Jim Burklo is a United Church of Christ minister who is the Associate Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California. He has served churches in Sausalito, San Mateo, and Palo Alto, California. He is on the board of the Center for Progressive Christianity. Visit him at his professional website www.openchristianity.com and read his weekly "musings" on www.tcpc.blogs.com/musings.

Here is a pathmaking book by a Progressive Christian who was already searching for a new kind of faith ten years ago. There is an evergreen quality to Burklo's ideas and prose which makes Open Christianity relevant to the present religious situation in America. He wants us to move beyond the confines of traditional belief and ritual, to set aside the notion that Christianity is the one true path to God, to give up its emphasis on church buildings, and to focus on the many ways to be of service to others.

Burklo offers this assessment of faith from a perspective gained from spending nine years working with people in crisis and then shifting gears to work with students on campus with all their questions. He admits: "I cannot reject Christianity without impoverishing my soul, cutting it off from the nourishment that comes through its spiritual roots."

For those who yearn for a new expression of the Way, the author presents God as the Mysterious One, Jesus as unique and universal, and the Spirit as a subtle mover in the lives of the people we meet. Burklo chugs along with sections on Christian Scriptures, asking hard questions about resurrection, eternal life, good and evil, a revised story of the universe, original grace, and the cross.

In a substantive section on spiritual practices, the author shares a few of his before taking a look at worship, rites and passages, symbol and reality, another way to pray, faith and healing, soulful sexuality, and more. Burklo's creative slants on another road to Christian social action need to be singled out, especially given the lack of imagination usually connected with helping the poor, promoting compassion, and practicing nonviolence. The book ends on a high note with Burklo's Credo for Christians where he celebrates the way of love. This comprehensive book opens new doors for a desperately needed revitalization of Progressive Christianity.