Tim Samoff // Weblog (old)

August 09, 2006

[Book Review] A Heretic's Guide to Eternity: Foreword & Introduction...

“A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity“ begins with a foreword by Brian McLaren. It’s succinct, honest, and even a little humorous.

As always, Brian sums up his feelings about the Christianity of Enlightenment in a unique and telling way:

“There’s a grim historical track record of religious inebriation that, like drunk driving, has taken or ruined too many lives already…
Perhaps even those who have become legally inebriated on the hops and malt of fault-finding, those who are inquisiton-aholics but think they can quit anytime…perhaps even they might get a brief glimpse in the mirror in these pages, a glimpse that will do them good.”

But, this is a review of a book, not a foreword, so I will continue with a quote from Spencer Burke, from the introduction:

“Whereas the medieval heretic created ruptures in the existing order, contemporary heresy is a means to a new end, a way out of what no longer works. It can be a way forward. I believe that ever age, and particularly an age like ours, needs heretics — people who will push past and beyond the acceptedconventional wisdom of the dominant group and pull us across sacred fences that hold us back and keep us tied to perceived orthodoxies. For me, a heretic is a spiritual insurgent, one who rises up against the established order from the inside — one who heralds a new way, another option, a fresh view. A heretic either burns in flames or lights the way for a new generation.”

There were actually a few quotes that I was debating on using there, but I think that one very adequately sums up what the book is all about.

I am excited to continue reading (and blogging about it).

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