He missed the point | A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith

One of the Most Significant Conversations That Will Shape Christianity For Years to Come | A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith | Brian D. Mclaren

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	• A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith Brian D. Mclaren HarperOne, 2010 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 50 reviews view larger image
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A New Voice in the Wilderness

Brian McLaren's book A NEW KIND OF CHRISTIANITY is the newest of a number of voices about what's been wrong with Christianity. Strained by the template of the old 'might makes right' Greco-Roman world that birthed and weaned Christianity into its human feature (a 'treasure in earthen vessels') McLaren's ten questions and reflections help us discern how Jesus's message and mission get lost in the power center of the institution that became Christianity. Others may label this book as 'liberal', but I regard it has getting us 'back to basics' in our thinking - to the message Jesus intended for those who would carry forward the mission he lived and died for. McLaren's fresh interpretation of Scriptures helps me remove the cobwebs of churchy literalism and fundamentalism that often muck up the dynamic, transforming Word of God. McLaren's Scriptures come alive so that we can be grounded in the now as Jesus was.

His book invites conversation and questions that are fresh and thoughtful and open and guiltless -even when people disagree. When fear guides those who gather around the community of faith, there is neither community or faith. Jesus was a 'where two or three are gathered' sort of guy, often drawing anger from those who wanted the institution to draw swords rather than beat them into plowshares. His mission theme might be 'Can we talk?'

Each of the ten questions transforming faith today are very much worth asking ourselves and one another. It seems we've a lot to unlearn about Christianity so that we can liberate Jesus to be the liberating presence of God he intended to be. Giving him back his lost identity seems like a worthwhile journey for any who wish to see some viable future for communities of faith.

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He missed the point

At the urging of my libertarian grand-daughter, I ordered a copy of McLaren's A New Kind of Christianity from Amazon (which was delivered within a oouple of days -- thank you). He and others like Schaeffer want to join the great Reformers of earlier years but their efforts to be leaders in weaning themselves and their fellow emergents from the religion of the Hebrews and the early Christians is doomed to failure. They may be followers but not leaders.

McLaren's proposal that all interested should sit down around a table and talk reminded me first of when Chamberlain and Hitler sat down in Munich to talk things out. That didn't last long, did it? And Hitler and Stalin sat down and made an agreement about the future as they planned the division of Poland. Stalin learned that it didn't last long, either. The same day that Hitler marched on Poland in 1939 was the day that I was forced to sale from Southampton for New York. Sad day.

I found the following issues with McLaren's latest work:
1) Lousy indexing
2) Editorial failures (but can't find any examples at the moment for I was not reading with a pen in hand at first as I browsed)
3) No mention of other emergents who failed, i.e., L. Ron Hubbard (Scientology); David Koresh (Branch Davidians). In 1929 Victor Houteff, a Bulgarian immigrant and a Seventh-day Adventist Sabbath School teacher, claimed that he had a new message for the church. It was submitted in the form of a book titled, The Shepherd's Rod, The 144,000, A Call for Reformation. It didn't go far, did it?
4) Total failure in describing changes in ancient church (see some reviews)
5) No scripute index
Good points:
1) Recognized various apostasies

Back to his search for answers. Naturally he paid no attention to the advice that the early Apostle James gave to those who were seeking. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God (James 3:5). That's always been my first point of search. And for me it has worked into what is this old grump's 82 year.

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One of the Most Significant Conversations That Will Shape Christianity For Years to Come

Some people are scared to read Brian McLaren. This gentle, unassuming man with a Santa-like glimmer in his eye has become a lightning rod of controversy. He's been labeled a heretic, dangerous and unbiblical. He's also been called a leading voice, a spiritual activist and an elder statesman of the emerging church. So who is Brian McLaren?

