact that the truth can take you on an offroad adventure.