Book description: Spencer Burke and Barry Taylor take a provocative look at life with God in the twenty-first century, particularly what the Christian faith has to offer. They do not merely put a spin on old beliefs but show that there are actually new ways of looking at the Christian message — free from the confines of religion and open to the possibility of a radical new incarnation and manifestation. Drawing on wide-ranging sources from theology, history, popular culture, and music, Burke and Taylor explore new postmodern forms of spirituality and conclude that religion’s dominance over issues of faith may be over. A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity asks challenging questions about institution-based expressions of faith: Do we need church or temple anymore? Are there other ways to practice faith communally? Does any faith community have the power and the right to condemn, judge, and decide the destiny of others? Why do so many religious institutions often become bastions of exclusivity and hatred rather than love? What does it mean to be spiritual? How can we have an authentic relationship with God? With its focus on the limitless grace of God, this book offers a new way of seeing an old faith, of practicing “mystical responsibility” and understanding that salvation is something that happens between God and people, not something regulated by institutions and gatekeepers. A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity is filled with surprising insights into and encouraging thoughts about how to live a spiritual and moral life in today’s complex world. Burke and Taylor may be asking heretical questions, but they are deeply committed to the teachings of Jesus, guiding readers to see those teachings afresh and, as a result, live more passionately and thoughtfully."
Homework: Donna has agreed to lead our reflections as we work our way through this book. She wants us to share our thoughts about grace before our first discussion. To tell us what grace means to you, click on the title line above to bring up the comment box and all the comments to date. If you have trouble getting set up, contact Bonnie.
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Introductory Section ~ Friday, September 11 at 7:30 pm
Foreword, Acknowledgments, Introduction
- "Life is more than test tubes and chemical compounds ... People are increasingly interested in the soul, the spirit, and the nonmaterial" (p. xvi).
- "The idea that humans are in control of their own destinies was the rallying cry of the modern age" (p. xvii).
- "Many people no longer count on religion to deliver on its promises and provide meaning and motivation" (p. xxi).
- "Fundamentalism thrives on declaring what is not of God and particularly who is not of God" (p. xxi).
- "Spirituality in the twenty-first century is not etched in stone but fashioned out of the fabrics of our lives in new and ever-changing permutations" (p. xxii).
- "I believe that every age, and particularly an age like ours, needs heretics" (p. xxiii).
- "I am actually declaring that there are new ways of believing when it comes to the Christian story" (p. xxv).
- "It's worth exploring what the Christian faith could look like if we ... looked at the gospel story with twenty-first century eyes" (p. xxvi).
Section One ~ Friday, September 25 at 7:30 pm
Questioning Grace: The Future of Faith
Chapter 1. Jesus Beyond Christianity
Interlude 1 ~ What is a Heretic?
Chapter 2. Grace Beyond Religion
Chapter 3. Grace and the God Factor
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Section Two ~ Friday, October 16 at 7:30 pm
Questioning What We Know: New Horizons of Faith
Chapter 4. The End of the World as We Know It
Interlude 2 ~ The First Heretic?
Chapter 5. Grace Held Hostage
Chapter 6. Faith Remixed: The Fine Art of Bricolage
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Section Three ~ Friday, October 30 at 7:30 pm
Living in Grace: Mystical Responsibility
Chapter 7. Jesus the Heretic
Interlude 3 ~ The Inquisitions
Chapter 8. The Mystery of God, Grace, and Salvation
Chapter 9. All We Need Is Grace
Interlude 4 ~ Torture and Death
Conclusion ~ Heresy as a Way of Life
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I tried to post before, but it didn't go through. Let me try again.
ReplyDeleteGrace is Presence (God) "speaking to me to do better in the world. Grace is given to me at birth and resides ever-present in my soul until my physical death. Grace, then, is given to another new living being to travel to begin that person's own faith journey.
This is what I have come to believe of "By the grace of God go I."
this is Neil - not good with web stuff - But wanted to respond to Donna - this may not be what you meant but inherant (maybe) in your note about Grace is an indication that there is only 'so much Grace to go around" and i wanted to make sure i had misunderstood. When you say grace resides in you till your death THEN (it looked like) that grace is transferred to another - it makes it sound like there is only so much and we get ours bacause someone else isn't using it anymore ! ! :)I'm pretty sure that isn't what you meant but wanted to ping back and test this blog thingee
ReplyDeletePart of me wants to hurry up and get to the "Heresy as a way of life" part ! !! : )
Hi, Neil and everyone,
DeleteAgain, I tried to post a reply and it didn't go through. I don't know what I am doing wrong, but I will try again,
I do not think that there is only so much grace to go around; in fact, I believe just the opposite. I will explain better on Friday night. I am also going to type up some notes of mine from the book by Philip Gulley and James Mulholland, If Grace Is True. This book has been an inspiration as I developed my beliefs about grace.
I look forward to Friday's discussion.
