Heretics Guide part deux

So I've just finished A Heretics Guide to Eternity. For a couple of reasons this has been one of the better books that I have read in a while.

First, the writer does an excellent job of explaining theology. I have studied the great theologians like Paul Tillich, Charles Hartshorne, Alfred North Whitehead, Soren Kierkegaard, Walter Brugermann, and others during my time at theological seminary. After reading and learning about the theology of these towering thinkers I sometimes have found myself jaded as to whether a regular church-goer will ever think deeply about his or her faith. For example, Whitehead is a brilliant theologian who explains panentheism in his book Process and Reality. There is no possible way on God's green earth that I could have gotten past page 3 without the help of my theology professor. Reading that book was like learning an entirely different language by reading foreign chemical engineering manuals.

Spencer Burke manages to get around to many of the same theological insights covered by the great theologians of our time. Best of all he does so in an accessible way. As I read the book, I get the feeling that I'm listening to a sermon. An intellectual sermon, but a well crafted, and easy to follow one. He teaches some important theological lessons by simply inviting us to follow our own journey of faith a little further than the church world generally allows.

The other reason I think I enjoyed the book is that he went straight to the heart of an evangelical blind-spot that has always annoyed me to no end. In fact it is the very reason that I sometimes avoid labeling myself Christian in any traditional sense, and that is the issue of grace. When it comes to the meaning of grace Spencer Burke gets it, and communicates it.

The point that grace is either unearned or it isn't grace is almost universally lost on religious people. If you have to do something, perform some ritual, believe something, say the magic words, then it isn't grace - it's works. Period. End of story. It's one or the other, so get over it and move on.

Also, he has the best interpretation of the parable of the prodigal son. You need to get the book and read it just for that, it's worth it.

Anyway, now I feel like I have to get back to books on church planting, leadership, and other reading that has it's uses as well. But I believe I will be more effective at sharing God's grace after this journey with Spencer Burke.