Dialogue with Spencer Burke ~ BitterSweetLife

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Dialogue with Spencer Burke

A couple days ago I noted that an article I'd submitted to Spencer Burke's emerging church site, The Ooze, had finally been posted. I had a little fun with the topic, since about a year had elapsed since I'd submitted my article, and in that interim Spencer Burke had published a fairly controversial book, A Heretic's Guide to Heaven. Now I could add to my literary resume the interesting distinction of being published on "a heretic's website."

To be fair, however, I'm posting this response that Spencer Burke appended to my earlier post (Oozing into the Blogosphere):

Ariel,

Thanks for submitting your article.

TheOOZE is a community site and you will find people, message posts and articles from all points of view. In the last election I think we were one of the only christian venues where real honest and open discussion about the candidates and the issues could be discussed without feeling like you said something wrong (be it too conservative or liberal).

I hope difference in opinion opens the dialogue deeper, wider and richer for all to learn from. Although I am finding that might not be as true as I once assumed...

Got to say I'm favorably impressed by the gracious nature of Spencer's response. I'm a little out to sea regarding the fallacies in his theology, because I haven't read his stuff myself. Moreover, my being in school and having several additional books by C.S. Lewis on my "to-read" list makes it unlikely that I will do so in the near future.

Anyone interested can find a brief overview of his Heretic's Guide to Heaven over at theologian Scott McKnight's blog. Burke's theology does seem problematic. In closing, I'll say again that I appreciate Spencer's humility if not his theological acumen. In an interesting contrast, I've commented on the writing/thoughts of any number of theologically orthodox bloggers without receiving feedback/commentary of any kind in reply. Could there be a lesson there?



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Culture. Photos. Life's nagging questions. - BitterSweetLife