A New Kind Of Christianity, McLaren's Newest Book

As part of the ViralBloggers network, I have the honor of being one of the few (elite?) people to receive author, speaker, pastor, and networker Brian McLaren's newest book "A New Kind of Christianity (browse inside it)," which hits the store shelves, as well as virtual shelves on Feb. 9th. HarperCollins is publishing Brian's newest quest

Brian has been a faithful friend, I mean that's what books are written to be right, along my pilgrimage. I haven't read much by him but in seminary I read A Generous Orthodoxy after reading Richard Foster's Streams of Living Water. These two pilgrims helped me move away from the strictness of fundamentalism wrapped tightly in denominationalism and see truth in the many doctrines, dogmas, and denom's of Christianity. Needless to say when I was deconstructing and struggling to find words and new ways of viewing the church, God, and my own faith McLaren gave me the gift of perspective. Later in seminary one of my night stand books became More Ready Than You Realize in which again Brian aided my perspective in reinventing evangelism away from the evange-cube/tract/guilt tactics toward befriending those were are different from me. Thus, began my conversation. These two themes play strongly in my faith still: the necessity of bearing and seeking truth in its many forms as well as the need (for myself) to be converted (continually) as well as love others toward Christ.

Then last year at First Baptist Austin, our Easter Tide (that's the time after Easter before Pentecost on the church calendar that lasts about 7 or 8 Sundays) we studied in small groups Everything Must Change. For myself, while not groundbreaking or even really new, this book guided me in leading "real" people, nonseminarians in the conversations that I found so important and true. Moreover, before leading these groups my wife and I as well as a bunch of other CBF baptists heard McLaren speak at Current retreat. So, in ways I feel like Brian and I are friends. We talked...at the conference...in his books...on the web...blogs...facebook...I'm not sure he'd know who I am, but way I feel towards my friends is the way I feel toward this newest book by McLaren.

I get excited about my friend's stuff, tweets, etc; but I'm also familiar with them. It's not that I'm bored, complacent, or even contempt (familiarity breeds what?) with Brian's work, but more...familiar...comfortable...I don't know how to describe it. But the reason I enjoy genuine friends so much is the same reason I'm looking forward to breaking open "A New Kind of Christianity," friends make you remember: remember who you are, where you came from, what the questions are, what makes life worth the living. While I'm not expecting to have my mind blown away in amazing revelations (though it could happen), I'm expecting to be reminded. Was it Augustine who said prayer is learning deep memory?

If you are still reading and haven't perused the book yet, here are the ten questions Brian seeks to answer in this newest book. These ten questions seek to unite our inner lives with our outer lives in a search for a "faith for tomorrow:"

• The Authority Question: How Should the Bible Be Understood?
• The God Question: Is God Violent?
• The Jesus Question: Who is Jesus and Why is He Important?
• The Gospel Question: What Is the Gospel?
• The Church Question: What Do We Do About the Church?
• The Sex Question: Can We Find a Way to Address Sexuality Without Fighting About It?
• The Future Question: Can We Find a Better Way of View the Future?
• The Pluralism Question: How Should Followers of Jesus Relate to People of Other Religions?
• The What Do We Do Now Question: How Can We Translate Our Quest into Action?

As you can see, these questions are seemingly perennial questions to confront in our context. Hope you find room on your shelf or IPad or Kindle for

Also, check out the video (and all of Ooze.Tv's stuff) below of Spencer Burke driving Brian McLaren around talking about the power of questions to produce a new journey, a conversation driven by questions asked all around the world of people seeking to follow Jesus.

And the man was very happy

For the Ooze Viral Bloggers, I am reviewing "Enough: Contentment in an Age of Excess" by Will Samson. Though only 1/3 of the way through (I just began it yesterday), the parts that have stuck out the most to me is Samson's introductions to the each chapter with a midrash-like paragraph on Jesus and the "rich young ruler." I'll be posting my review in the days to come, but here's a few of the said paragraphs:

One day Jesus was walking down Main Street on his way out of town, and a rich and influential lawyer came up to hima nd asked: "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
And Jesus replied, "Give what you can to the synagogue. Ten percent is a good rule of thumb, but whatever you do, don't be a legalist about it. And make sure you have enough left over to contribute to the economy. You know, 'Give to Caesar...'"
And the man went away very happy, because that was exactly what he was already doing..

..."what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
And Jesus replied, "Become a better you. Awaken to your life's purpose. Be a good person. Eat what I eat. And vote right."
And the man went away very happy, because that sounded exactly like the kind of life he had been seeking.

...
And Jesus replied, "Great question! I've never thought of that before. Give me time to get back to you on that one."
And the man was pleased, because he really wasn't ready for any big changes at thi point in his life.

...
And Jesus replied, "Don't marry someone of the same gender, and don't allow someone you have gotten pregnant to have an abortion."
And the man went away very hapy, because he was already doing these things.

The Shack, William Young

I recently finished reading what has become a sort of Christian pop culture phenomenon, the Shack.
I'd rather not give a lengthy review of my own since reviews are numerous and widespread on this internet thing. Actually, Andy Rowell has compiled a good list of reviews if you're interested.

A few things that I would say:

• Those who've denounced this novel have really missed the point. It's quite obvious as in any fiction that this book is not meant to be a theological treatise. The book has a good storyline about healing and the power of relationship with God. I'm not as huge a fan of the book as some who have praised it highly (E. Peterson claims this book to be the next Pilgrim's Progress. I highly doubt it). I enjoyed the imaginative writing and dialog with God. Overrall I thought the book was worth the read, but I would not say I loved it.

• There were some places I felt like it lacked:
  
• Young is creative in his approach to the Trinity (which some have claimed to be modalistic, which is a case in missing the point), but often the dialog is uncreative, slow, and full of cheesy Christian quotes.
  
• Also, I think Young stepped out in allowing Papa, the "head" of the Trinity to actually be God the mother, a large African American woman. I appreciated that he first tried to defy the male-centered lens of the church, but in the end he fails by allowing God to resemble the form that the main character presumed God would be in the first place, a Gandalf-like old man.
  
• I do like that Jesus resembles a middle eastern man, but Young fails in his presentation of Jesus. There are two things that I didn't like. One was that Jesus seemed to be against the institutional church or religion in any sense. Not that I don't think the institutional church or religion doesn't need critiquing, but Jesus came across more as the "my buddy" or "homeboy" Jesus who has been created by our consumer culture. Jesus as anti-religion and best buddy were weak representations.

• Other then these critiques, Young delivers a book that I would recommend to anyone that has suffered lost and is struggling with questions of faith, doubt, love, life, and God. Furthermore, Trinitarian theology has become quite popular as of late and this work witnesses to the beauty, complexity, and creativity bound up with this important doctrine. Check it out, read it, mull it over.