Customer Reviews

Open Christianity: Home by Another Road

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I read this immediately after reading The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith by Marcus J. Borg. The two books make many of the same points, but they are very different books. Borg's is elegantly reasoned and written, whereas this one is more personal and folksy. Personally, I prefer Borg's style to Burklo's. However, if you agree with Borg's ideas but find his style too dry and scholarly, you might like this one.

Burklo's writing is clear; his perspective is easy to understand. "Open Christianity" is a non-threatening invitation to see the Christian faith in light of 21stC world. Burklo's theology makes sense. His personal experiences at the start of each chapter become like modern day parables interpreted by the content of the chapter. This is a helpful book not only for inquirers, but for seasoned theologians.

This book takes a sensitive subject, namely the reality of a bible that was not meant to be taken literally for all time, and makes a workable discussion for both the fundamentalist and the skeptic. For many, there has been a crippling point in their spiritual journey, when, the "rules" of the Old Testament are juxtaposed with the plan laid out by Jesus in the New Testament. Rev. Burklo punctuates ideas and theories with life on the street examples that are heart opening and humbling.

This book is a clear account of an honest, faithful, soul searching journey into the heart of Christian faith. Jim Burklo shares the questions, concerns, and struggles that many of us face when we are authentically challenging our beliefs and striving to broaden our faith walk. Jim encourages readers to be willing to supercede mere reason rather than abandoning it, and gives the reader a solid strarting point for a transformative spiritual journey. Jim's book opens the way for both traditional Christian disciples and seekers from a variety of spiritual backgrounds to explore the Christ path with open minds and open hearts.

The ability to communicate the message of Christianity in simple and relavent ways is illusive , but not to Jim Burklo. I relished his explanations of the essential truths of the Christian faith . This is must reading for the faithful and for the unfaithful because it is clear and honest and deeply moving.
Leda Sanford
California

Rev. Burklo's book is revealing not only for Christians but for people who belongs to other religious traditions, showing deep spiritual insights of Christianism, and demonstrating how Chirstianism substantially overlaps with other faiths. Although the book deals with old discussions of spiritual Christianism, it puts them together in a very clear, elucidating and transparent fashion accesible for all readers. In my opinion, the final quality of the chapters is uneven, but most of them are very solid and the book as a whole invites for more than one reading. A fascinating and challeging chapter is "the theology of enough", which is more than theology, but ethics, ecology and spirituality together.

"Open Christianity: Home By Another Road" is a fairly interesting, quick read of progressive Christianity. Rev. Jim Burklo hardly has the stature of a Marcus Borg (The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith) or a Bishop Spong (A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith is Dying & How a New Faith is Being Born) His book is basically a compilation of sermon notes. It's very user-friendly and Burklo has a cheerful tone.

Burklo discusses ecumenism, making life meaningful, sexuality, whether Jesus is the only way to Heaven. He sees his book as a rebuke to fundamentalist Christianity, but it's lacking in rigor. He's not polemical like Spong, but he's kind of lacking in presentation. "Open Christianity" leaves the door open to other possibilities.

I have been searching for a spiritual "home" for a long time, and this book allowed me to look again at Christianity.

The "Reader from San Mateo" with his/her critique of "An Open Road" is EXACTLY the type of "religious" person for whom this book is written. The single most important aspect of this book is that the author draws on scripture to substantiate his position. It is not just his opinion. There is no exclusivism in Christ's teachings. From the very brief insight into the Nativity story at the very beginning to the beautiful vignettes from his urban ministry experiences that begin each chapter, the author very meaningfully tells us that we are all one under God, that God has many faces he shows to many of different faiths, and that Christ came to reveal to us the beauty and strength of the spirit of in all of us.

Rev. Burklo begins with a fairly standard methodology. He rejects the truth value of meta-narratives, focusing divinity solely within particular "Christ experiences." He redescribes the Gospel story in terms of language and discourse. His primary critique of meta-narratives is that they are exclusionary, and hence run counter to his desire for inclusiveness. Rev. Burklo asserts a personal affinity to Christian imagery, but he grants equal status to other religious narratives.

Within his methodology, Rev. Burklo defines "doctrine" and related terms in a negative manner. He dismisses any portion of the Bible or creeds that he deems to be exclusionary and/or contrary to reason. His definitions do not include Roman Catholic, Orthodox or Reformed Protestant understandings of these terms and he does not explore why doctrines arose or whether particular doctrines have positive value, intellectually or experientially. The tendency of this methodology to exclude the orthodox reflects a performative self-contradiction inherent in inclusion/exclusion dialectics.

Rev. Burklo proceeds to offer a fairly standard critique of the Bible's value as a historical document. He posits a dichotomy between critical inquiry and literalism. He rejects the latter but offers only a cursory nod to the possibility of a third position. In particular, the concept of the Bible and creeds as "witnesses" is not discussed. The destination of his critique is an assertion that Jesus was not God, but rather, and exclusively, a spiritually attuned human.

Rev. Burklo then commences the constructive portion of his project. He asserts universal validity to religious feeling, and ascribes to religious feeling a set of positively valorized attributes. These attributes include deep personal happiness (focused through meditation and ego renunciation), optimism, and an ethical program of peace and social justice.

While Rev. Burklo asserts his constructive program vigorously, his defense of it is not compelling. To the suggestion that religious feeling may find an atheistic explanation in terms of brain chemistry, cultural situation, and/or concepts such as infantile regression and wish fulfillment, he argues only that "[w]e know better in our hearts..." (p.29). With respect to the suggestion that an ethical program of peace and social justice does not necessarily flow from religious feeling, he acknowledges a groundwork problem (p. 111) but does nothing with it. Rev. Burklo's rejects numerous doctrines (e.g., the trinity) as illogical, but sees no illogic in making the problematic assertion (given our history of cruelty and indifference to inequality) that people are inherently good (p. 117). To the suggestion that religious feeling, without more, leaves little function for the visible church, Rev. Burklo asserts that local churches remain important to promote human contact and community service (p. 135) and to maintain the vocations of teachers in a "system of spiritual authority..." (p. 80). He envisions a day when different faiths will come together in a vibrant, non-antagonistic tapestry (p. 152). He does not address the cultural logic of his own program, which, if embraced, would undermine the reasons why distinctive faith communities exist.

Beyond page 127, the chapters are a compilation of sermon notes illustrating earlier points or discussing "topics."