27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Challenged my thinking, grew my faith, and made me cry, January 2, 2006
This review is from: McLaren Boxed Set (A New Kind of Christian; The Story We Find Ourselves In; The Last Word and the Word After That) (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) (Hardcover)
Each of these books is incredible. I found the first and third to be more intellectually thick and perspective-challenging, while the second is more personal and moving. The books' two main characters, Pastor Dan Poole and Neil "Neo" Oliver, engage in a series of epistemological, theological, and emotional conversations in trying to reconcile their respective Jesus-following, Truth-seeking faiths in light of the rapidly-changing world we live in.
The first, A New Kind of Christian, traces through various historical Christian understandings of God, spends some time deconstructing our current, modern-era understanding, and then takes steps towards constructing a new understanding for the post-modern era at hand. Neo's insight into the relevant philosophical eras and the ways they have affected our understanding of God, though generalized, were thought-provoking and, at times, deeply challenging. Chapter 10, which includes a sermon about death using excerpts from C.S. Lewis' writing, was so moving as to make me cry the first and subsequent times I read it. Chapter 12 completely rocked my ideas about what "evangelism" is and should be. "Does it bother you that our little gospel presentations are really just modern sales pitches that reduce the gospel to modern dimensions-laws, steps, simple diagrams, complete with a sales close?" If it bothers you, I highly recommend this one.
The second, The Story We Find Ourselves In, is actually the first that I read, and I am not hesitant to call it my favorite book. I give it away so often that I've purchased four copies. It is incredibly engaging: I discovered it on my roommates' bookshelf two years ago, liked the cover, and sat down to read a few pages; I ended up reading ninety in one sitting. Neo's conversational, progressive telling of the story of God's interaction with humanity given to us in the Bible is beautifully moving. "Imagine this majestic Being considering the possibility of creating other beings that really, really exist. Not just imaginary beings. Not just projections of God's own thoughts. Not just puppets, actors, dream images, and not just possibilities or scenarios or simulations, but beings that are given the gift that is most absolute, a gift that only Being can give: the gift of being, of existing, of standing out of nothingness into reality...the reality of being created and acknowledged by the Being who is all that ever was."
I find the third book, The Last Word and the Word After That, to be a good mix of the personal nature of the second book with the intellectual nature of the first, while dropping some of the occasionally-excessive filler between the meaty conversations. On the surface, this book looks to be about the idea of hell, but I found it to be much more useful as a "case study" in pursuing Truth in light of the challenges presented in the first two books. This is the story of Pastor Dan's various falling-aparts and reconciliations - with his church, with his friends, and with his faith - brought about by the influence that Neil's ideas and conversations have had on him. At the forefront of all of this is Dan's struggle, and many Christians struggle, to reconcile the idea of an eternal, tormentive hell with an all-loving, ultimately gracious God. Many Christians, including myself, have struggled with this question. McLaren attempts to bring some resolution to it via a historical analysis of the origin and evolution of the concept of hell, and ultimately makes a conclusion I resonate with: "Hell's not the point! Can't you see? [...] The point is not whether there is a hell: the point is God's justice! The point isn't whether Jesus-by using the language of the construction-confirms it. The point is, for what purpose does he use the language? What's his point in working with the construction? [...] He's trying to get us to repent so that places like this [Holocaust Museum] will no longer need to be built."
McLaren calls these books "creative nonfiction," in that the characters and conversations in the book are inspired by his real life experiences, but aren't necessarily one-for-one reflections of them. I didn't realize this at first, and the Socratic dialogue that results is easy to absorb, in both good and bad senses. I encourage anyone who does read these books to do so critically -- McLaren speaks my heart language, and more than once I wanted to shout in agreement or for joy as I read them. However, because of this, it becomes easier to agree with parts that you may not otherwise. Read carefully, take time to process and absorb; sift through the gunk and absorb some of the life-changing perspective alterations that McLaren has shared with us.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
most transforming books i've read so far, March 28, 2006
This review is from: McLaren Boxed Set (A New Kind of Christian; The Story We Find Ourselves In; The Last Word and the Word After That) (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) (Hardcover)
Brian McLaren points out new ways of thinking about various different aspects of faith that seem not to make much sense for most people.
When I started reading ("The Story We Find Ourselves In") I conciously knew about a few of those aspects, I was struggling with - during reading these books I not only found out that deep inside I was struggling with more things than I thought, I also was invited to check out other ways of thinking about those aspects.
In the end these books really brought a new thinking - and a new kind of freedom and relaxing. A new kind of Christianity which i think will also make more sense to the people and the world around me.
Actually I - interested in science as I am - liked "The Story We Find Ourselves In" best, followed by "A New Kind Of Christian".
McLaren cleverly presents different ways of thinking through very different characters in the story, pointing out that none of the characters neccessarily reflects his view. He invites the reader to think his own thoughts and combine what he's reading with his own thoughts/questions on the subjects.
Comparing the reviews I think: maybe Europe is readier for this than America? Having said that I really very much do hope these books will be translated to German - I have people not so familiar with English reading these books.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ACTION not word games!, March 16, 2006
This review is from: McLaren Boxed Set (A New Kind of Christian; The Story We Find Ourselves In; The Last Word and the Word After That) (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) (Hardcover)
These books layout a new way of acting and interacting with nature, god and each other. I've often felt my Christianity was at times just mental word games. It is now time to act. That is the power of these books. A new kind of theology that actually relates to existence. It is very powerful. I love the character study and to think of theology in the conversations of everyday life is beautiful. I would recommend this book highly. I understand some christians will simply freak out when the see theistic evolution in the book. To me this is just more evidence that Christianity has lost touch with reallity. I hope this book brings some of us back.
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