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A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity
Wild. I just found out, via a blog linking to me that I have been quoted in a new book by Spencer Burke, called A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity, published by a company called Jossey-Bass. If you click on the book on Amazon, and then do a “search inside” for “Boucher” you will see where I am quoted on page 138. Which is weird, since this is the first I have heard of it.
The part that Burke quoted comes from my “about me” page, and in its fuller form goes a little something like this:
I recently heard it said that beliefs are for those who have no experience of something; that if you know god, or if you’ve ever been in love, you don’t need to memorize a list of doctrines or abstract principles about it. You’ve got the real thing which is much more complex and beautiful than any system of belief could ever be.
I understand religions as our attempt to give form to the divine, because we suck at contemplating raw infinity. Religions, in some sense, are nets which we cast in the hopes of catching god. But it’s like trying to catch the sea with a net. It’s much more likely that we’ll just get ourselves tangled up, and god will slip through. I think god wants us to follow and imitate him as he playfully escapes our nets and challenges us to reach new levels of understanding and love.
To me, religions are better used as search engines. They can help us articulate the questions which will lead us towards our goal of following god. And we will find that through this on-going process, this quest, all that is not essential in us and our beliefs and which can’t stand up to scrutiny is washed away, leaving us in a very unique and exciting relationship with the divine and with ourselves.
From what I can tell in my brief researching this, it looks like the author of the book, Spencer Burke, is one of the leading voices behind an “emergent” Christian website called “The Ooze” which I have never read before, but which seems rather popular.
In any case, this is a topic that I feel pretty deeply about and am happy to be able to be part of a larger conversation on the subject. Much looking forward to checking this book out. Spencer, if you’re out there and want to send me a free copy, I’d love to at least read the rest of it, if not do a little review of it myself. Cheers and thanks for the boost!
- Letter from my aunt
- A Woman’s Guide on How to Pee Standing
- Souls of Noah
- Gurdjieff on the Teacher
- Heretic
- Prev: The Imitation of Christ
- Next: Human Adaptability
September 30th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Congratulations! That is neat, I’ll participate in the consumer culture and buy the book.
Better break out the wine before Skip comes by and deflates the parade balloons.
September 30th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Wow, Tim Boucher is famous… Christians can’t be that bad, if they are quoting you in their books and stuff. Not a bad way to achieve fame/ notoriety I must say.
October 1st, 2006 at 1:30 am
This guy looks like a class act…Its SO important that people move religions into the 21st century by adapting them and letting them grow rather than reinforcing the false duality between blind fundamentalism and total nihilism. That’s what this guy appears to be doing.
October 1st, 2006 at 1:46 am
aren’t you supposed to tell people about stuff like this? …then again, I guess it isn’t significantly different than just quoting someone in your blog or website — at least, not nowadays.
October 1st, 2006 at 1:58 am
Yeah I would have thought that you ought to at least mention it to the person you’re quoting if you’re publishing something for mass market like that. It seems like at least good manners, whether or not it’s a legal requirement!
October 1st, 2006 at 6:35 am
It’s quite a good book (IMHO, of course). My wife, who I actually met on Spencer’s “The Ooze” message board, got a pre-release copy to review so I got a chance to read it early and I’d say it’s on the right track. I was pleasantly surprised to see your quote in the book as I’ve been enjoying your site for a while.
October 1st, 2006 at 12:02 pm
I’ve tried emailing Burke to let him know about the conversation. We’ll see what happens. I hope he sends you a free copy.
October 1st, 2006 at 12:03 pm
PS - Drew, my husband and I met online too. Married seven years last August.
I’ve seen you at The Ooze and have enjoyed your posts.
Kay (neosonia)
October 1st, 2006 at 2:40 pm
Oh cool, glad to hear it’s a good book. It really looks like it! And I’m excited to have new people to communicate with as a result of this book
October 2nd, 2006 at 12:35 am
Wow! that’s cool … so Tim, when are you going to amass your own conglomeration of verbage into cohesive thoughts, suitable for publication?
October 2nd, 2006 at 1:06 am
You mean, a book?
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Yeah I would have thought that you ought to at least mention it to the person you’re quoting
That’s not the norm, actually, unless they write it to appear as if they got the quote from you (I’ve ‘given’ quotes to papers I’ve never heard of.) I’ve even been thanked in books without knowing, once by an author I’d never met or spoken to (?!) You can go to google book search and put your name in if your ever curious to see where you’ve been referenced…
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:58 pm
I’ve also been compensated financially for quotes as well in the past and been given a formal contract to sign for allowing the company who quoted it the right to use it. That is certainly a nice way to do business, but I recognize that fair use is fair use and I appreciate the boost to my site and work this brings either way!
Plus it sounds like a cool book!
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:00 am
Yes …. a book … !
Hope you’ve tm’ed “popocculture!”