Review of “A New Kind of Christianity” (Part 1)

In his book “A New Kind of Christianity,” Brian McLaren writes “The Christian faith in all its forms is in trouble.”  The source of the trouble?  It is due in part to the reality that “nearly all of our Protestant denominations had been formed…in the modern era…with its absolute scientific laws, consumerist individualism, and rational certainty…”  The modern era, however, is giving way to “a new postmodern paradigm of pluralism, relativism, globalism, and uncertainty…” 

Despite this radical change in culture, the church seems blind to it.  The result is that fewer in the postmodern culture want anything to do with the modern forms of Christianity.  It is time, therefore, for Christianity to “disembed from the paradigm of modernity” and be reborn “in a postmodern context.”

McLaren cites Phyllis Tickle who proposed that every 500 years or so the Christian faith goes through massive paradigm shifts (the Great Collapse (500 CE), the Great Schism (1000), the Great Reformation (1500), and now, the Great Emergence).  Similarly, Harvey Cox writes of Christianity’s Age of Faith, which gave way to the Age of Belief, which now gives way to the Age of the Spirit.  McLaren similarly urges that the postmodern context calls for “a new kind of Christianity.”

Specifically, he calls churches and church leaders to re-examine their answers to 10 questions in light of these cultural shifts:

1. The Narrative Question: What is the overaching story line of the Bible?  Is there a discernable plotline of the biblical library?  What are the deep problems the original Christian story was trying to solve?  What’s the big picture?

2. The Authority Question: How should the Bible be understood?  What is the Bible and what is it for?

3. The God Question: Is God violent?  Why does God seem so violent and genocidal in many Bible passages?

4. The Jesus Question: Who is Jesus and why is he important?  What accounts for the differences in understandings of Jesus?  Which versions of Jesus are more trustworthy than others?

5. The Gospel Question: What is the gospel?

6. The Church Question: What do we do about the church?  What must change for the church–the local church, the denomination, and the larger community of Christians?  How are we to conceive of God’s Spirit at work in the church and in the world?

7. The Sex Question: Can we find a way to address human sexuality without fighting about it?  How do we think about homosexuality, gender identity, and sexuality in general?

8. The Future Question: Can we find a better way of viewing the future?  What kind of eschatalogy will contribute to a more just and joyful future?

9. The Pluralism Question: How should followers of Jesus relate to people of other religions?  Is Jesus the only way?  The only way to what?

10. The What-D0-We-Do-Now Question: How can we translate our quest into action?

In the rest of the book, McLaren addresses these questions, offering not “answers” but “responses.”  He does not seek to resolve these issues but to help start conversations about them.

What I like about the introduction:

I like that McLaren seeks to open our eyes to the massive cultural shift we are in the midst of.  I have tried to do the same in my “Preaching to Pluralists.”  Too many of us still practice a form of Christianity that is influenced heavily by Modern thinking.

I like that McLaren offers ten specific questions to wrestle with and that they are largely theological in nature.  He avoids the temptation to move immediately to strategy and instead calls for the harder work of exploring our theological values and beliefs.   Regardless of what readers think about McLaren’s responses to these questions, the questions themselves are important.

I like McLaren’s humility in offering “responses” rather than hard “answers” to these questions.  Many readers may not like his “responses.”  But he admits on the front end that his are not the final solutions.

What I don’t like about the introduction:

McLaren is not really saying we need a new kind of Christianity, but that we need to re-examine our expression of Christianity.  It can be easy, however, to miss this fine line.  I wish McLaren had take more time to explain the difference.

Ten questions make for a good book.  But when I think about my own leadership team trying to tackle all 10, it’s overwhelming.  McLaren does suggest that the first 5 are perhaps most important, but I wish he’d offer a little more guidance in terms of “where the rubber meets the road.”  Few leadership teams or congregations are prepared for the heated and lengthy discussions that would result from taking up just 2 or 3 questions, much less 10.  Which 2-3 are most critical?

What do you think?  Which of the 10 are most critical?