Part 1: Mark Driscoll
Part 2: John Burke
John Burke: Incarnational Theology
John Burke is pastor of Gateway Church, and I appreciate the ministry that seems to be happening at Gateway. I’ve never met John, and he is theologically closer to Driscoll than myself, but he doesn’t have the same negative vibe that Driscoll had in his chapter.
Burke’s community must be a very welcoming place because he relates some stories about people who have been very skeptical about Christianity, have come with plenty of questions, and yet, somewhere along the line, have made a commitment to faith at Gateway Church. Burke talked about a theology of religions and what place Christianity has amidst all other world religions. While Burke is certainly no universalist, he does offer a more progressive evangelical perspective than Driscoll was comfortable with:
“The emerging church can affirm the mysterious ways God has always been at work, drawing people to himself out of the various religious backgrounds, like God did with Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian king…the Queen of Sheba from Africa, the Iranian astrologer, and the magi…Can the emerging church build the kinds of bridges to those pursuing other faiths or coming from other religious backgrounds like Paul did? Does our theology have room for a God who works behind the scenes, even in other religious pursuits, drawing people to Christ” (58-59)?