Donna, I think Blogspot has changed for the worse since Google took over. That may be causing your problems. I can no longer find how to set it up (as I used to do with my blogs) that up to ten people get automatic notifications about comments. And I didn't get to choose the color scheme of this blog until after I set it up. That's when I finally found a bunch of "neon" colors to choose from and decided this color is the least awful of the bunch.
DeleteChapter 1: Jesus Beyond Christianity
ReplyDelete"Religionless Christianity" by Bonhoeffer ..."is a heartfelt searching of a man who loves God and wants his faith to matter."
1) Is it possible to encounter God's loving goodness outside the confines of religious patterns and practices?
2) Why does it seem harder to talk about God with those who claim to know him than those who don't?
Burke's experience suggests that the customs, traditions, and even language of religion often gets in the way of honest dialogue about God; it's airtight explanations and all-or-nothing theological arguments seem our of touch with the complexities of 21st century life.
3) Explain why this rings true or false with you.
Chapter 1: A Fundamental Fear
"Fundamentalism, by definition, is an effort to protect the...essentials of the faith. The problem is determining just what those fundamentals are. In today's context, it seems that fundamentalists are intent on hanging on to a particular view of the divine that sacrifices the beauty of God's spirit and grace in exchange for control and authority."
4) Could it be that we will soon see the spirit released in the world in brand-new ways without the baggage of religion?
5) Could it be that the eventual collapse of current religious systems will in fact prove to be a literal high-water mark in faith -- that in fact many of the "fundamentals" aren't fundamental after all?
Chapter 1: An Elusive Relationship
"Rather than facilitating a dialogue between followers and God, the church has a tendency to interpret individuals' relationships with God for them. . . .What seems like obedience to the teachings of Christ is often adherence to external and dogmatic belief systems.
"Despite these problems, people don't seem to be rejecting God or turning away from the divine as they did in the 20th-century. Nor are they reducing the idea of the sacred to New Age generalities. Instead, they seem to be seaching for new "religionless" ways to celebrate the sacred.
6) What are some creative ways we can celebrate the sacred within Union Avenue, or University UMC?
Chapter 1: My Own Experience
"I remain hopeful that faith can be practiced without the baggage of religion. This book is not about convincing you that all roads lead to God, but it is about a new way of looking at God, and in particular, the Christian message. . . .I don't believe universalism is the complete answer. For me, it's the beginning of the story, not the end.
7) What is religion's baggage for you?
Chapter 1: A Universal Longing
ReplyDeleteMoby: "Our human significance is far greater and far smaller than anything we've hitherto recognized. . . .We need a new way in which to look at ourselves and in which to understand our lives and our significance."
8) What are your thoughts on understanding our significance and how it relates to grace?
Chapter 1: Beyond Universalism
James Fowler's STAGES OF FAITH claims that the development of the spiritual life as moving through stages similar to moving through childhood to adulthood. His 2nd phase, mythic-literal, is characterized by commitment to the literal, favoring a "rigid structuring of one's world." Many remain in this stage for a long time. When a person starts questioning this dominating literalism, a person reframes their world and moves into the final stage, "universalizing faith." Fowler feels few people reach this stage. Burke calls it the REALM OF THE HERETIC, where belief ABOUT God becomes participation in the sacred beyond religion.
9) Where do you identify within Fowler's stages of faith?
Chapter 1: Who wants to be a heretic?
"Copernicus and Galileo are among the world's most famous heretics."
Copernicus = the earth does not give life/energy to the sun; the sun does that to the earth. "He went on to suggest that the earth was in a state of perpetual motion."
Church designed creeds and doctrines that Jesus rotates around religion. The institution became the center of the Christian universe. Jesus reordered the universe by challenging scribes, Pharisees, (the authorities).
"Nowhere does Jesus call his followers to start a religion. Jesus' invitation to his first disciples was to follow him."
"I believe that we must attempt to recontextualize the story -- to find equivalents for our world today. Jesus' message is a wake-up call to his people."
10) ". . .religion finds its gravity in the light of the sun, It finds sustainability and life through its relationship to the sun." Respond to this statement.
Chapter 1: Embracing the journey
"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."
11) Respond to this sentence with regard to your thoughts on God's grace specifically and religion in general.
A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity Chapter Two Guide
ReplyDeleteChapter 2: Grace Beyond Religion
“The economy of undeserved grace has primacy over the economy of moral deserts.” – Miroslav Volf
1) What happens to babies and others who never had a chance to participate in religious life – or its redemptive practices?
Chapter 2: Age of Accountability
Age of Accountability = people who are unable to reason and make rational decisions for themselves are not subject to judgment. Instead they automatically receive God’s grace and go to heaven. . . .This concept seems to conflict with one of the church’s key theological concepts of original sin.
2) At what point does a person become responsible and aware of his/her actions?
3) Are Charles Manson, Adolph Hitler, Dylan Roof exemptions to the accountability “law”?
