Confessions of a Heretic   A Review of A Heretic's Guide to Eternity Spencer Burke (©2006, Josey-Bass, ISBN: 0787983594)

Folks who have abandoned Evangelical denominations tend to jettison as much of their former practice as they can. Unfortunately, some habits are too ingrained to be easily eradicated. Preaching to the converted, a common malady affecting Evangelicals seems to be one more piece of baggage carried into the Emerging Conversation. Spencer Burke's latest contribution to the cacophony is A Heretic's Guide to Eternity, a rambling denunciation of religious orthodoxy of all stripes. While Evangelical preachers are accused of preaching to the choir, Burke, self-confessed heretic, founder of The Ooze and Soularize, and author of Making Sense of the Church, is preaching to the disaffected, disenfranchised and dystopic denizens of postmodernity. These people may not be a choir, but they certainly make up a chorus for whom Burke is an able spokesman.

 

This book is not for the faint-of-heart fundagelical who takes offense at any suggestion of heterodoxy, nor is it for the brave recovering legalist who wants to see what "the other side" is up to. This book is an Abbie Hoffman, "Burn, baby, burn!" screed against all things religious as evidenced by the graphic of a burning matchbook on the cover. Its primary appeal is to the disenchanted Christian anarchists looking for a cheerleader at their Christian flag-burning.

 

Burke's incendiary tome unnecessarily polarizes the audience of potential readers. If he was attempting to gently lead the way from religious rigidity into the liberty of grace, he failed miserably. If, on the other hand, he was seeking to inflame an already irate crowd he has succeeded beyond expectation. In his success, however, he alienates those who have an affection for the faithfully devout in the church and those who are attached to religious practice for reasons other than power-mongering and oppressing the religious proletariat. For some reason, it never seems to enter Burke's mind (or at least his book) that sincere people of faith could actually participate in religious devotions even though they are aware of the systemic shortcomings of the tradition in which they reside. Instead, everyone who endorses religious rites and practices are identified as the enemy.

 

Other times he states the obvious as if it were a startling revelation. He says, "We no longer need the systems of religion to find faith. We now live in a world where the sacred is beyond religion and the message of Jesus is transcending the institutional church." (134) Has it not always been thus? Did not Jesus tell the woman at the well in John 4 that the day is coming, in fact it was already here, when God would not restrict worship to either Mount Zion or Mount Gerazim, but would seek true worshippers who worshipped in spirit and truth? Many more "revelations" populate the book and the reader is often frustrated, not by the institutional church, but by Burke's careless rendering of history and the religious landscape of the world.

 

For example, beginning on page 58 he starts a section called "Spirituality 101." This portion is largely a bulleted list of thirteen items showing the contrast between "spirituality" and "religion." In the middle of this list of binary opposites, he says (with no detectable trace of irony):

 

Spirituality adopts a "both-and" approach to life, allowing culture, context, and situation to be reflected in the beliefs and practices of the seeker. Whereas spirituality encourages tolerance and acceptance of difference as the foundation for postmodern ethics, religion tends to trade in binary oppositions. It is most comfortable with clear boundaries and "us and them" divides.(59)

 

Beyond the obvious inaccuracy of Burke's statement (Roman Catholicism is just one example of a religion that has adapted widely to culture, context and situation), he should know better than to make a list of binary opposites and then say in the middle of that list that "spirituality encourages tolerance and acceptance of difference." It is more than a little self-contradictory to identify the binary "us and them" divide between spirituality and religion by saying that religion is binary while spirituality is not. I would think the only way Burke could explain his way out of this one would be to say his spirituality recognizes that there really is not a clear divide between the "spiritual" and the "religious" and that his spirituality is inclusive of religious people. The difficulty with this position is that it undermines the whole premise of his book, which is an intolerant rejection of religion in favor of a self-styled spirituality. At the very least, Burke should have taken his own medicine and instead of drawing clear, comfortable boundaries between the religious and the spiritual shown an acceptance of the differences and graduations of religious expression.

 

Sadly, Burke's inchoate broadsides aimed against organized religion suffer from his imprecise scattergun approach. Often it is difficult to discern who the object of his ire is – rigid fundamentalists, liberal theologians, reformed Protestants , Eastern Orthodox clerics or the Dalai Lama. He has a lot to say about mainstream Christianity's shortcomings but the reader is hard-pressed to tell from one paragraph to the next if he is referring to Christians or the major world religions. He looks at the problematic in religion, but for all his effort, he doesn't see very well; or if he does, he doesn’t articulate it well. He begins with a number of questions, but falls short of a deeper understanding or analysis of how thing have arrived at the way they are today. He is more likely to ask loaded questions with a predetermined answer than to engage in deep, introspective examination of the root cause of today's religious climate. The chief defect with the book is that Burke's conclusions often do not follow from the answers he cites, even when those answers are his predetermined ones.

 

There are some glimmers buried beneath the covers of the book and its chief value is found in the interactive questions and links sprinkled liberally throughout. Burke has created a web portal where readers will be able to interact with one another and discuss the questions raised in the book. Readers who treat A Heretic's Guide as a conversation-starter should find plenty to talk about as they read the book. The best sections are in Part III where Burke uses his skill as a story teller to weave Biblical narratives into engaging discussions. He tells the stories of Jesus in a warm, loving way that communicate his passion for people. Had Burke crafted his whole book in the same way, it would have done far more good. As it is, the reader must plow through 150 pages of diatribe to get to the kernel of goodness near the end.

 

The reader who is looking for a voice crying in the wilderness (especially in a loud, shrill tone) will thoroughly enjoy A Heretic's Guide to Eternity. But for the reader who is looking for practical alternatives to "same ole, same ole" ministry, they would be better off reading Ted Haggard's discipling guide, Dog Training, Fly Fishing, and Sharing Christ in the 21^st Century: Empowering Your Church to Build Community Through Shared Interests. Haggard at least shines a light on how to do things differently instead of merely cursing the darkness.

      by Rick Presley