Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope [Hardcover]

Brian D. McLaren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2007

How do the life and teachings of Jesus address the most critical global problems in our world today?

In Everything Must Change, you will accompany Brian around the world on a search for answers. Along the way you’ll experience intrigue, alarm, challenge, insight, and hope. You’ll get a fresh and provocative vision of Jesus and his teachings. And you’ll see how his core message can infuse us with purpose and passion to address the economic, environmental, military, political, and social dysfunctions that have overtaken our world.

Jesus’ message is more than a ticket to heaven or a formula for personal prosperity. It is an invitation to personal and global transformation. It is a radical challenge to the underlying stories that drive our suicidal systems—social, economic, and political. It invites us to imagine what would happen

—if people of faith moved beyond political polarization and a few hot-button issues to the deeper questions nobody is asking.

—if the world’s leading nations spent less on weapons and more on peace-making, poverty-alleviation, and creation-care.

—if a renewed understanding of Jesus and his message sparked a profound spiritual awakening in a global movement of faith, hope, and love.

—if we believed that God’s will really could be done on earth and not just in heaven.

If you are hungry for a fresh vision of what it means to be a person of faith, Everything Must Change applies the good news of Jesus to a world in need, igniting a revolution of hope that can change everything. Beginning with you. Beginning now.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. McLaren, a leader in the emerging church, issues a salvo of arguments for radical hope in the face of profound dilemmas. The prolific author and pastor identifies the earth's four deep dysfunctions that have created a suicide machine: crises in prosperity, equity, security and spirituality. What could change, he asks, if we applied the message of Jesus—the good news of the kingdom of God—to the world's greatest problems? Here McLaren builds on the theme of his 2006 book The Secret Message of Jesus—that bringing about the kingdom means transforming the world we live in—to propose that we create a hope insurgency. Using a close reading of the Gospels to challenge conservative evangelicals' emphasis on individual salvation, not to mention end-times theology and, by implication, the prosperity gospel, McLaren argues for establishing a beloved community based on justice, peace, equality and compassion. McLaren's conclusions are not new, but his ability to be clear and persuasive—and get the attention of a segment of America's Christians—are exceptional. While his critics will find yet more material for challenging McLaren's views, his supporters will consider this book a riveting call to a new conversion. (Oct. 2)
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About the Author

Brian D. McLaren is an internationally known speaker and the author of over ten highly acclaimed books on contemporary Christianity, including A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and The Secret Message of Jesus.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849901839
• ISBN-13: 978-0849901836
• Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 5.5 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #626,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, pastor, and networker among innovative Christian leaders, thinkers, and activists. His groundbreaking books include A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, The Secret Message of Jesus, and Everything Must Change. Named by Time magazine as one of America's top twenty-five evangelicals, McLaren has appeared on Nightline and Larry King Live, and has been covered by The Washington Post and the New York Times.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars McLaren Offers Hope, NOT HERESY... December 6, 2007

By Chaplain Stephen

Format:Hardcover

While some of the lengthier reviews found below will perhaps do a more thorough job of summarizing the content of Brian McLaren's latest book "Everything Must Change," my intent is to offer a few of the insights and impressions of someone who has experienced both sides of the conservative/emergent debate and has the scars to prove it.

As a pastor and philosophy professor I have encountered my share of anti-Christian or heretical ideas. I have studied Nietzche, wrestled with Darwin, and most recently read and re-read the latest anti-theistic polemics from Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Christopher Hitchens (God is Not Great), and Sam Harris (The End of Faith).

All of these writers and thinkers have elaborated on a host of ideas that call into question everything that even the most nominal Christian could hold dear. Their effectiveness is for another review, although I can say for myself that despite their prodigious gifts I am left unconvinced that God is dead, destructive, or a delusion.

I preface my comments with these references to truly anti-Christian thinkers as a ways of putting into context what Brian McLaren seems to mean when he says that "everything must change." Despite the hyperbole and swooning pyrotechnics of those who have branded McLaren to be a sort of postmodern Pied Piper who is leading the next generation off the cliff of heresy, the actual book and writer behind it say nothing of the sort. Not even close.

While all of Brian's theological conclusions might not jive with your own, my guess is that the majority of readers who take the text on its own merits will find that the a great number of the ideas espoused are not so strange or horrifying, but rather are practical and commonsense suggestions for a global church in an apocalyptic age (in the original sense of the term, not necessarily the "Left Behind" version).

In "Everything Must Change," McLaren has presented a clear and thoughtful summary of the thinking spurring much of the energy behind the newest movements of the church, broadly termed Emergent. While some of the voices are new and the language is often non-traditional, this emerging movement (of which McLaren is the undisputed Papa Bear) is reinvigorating the sincere, Christ-centered faith of many of the disenchanted and disillusioned wounded from the evangelical and fundamentalist movements.

