On the first page of the next chapter (“Why I Am Biblical”), Brian McLaren states this: “My regard for the Bible is higher than ever” (p. 159). And this about sums the whole problem up. Regard? After having read through the chapter, this is like hearing a divorced couple say they are still the “best …
Propositional Dust Bunnies
Okay, let’s be honest. Context matters. If someone had handed me a xerox copy of McLaren’s next chapter (the one on being “mystical/poetic”), I would have thought most of it was pretty okay. In fact, because he quotes Lewis and Chesterton repeatedly, bits of it were much more than okay. But the irony was not …
Trying to Freeze the Linebackers
McLaren goes on to explain in his next chapter why he is a liberal/conservative. In this chapter, his use of these terms is primarily in a theological context, as opposed to the political one. This chapter is an attempt to get beyond “the confining boxes of liberal and conservative” (p. 131). Of course, since conservatives …
The Republic of Doug
In his next chapter of A Generous Orthodoxy, Brian McLaren addresses the question of why he is a “post/protestant.” He hangs the discussion on two ways the word protestant can be taken. The first is the common one. “The dominant meaning of protestant relates to the verb it contains: protest” (p. 123). This is great …
Being Evangelical For the Time Being
Time for our daily dose of squirting water down the hole into the postmodern rabbit warren, as part of my on-going project of trying to prevent these guys from emerging into the garden of orthodoxy in order to nibble on the carrots of truth. In his next chapter, Brian McLaren discusses why he is still …
The Central Culprit Here
When the enemy is at the gates besieging your city, swinging the battering ram, there are many things to dislike about what they are doing. But we would not usually think to describe the problem of the repeated thuds as “boring” and “repetitive.” It is the same way with this postmodern foolishness, but in some …
Postmod or Postmill?
In this chapter of the McLaren saga, I intend to simply address one thing, and so it may not take as long as the reviews of the other chapters. Or maybe it will. If somebody puts the nickel in, maybe I will just go off. This chapter is on why McLaren is “missional.” And of …
Making Your Back Teeth Cold
In his fourth chapter, McLaren asks what salvation means exactly. He then goes on to explain that salvation means God coming in judgment to deliver us from the evil oppression of others, God confronting us with our own sinfulness and forgiving us, and God teaching us. And McLaren affirms that God does all of this …
McLaren the Ungenerous
In this next chapter of McLaren’s he makes a number of good points which, taken in isolation, would simply be good. But in the context he places them in, the direction is quite dangerous. It is kind of like admiring the discipline and marksmanship of a pirate crew. “Yes, quite. That was well done. But …
The Old “Me and C.S. Lewis” Ploy
In Chapter 2 (Chapter 3, but who’s counting?) Brian McLaren starts to say some good things about the manifestation of God in Christ. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t get very far. Compared to the superlative language of less generous orthodoxy, his praise sounds comparatively anemic — “I believe God was in Jesus in an unprecedented way” …