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Relevant no matter your belief system, great read all around

Beer, Book review, Books, Church, Pub Theology Comments are closed
With a Perseus Porter at Elysian's Capitol Hill Pub on Pike Street in Seattle
With a Perseus Porter at Elysian’s Capitol Hill Pub on Pike Street in Seattle

Latest reader review of Pub Theology posted on Amazon.com:


Let me preface this review with the fact that I am by no means a Christian, nor a non-believer. A skeptic at heart, I came into the book and the concept of Pub Theology warily. I had never heard of Pub Theology or even met Bryan, but the book found me by chance.

That being said, it was a delightful read. He’s wise beyond his years and brings us a message of love, understanding, and openness. Do not let the word ‘theology’ turn you off – it’s relevant life-enriching information no matter your belief system. Whether you come into this as a veteran on the subject or as a fresh mind, you’ll find value. Worst-case scenario it’s a fun read on an interesting subject and a wonderful refresher. Best-case, you’re going to start seeing things differently and come away with some very useful information.

I was invited to and attended a Pub Theology event while in midst of the book. If you have the opportunity to visit one, do not miss the chance.

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Topics for tonight via Twitter: 1. #God is all about people, not theology. 2. You don't have to believe in heaven to find life after death

To See Beyond All Things

Enlightenment is the ability to see beyond all things we make God to find God. We make religion God and so fail to see godliness where religion is not, though goodness is clear and constant in the simplest of people, in the remotest of places. We make national honor God and fail to see the presence of God in other nations. We make personal security God and fail to see God in the bleak and barren dimensions of life. We make our own human color the color of God and fail to see God in the one who comes in different guise. We give God gender and miss the spirit of God in everyone. We separate spirit and matter as if they were two different things, though we know now from quantum physics that matter is simply fields of force made dense by the spirit of Energy. We are one with the Universe, in other words. We are not separate or different from it. We are not above it. We are in it, all of us and everything, swimming in an energy that is God. To be enlightened is to see behind the forms to the God who holds them in being.

Way out West

While out West I had the chance to get the word out a bit about my new book. I put up a few flyers, sometimes without asking... Here is a sampling of some of the places you might see a Pub Theology flyer:

Disarming and Ingenious

Michael Camp's review of Pub Theology Disarming and ingenious; cleverly crafted with a residual sweetness Bryan Berghoef is an author after my own heart. He loves beer… and Jesus. But not the Jesus we typically find in our traditional institutional church structures, where brutal honesty is squelched, members are spoon fed answers, and the goal is to produce clones who all believe one body of doctrine but don’t think for themselves. No, Bryan’s Christ is humble (open to listen to other perspectives, embraces religious diversity, and makes love, mutual respect, and communal exploration paramount) and his beer is good. It creates the scene for this story—the local pub—one of the best places where a faith (and no-faith) community can learn a whole new paradigm for Christ-like fellowship.

2 Comments

  2. Marnie Rourke says:

    I grew up in Hyde Park, the neighborhood that surrounds the University of Chicago and eventually received degrees from two different seminaries in the community. When I was younger, I went to a certain bar to meet guys. Once I was in seminary, I went there to enjoy the inspiring opportunity to explore pub theology. I went there with fellow students, but also with the theologians who were our professors.

    One of the classes I took was offered by the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. It was taught by Mircea Eliade, who was also a professor at the Sorbonne, and wrote novels as well as theological masterpieces. He developed the concept of history of religions — looking at religions without attempting to say whether anything about them was right or wrong. I learned so much about other religions, some that I didn’t even know existed! Our seminar class was held in the evening, and after every class we went to Jimmy’s, the neighborhood bar, to continue our conversation as pub theology, There was no judgement and no self-righteousness, just intellectual curiosity and a fondness for asking complex questions. And Eliade always bought the first round.

    I wish every seminarian had an opportunity like this, but it would be even more marvelous if we could make pub theology available to our congregation members. Then we would live in an inner-faith world with respect for all religions. I still live in Chicago, and wish there was someone I could invite to join me at the bar for a beer and engage in a little pub theology. But I graduated so long ago that my professors have retired and moved on — and the best of them, those who made a deep impression on my heart, as well as my mind — have sadly all died. May they rest in peace until we are back together, discussing the meaning and value of it all over a beer, practicing pub theology once again.

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