A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey [Paperback]

Brian D. McLaren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2008

A Leadership Network Publication

A New Kind of Christian's conversation between a pastor and his daughter's high school science teacher reveals that wisdom for life's most pressing spiritual questions can come from the most unlikely sources. This stirring fable captures a new spirit of Christianity--where personal, daily interaction with God is more important than institutional church structures, where faith is more about a way of life than a system of belief, where being authentically good is more important than being doctrinally "right," and where one's direction is more important than one's present location. Brian McLaren's delightful account offers a wise and wondrous approach for revitalizing Christian spiritual life and Christian congregations.

If you are interested in joining a discussion group devoted to a A New Kind of Christian please visit groups.yahoo.com/group/NKOC.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a milestone in interfaith relations -- a warm hand reaching out to other men and women in this Abrahamic family of faiths. (http://www.readthespirit.com/explore/2008/06/187-conversatio.html)

From the Back Cover

A New Kind of Christian

Book One in The New Kind of Christian Trilogy

The first installment of Brian McLaren's trilogy recounts a lively and intimate conversation between fictional characters Pastor Dan Poole and his daughter's high school science teacher, Neil Oliver. They reflect together about faith, doubt, reason, mission, leadership, and spiritual practice in the emerging postmodern world. A New Kind of Christian offers a tale of hope and spiritual renewal for those who thought they had to give up on faith, God, and church.

"A New Kind of Christian is a landmark in twenty-first century Christianity. This book has and will continue to provoke conversation, debate, even conversion. McLaren charts a new course for the faith. In short, he is a prophet, and this is a prophetic text."
—Tony Jones, author, The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (April 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470248408
• ISBN-13: 978-0470248409
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #377,283 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

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A necessary reality check in facing postmodernism and Christianity November 9, 2008

By E. Tung

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

A New Kind of Christian is Brian McLaren's introductory work into understanding how the postmodern era--as well as the modern, medeival, and Roman eras--have all shaped our perspectives on Christianity. McLaren argues that current evangelical Christianity is one cultural motif--one modern achievment--in conceptualizing the Christian God. Though many aspects of evangelical Christianity are beautiful, true, and good, many aspects are mere "byproducts" of a modernistic worldview and do not necessarily reflect truth and love of Jesus Christ.

McLaren calls Christians to confront the components of Christianity that reflect human culture more than authentic spiritual encounter, and also confront the current postmodern age.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Confirms my "heresy" that I'm not on that road alone February 17, 2010

By R. Isitt

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Tired of conforming to orthodoxy that you're not sure is so accurate? Are you being pulled to something different, deeper, more meaningful yet you still want to be a follower of Jesus? If you are, you're not alone and this book confirms it. I personally don't believe you should read this if you're content in the traditional teachings of mainstream Christianity if you're beholden to orthodoxy. But if you're thinking that you want to expand your thinking,to have that freedom of thought in your faith, to truly search for truth then this book helps to confirm that it's OK. You're not a heretic and you're not leaving God. I must say, I was wondering if I was becoming a "heretic" and some may think that I am with this freedom of thought but I truly believe I'm growing into a deeper, richer relationship with my Savior.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Shack-like Fiction That Promotes Postmodern View May 10, 2010

By MasterAP

Format:Paperback

The first book of a trilogy written in the style of The Shack, McLaren introduces you to A New Kind of Christian.

Pastor Dan Poole has almost given up on the ministry. He is disillusioned and isn't even sure what he believes anymore. Upon taking his daughter to a homegrown rock concert, Pastor Poole meets Neil Oliver - a High School science teacher.

Dan and Neil begin a relationship that will cover faith, doubt, reason, mission, leadership and spiritual practice.

This relationship isn't without its barbs. Some readers may find themselves identifying with Dan as his foundation of spirituality is reconstructed in the postmodern world.

Have you given up on faith, God and the church?

If you've read The Shack and were impacted by it in a positive way, I believe you will gain much from reading the first book of McLaren's New Kind of Christian Trilogy.

Brain McLaren shares his views on a number of topics via the conversations between two fictional characters. It's amazing how a story can present ideas better than a lecture or even a non-fiction inspirational book.

This book was provided for review by Jossey-Bass Publishing.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Should the Church Embrace Postmodernism? July 26, 2011

By Randy A. Stadt

Format:Paperback

Brian Mclaren believes that the church, thoroughly enmeshed as it is in modernism, is becoming increasingly irrelevant to a culture that is moving away from modernism and toward a new paradigm of postmodernism. To be able to speak to a culture that is well underway in making the transition, he argues that the church must also embrace this worldview.

The problem is, he never gives us anything close to an adequate description of postmodernism. He doesn't tell us that its main feature is the repudiation of truth, the common-sense notion that we have access to a mind-independent reality "out there"; rather, we create our own model of reality by our use of language. We are stuck in a bubble, the walls of which are mirrors that reflect only ourselves. There is no truth in the sense of correspondence with reality; there is only "truth" in the sense of coherence between the ideas in our story. Thus there can be no conflict between the "truths" of one community and those of another. Christians have their story, Muslims have their own story, and so on for every conceivable group. Each is "true" insofar as it is true to itself. Postmodernism, then, has no use for the idea of "metanarrative", a story which claims to actually be in contact with reality and thus is true for all peoples in all times. This is, of course, a perfect description of pluralism.