Chapter 2: What exactly is religion?
“. . .the desire to have our religions cover every aspect of human life is so strong that even when the sacred texts are silent, we’ll find a way to make a connection. . . .Religious people are so attached to the idea of original sin that the rest of life has to be oriented around it. . . .Religion has become the idol.”
4) How has the concept of original sin affected your thinking about religion?
5) How do original sin/age of accountability connect with your idea of grace?
Chapter 2: Consensual Illusions
“Consensual illusions are how people imagine themselves as a group, a people, a nation.
. . .There are times when it becomes obvious to the broader population that the illusion doesn’t match reality.”
6) What are some consensual illusions that Christians/religious people have?
Chapter 2: A Permanent Divorce
For centuries the nuclear family was the common definition of “family,” but in reality, the patriarchal household was always the ideal, or even the norm. . . .Today there is no longer only one universal family portrait.
7) What do you see as more important: that your family “fits” or that it functions?
Chapter 2: A Brief History of Religion
“Throughout history, religions have attempted to unify the world by seeking converts to their particular visions of the relationship between humanity and the divine. . . .Religion, by nature, always tries to divide. . . .Spirituality seeks common ground. . . .In the Bible, Jesus says that where people worship doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we worship in honesty and truth.”
8) What are your thoughts on the “religion divides” vs. “spirituality connects” argument?
Chapter 2: A Nasty Little Secret
ReplyDelete“Burke thinks we’ve made a grave error in linking God’s grace almost exclusively to the concept of sin.”
9) Could it be that God’s grace is still grace apart from the issues of human sin or innocence?
Chapter 2: Accountants and Brokers for Jesus
“Jesus’ vineyard parable’s lesson that God’s grace can’t be earned because it is a gift and not a reward doesn’t make sense to those of us who think we are owed something because we call ourselves Christians and come to church.”
10) How do you respond to the idea that the role of religion is to point the way to God, not to mediate the relationship between God and humanity?
Chapter 2: Rejecting Brand Religion
“21st Century Christianity reflects the culture it finds itself in consumerist, materialist, and corporate. . . .Western society is best understood by recognizing that the idea of consumer freedom, not wage labor, is driving our cultural system.”
11) Where do you see consumerism, materialism, and corporate power in religion today?
Chapter 2: Marketing Religion
“Brand Christianity has turned grace into a commodity that can be accessed only through the embrace of a particular cultural form of religion, one that is increasingly unappealing to many seekers.”
12) Respond to this statement: “The problem lies with the ‘marketing staff’ (church), not God. The church often misrepresents the brand, failing to communicate God’s (the brand’s) essence that in and of itself is quite relevant and impacting.’”
Chapter 2: Losses and Gains
“By letting go of some things, we can resurrect other key Christian ideas.”
13) What Christian traditions have you, personally, let go of, and which have you retained or resurrected?
Chapter 2: The Stage Is Set
“A secular society does not by default mean a godless one, but more accurately means a ‘religionless’ one.”
14) In what ways do you agree and disagree that grace is not bound by a humanly constructed religion?
A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity Chapter 3 Guide
ReplyDeleteChapter 3: Grace and the God Factor
“In the evangelical Christian tradition, you ask Jesus to take away your sins. . . .You have to ask God to save you. Fail to ask correctly – fail to pray the prayer – you might be out of luck.”
1) Could it be that – beyond religion, reason, and conventional wisdom – grace is something to be opted out of rather than opted in to?
Chapter 3: Pop Goes the Spiritual
“. . .these postmodern themes also resonate in the message of Jesus. He democratizes grace, making it freely available to all people and challenges all who seek to prevent access to it. Jesus also calls those who uphold religious traditions to rethink the ways in which they mediate God’s grace. He calls his followers to come in line with his take – not theirs – on the expansiveness of God’s grace, rejecting any narrow religious characterization of it.”
2) When you think of instances of grace that you have witnessed or experienced, would you consider them fueled by religion or spirituality?
Chapter 3: Spirituality 101
Pages 58-60:
3) Which of the comparisons of religion with spirituality resonates most with you?
Chapter 3: Grace, Sin, and Spirituality
“People are becoming much less inclined to acknowledge themselves as ‘sinners in need of a Savior.’ It’s not that people view themselves as perfect; it’s that the language they use to describe themselves has changed. ‘Broken,’ ‘fragmented,’ and ‘lacking wholeness’ -- these are some of the new ways people describe their spiritual need. What resonates is a sense of disconnect.”
4) Do you generally link grace with sin? Did your upbringing link the two?
5) How do you react to the idea that grace is already with/within you, that you just need to “opt in”?
Chapter 3: Converted – But to What?
“. . .the idea of grace is an antidote to the concept of karma [Bono/U2]. . . .grace breaks into this cycle and declares that our actions, good or bad, are not the determining factor in our relationship with God. Grace, not our religious practices, connects us to the divine.”
6) When are you most aware of the grace given to you?