Having now read McLaren’s book I can see why it’s controversial in evangelical circles. It’s thought-provoking, forcing the reader to reconsider assumptions about the relationship between the gospel and the world. I think he makes a good case for his position. Rather than interacting specifically with Andrew’s review, I’ll try to summarize (at some length, alas) my own response to the book.
Society
Another response to McLaren's Everything Must Change
Submitted by john doyle on 4 February, 2008 - 06:48. 
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Review of Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change (part 2)
Submitted by Andrew on 11 January, 2008 - 17:11.
Everything
Must Change (see the synopsis
in the first part of this review) will be read by many as a
challenge to the modern
church to
exchange an ineffectual and theologically suspect notion of what it
means to
be Christian for an ‘emerging’ understanding that offers a credible
hope of global transformation. That is certainly part of McLaren’s
intention. But the main aim of the book, it seems to me, is to challenge
an unbelieving world to defect from the dominant system,
to disbelieve in the destructive framing story, and to trust instead in
the new framing story of Jesus. It is, as McLaren puts it, a ‘religious
book, but in a
worldly and unconventional and ultimately
positive way’ (3);
it aspires to change public opinion (269). |
Review of Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change (part 1)
Submitted by Andrew on 5 January, 2008 - 12:22.
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It’s three months now since Brian McLaren’s latest book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope was released, and in the frenzied, web-driven world of emerging theology, three months is a long time. For all I know it’s not even his latest book any more. It has been widely reviewed, blogged on, commented on, pod- and videocasted about, facebooked, eulogized, trashed on the web. But I found it a highly stimulating read for all sorts of reasons and I think it’s well worth reviewing even at this late stage in the cycle of fashionability. The review comes in two parts: first, in this post a synopsis of McLaren’s argument in the book; and secondly, at some time in the near future, a critical evaluation in which I want to consider in particular how the category of ‘kingdom of God’ fits into a vision of social transformation, which seems to me to be the central theological question posed by the book. |
Wake up Church and Smell The Coffee!
Submitted by SSIMike on 14 March, 2007 - 16:06.
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People live in a world that is quite different from the world just 20 years ago. Things are rapidly changing. Our society is feeling the pain of an increase in immorality, dysfunctional relationships, and spiritual bankruptcy. People are ravaged with insatiable appetites for money, sex, and power. Can the Church do something about this? |
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