His latest book, A NEW KIND OF CHRISTIANITY, provides backdrop to his spiritual and personal story and explores a series of practical and theological questions that the people of faith everywhere find themselves wrestling with. The foundational question McLaren raises is how we approach the Bible. He examines the overarching story line of Scripture and points out that the foundation for many people's beliefs is a hybrid of Greco-Roman thinking and belief that influences the way we understand and live out our faith today. He challenges readers that the Bible should be read less as a legal constitution --- with particular scriptures being used to bully others --- and more as a "community library" in the context of relationship and living out our faith.

McLaren also tackles topics such as "Is God Violent?", "Who Is Jesus and Why Is He Important?" and "What Is the Gospel?" in various chapters. His responses will infuriate some, challenge others, and affirm what many have thought on their own. But it's the final five questions that hit the most hot button issues. McLaren raises the issue of "What Do We Do About the Church" and challenges the way many view the modern church. He also addresses eschatology in "Can We Find a Better Way of Viewing the Future?" and living in a pluralistic society in "How Should Followers of Jesus Relate to People of Other Religions?" Along the way, he discusses politics, public policy and the way we interpret specific passages of Scripture. The bombshell chapter of the book, however, is "The Sex Question," in which he asks, "Can We Find a Way to Address Human Sexuality Without Fighting About It?"

Overall, A NEW KIND OF CHRISTIANITY is incredibly well written, engaging, thoughtful and provoking. McLaren has a knack for writing in such a way that you want to pinch his cheeks and give him a bear hug. For all it does accomplish, make no mistake: this is a polarizing book. Some readers will be angered by his open-endedness, which hints at universalism. Others will find issue with his dismissal of traditional Christian beliefs. While the book raises a number of questions --- all of which have been asked before --- many will find themselves still wondering, "But what do we do now?"

Yes, some people are scared to read Brian McLaren, but those who refuse to do so should be feared even more. Why? Because they're excluding themselves from having a voice in one of the most significant conversations that will shape Christianity for years to come.

--- Reviewed by Margaret Oines

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Wonderful theology but carries over into liberal politics

Here's a blatant question for all of you to consider: Is it a requirement for salvation to believe that Jesus was God? Why is the Trinity so important when it is NEVER mentioned in the Bible at all?

I love the challenge to "orthodox" theology. What I object to is his projection of his theology into what would be considered liberal thought i.e. environment extremism, "world peace", and if I read him correctly...freer sex lives. Maybe he's right on all of these but I would prefer he left them out and let us come to our own conclusions.

But in sooo many areas I believe it is so accurate...especially how Christians read the Bible like it's a Constitution where you can pick and choose verses rather than seeing the overall emphasis of the Bible and the meaning of the life of Christ. To deviate from orthodoxy risks being called a heretic but I truly believe the distortions presented in orthodoxy is what has deviated from Christ's message.

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"Wherever the willingness to rethink has been squelched, wherever that sense of quest has been buried under convention and complacency, the Christian faith in all its forms is in trouble. But even there, something is trying to be born. Even now, right here, among us, inside you, inside me. You may feel it as a curiosity, a desire for better answers than you inherited so far. You may experience it as frustration, knowing that there must be more to faith than you currently know. You may know it as hope, hope that God is seeking humble people whose hearts and lives can be the womb of a better future. . . . In you, your family, your faith community, and circles of friends, among people of peace and faith everywhere, something is trying to be born."
?from A New Kind of Christianity

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the church. Not since the Reformation five centuries ago have so many Christians come together to ask whether the church is in sync with their deepest beliefs and commitments. These believers range from evangelicals to mainline Protestants to Catholics, and the person who best represents them is author and pastor Brian McLaren.

In this much anticipated book, McLaren examines ten questions facing today's church?questions about how to articulate the faith itself, the nature of its authority, who God is, whether we have to understand Jesus through only an ancient Greco-Roman lens, what exactly the good news is that the gospel proclaims, how we understand the church and all its varieties, why we are so preoccupied with sex, how we should think of the future and people from other faiths, and the most intimidating question of all: what do we do next? Here you will find a provocative and enticing introduction to the Christian faith of tomorrow.

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