It is uneccesary to critique those preceding articulations of the Gospel here; suffice to say, the language and focus of the modern church was insufficient in reaching many in the emerging generations. McLaren has created an elegantly detailed work that offers hope to many passionate people who desire to put their faith in a God with bigger plans for the world than simply providing their ticket to heaven.

For these passionate followers, both new and "experienced," the doors to the church must be thrown open to the world. This is the power of change that McLaren describes - a church that is a light and source hope for the masses in ways we might have been missing for far too long.

I hope you will consider reading it for yourself.

- S.

65 of 84 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Kind of Revolution October 22, 2007

By S. J. Spurlock

Format:Hardcover

Passion and compassion. These are the two words that I would use to describe this book and its author. The passion is communicated in the main title-- everything must change. The compassion is communicated in the subtitle-- global crises, hope. McLaren continues building on his previous works, especially Secret Message of Jesus. Those looking for McLaren's theological underpinnings will find it there. This book is about exploring what such a theology will look like on the ground, in real life. With grace in his words, McLaren lets us in on his own journey of discovering that Christianity often does not do much, and the things it has done have often been very negative. Then exploring the theology discussed in Secret Message of Jesus, McLaren talks at length about his experiences with people and communities from around the globe-- his experiences of finding much pain, hurt, and suffering-- and the systems that exist in that world. In the spirit of Jesus himself, McLaren paints a way forward for the church (especially those of us who find ourselves in its northern and western expressions) to truly bring Jesus into the global crisis and challenge these global systems and their central narratives. McLaren challenges the church to have "glad tidings" gospel that rivals the "gospels" of our systems/empires. He implores Christians to address the problems in our day just as Jesus did in his. Christians today are often serving idols and emperors rather than Jesus Christ. Jesus inaugarated the kingdom of God on Earth, the will of God being done on Earth as it is in heaven. Truly McLaren is right-- everything must change. It is time for us to acknowledge Jesus as Lord rather than Caesar as Lord.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Changing Framing Stories: The Relevance of Jesus For Today October 23, 2007

By Brian

Format:Hardcover

In Brian McLaren's new book, Everything Must Change, he brings many different resources together, both religious and secular, to offer a theo-political critique of our current society and its global crises. He then offers an alternative vision in the form of a new 'framing story' that he argues can transform the way we life. McLaren argues that 'our societies are unified, integrated, motivated, and driven by the framing stories we tell ourselves as groups' (66). He then contrasts the Christian 'framing story' (i.e. Kingdom of God) with the theocapitalist 'framing story' (i.e. suicidal machine).

The 'Suicide machine' is the metaphor McLaren says 'captures the way the world's most serious problems are linked in a vicious, self-reinforcing circle' (52). These suicidal systems are the following: dysfunctional prosperity system (culture of affluenza), dysfunctional security system (invisible hand of the market requires the visible fist of the military), and the dysfunctional equity system (sharing the cost and story of prosperity and equity) (55-56).

The 'Kingdom of God' is the metaphor McLaren uses to describe the alternative, transforming framing story that has the potential to bring life instead of death. The Kingdom of God is the divine vision of justice and peace communicated in Hebrew and Christian scripture. For McLaren, the Kingdom of God offers the best framing story: 'a story in which God provides through creation's natural systems, a story in which we acknowledge our creaturely dignity and limits within those systems, a story in which we celebrate our kinship with birds and flowers, with season and toil' (139). This story is a story where peace is achieved through collaborative efforts at 'justice, generosity, and mutual concern' (159).

McLaren believes that Jesus' message and ministry challenged the dysfunctional, destructive status quo of the Roman Empire in his life. McLaren writes: 'Jesus' creative and transforming framing story invited people to change the world by disobeying old framing stories and believing a new one: a story about a loving God who, like a benevolent [leader], calls all people to live in a new way, the way of love' (274). McLaren also believes Jesus' challenge to the old story and offering of a new story is just as relevant for our lives today.

For McLaren, Jesus' message is relevant because it invites us to live a new and better life right now. Not something we must wait for, but something God invites us into in our daily lives. And this better life we can live now is 'live a life dedicated to replacing the suicide machine with a sacred ecosystem, a beautiful community, an insurgency of healing and peace, a creative global family, an unterror movement of faith, hope, and love' (227).

Ultimately, McLaren's book is about how Jesus' message of the Kingdom of God can offer us a way to discover hope and 'abundant life' in the midst of a world in crises.

Also recommended: For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future (John Cobb and Herman Daly).