A second, related feature of postmodernism is that there is no singular, correct meaning in a text established by the intent of the author. Instead, there are as many meanings in a text as there are communities, be they Marxist, feminist, Southern Baptist, or any other group, ad infinitim. To say that one interpretation is correct is oppressive, because what's at play here is power, not truth....

Now, it is critical to realize that notions of truth and knowledge are not features of modernism. For almost two thousand years prior to the modern era, people took for granted ideas that postmodernism would have us jettison. These would include the idea that there is a mind-independent world, the basic reliability of our senses and reasoning capacities to obtain truth about that world, and also that God could reveal his Word to all peoples through the pages of the Bible. Though we might disagree among ourselves, it was thought that there was a singular meaning to the text and that it was reasonable for us to put our best efforts in disputation and exegesis in order to discover that meaning.

Thus Mclaren would have us repudiate not only modernist thinking, but premodernist and ancient thinking. This would cut the legs out from under Christianity. For two thousand years, and not just since the modern era, Christianity has understood itself as proclaiming a metanarrative, a singular gospel of salvation through one Saviour.

Mclaren plays his cards close to his chest on the issue of religious pluralism, perhaps anticipating resistance if he too quickly endorses it. But he does seem to reveal this postmodern commitment in a few places. In one place a character declares that Christianity doesn't own God, and that God is at work in the lives of non-Christians as well as Christians. That second statement is ambiguous: Christians have always affirmed that God works in the hearts of non-Christians in order to bring them to saving faith. But I get the feeling that this is not what is meant; in light of the odd statement that "Christianity doesn't own God" I think what is being communicated is that other religions are just as valid as Christianity in bringing people to God. My hunch is confirmed in the endnotes where Mclaren credits someone "for his insight that pluralism (recognizing the world's many diverse religions) means seeing the world more the way God has always seen it."

Truth (correspondence between a thought and the way the world really is) and knowledge (justified true belief) have no place in postmodernism because they presuppose access to the world. Mclaren doesn't openly denounce these but he does seem to downplay them in a way that is consistent with postmodern denial. For instance, he declares that the theological distinctions between evangelical and liberal, Calvinist and Arminian, and Protestant and Catholic, are modernist notions and thus to be dispensed with in the postmodern era: "Modern Protestant seminaries are still fighting the battles of yesterday, like the Protestant Reformation and the liberal-fundamentalist debates. Somebody tell them those wars are over". He doesn't appeal to the Bible, he just waves his hand in dismissal. It seems to me that he views these "warring" theological camps as different communities, who because of their distinctive use of language, construct their own truths so there's no way to adjudicate between them. Indeed, he says that since the time of Christ there have been "twenty centuries of Christian universes".

I am not defending modernism, regardless of whether or not the case against it might be overstated. Its enthronement of reason, its banishment of God and establishment of a religious belief/knowledge dualism, its consumerism, radical individualism, and the inauthenticity and hypocrisy that can result - these are all valid critiques that contemporary Christians need to face squarely. But if there is a sense in which the contemporary church is like a sick patient, embracing postmodernism would be a treatment that actually kills the patient. Efforts to contextualize the gospel to a changing culture must not result in changing the gospel itself.

The bottom line that illustrates the danger is this: Does Christianity give us an accurate picture of the way the world really is, and can we know it to be so? Is truth correspondence? Or does Christianity just tell us a story?

We ought to learn from the example of the first-century church, which was almost destroyed by absorbing the worldview (gnosticism) of the surrounding culture. In our case, Ravi Zacharias warns that postmodern pluralism and denial of knowledge is going to "produce a generation of people who will not be able to handle the challenge of Islam and other major world religions." When doctrine is dismissed as "too dogmatic" we lose the ability to distinguish between the real thing and a counterfeit.

To conclude, in the words of Greg Koukl, "There is no virtue in this view, only danger. If you are convinced there is no truth, there is nothing to protect you from being destroyed by lies; there are lies, and they do destroy. Truth and knowledge are essential to Christianity. Postmodernism denies truth and knowledge, therefore postmodernism is a philosophy that is not in accordance to Christ. It is a philosophy we should not only defend against but we should be tearing down." Read more ›

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes you think! May 23, 2013

By marcio

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is a must for every Christian on a journey to better understanding his faith in these times. Fantastic!

5.0 out of 5 stars Love it January 1, 2013

By Bobbie Harper

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book and others like it make me think about what I have always believed without trying to force their beliefs on me.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this story January 10, 2011

By Eric

Format:Paperback

This book is a wonderful tale of a fundamentalist conservative pastor questioning his faith and what he teaches. Through his relationship with a friend named Neo, this pastor learns to understand what the Christian faith IS and how to live and teach it authentically. A story like this is a much better way of explaining the questions emergent Christians wrestle with.