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400 of 431 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Refreshing, Provocative, and Inspiring, March 30, 2006
The provocative title alone is enough to grab one's attention. In fact, I have been reading scathing reviews/criticism of the title for weeks on other sites written by people who haven't even read the book. I guess I'm a little different. I felt that I should probably actually read the book before I presumed to comment on it (crazy, I know). Now, having read the the book ), I'll share my thoughts on what I have (actually) read.
I'll begin my admitting my bias. I have been looking forward to this book. McLaren's work has been a blessing to me and has reinvigorated my faith. That being said, introduction is vintage McLaren. On every page I was struck with the sense of "I'm not alone," and "I'm not crazy". He beautifully articulates thoughts and feelings that I've been having for years. Has Christianity in it's most popular forms somehow missed or lost the major thrust of Jesus' message and elevated other things, which though important, were never meant to have the prominence they now enjoy?
Chapter 1 is titled "Troubling Questions About Jesus". It begins with almost 2 full pages of questions about Jesus and his message that will indeed trouble you if you will actually consider them. They are not however the kind of questions that critics would accuse him of asking. From the title, many are assuming that McLaren is promoting a Gnostic view of Jesus. This is most assuredly not the case. The divinity of Jesus is quite firmly upheld and affirmed. What is questioned is our perceptions and understandings. McLaren asks "What if Jesus of Nazareth was right--more right in different ways than we ever realized? What if Jesus had a message that could truly save the world, but we're prone to miss the point of it?" This chapter is a very useful exercise in thought for those who are willing to go through it.
Chapter 2 is on "The Political Message of Jesus". In in, McLaren outlines the 4 major "political parties" of Jesus' day (Pharisees, Saducees, Zealots, Essenes), and then compares and contrasts Jesus' message/methods with theirs. It is quite an informative exercise with far reaching implications that branch into our own day and culture.
Chapter 3 explores "The Jewish Message of Jesus". This chapter brings to mind the work of N.T. Wright (particularly "The New Testament and the People of God"), though it is done in a more accessible way than Wright's scholarly work. McLaren has certainly done his homework. This background is absolutely key to understanding Jesus and his message in context. I am genuinely excited about the release of this book so that this type of contextualization will be available in such a readable form.
Chapter 4 examines "The Revolutionary Message of Jesus." It begins with a summary of the story of scripture very similar to the one presented in "The Story We Find Ourselves In". Some may consider this to be rehashing old material, but I find it to be quite necessary for the argument McLaren is building and appreciate it's inclusion here. This chapter also includes a nod to eschatology that is strikingly different from the "Escapist" eschatologies that are currently enjoying popularity. Without giving away too much, the "revolution" that the title refers to is eschatological in nature and the implication is that Jesus and his followers were/are revolutionaries moving toward that end.
Chapter 6 is titled "The Hidden Message of Jesus", and begins by examining the fact that Jesus messages weren't overtly religious. His teaching honestly can't be extolled for it's clarity. Jesus was often quite vague. McLaren raises the question, "What could possibly be the benefit of Jesus's hiddenness, intrigue, lack of clarity, metaphor, and answering questions with questions? Why risk being misunderstood--or not understood at all? If the message is so important, why hide it in evocative rather than technical language?" Why indeed?
McLaren will surprise his critics in a few instances, (though I'm sure they will dismiss it because they presume to know what he "really means"). For example, on page 6 he states, "A lot of people say, 'It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere.' I'd like to challenge that belief. Believing untrue things puts you at odds with reality, and can prove downright destructive." That's not quite the relativist statement you would expect from reading his critics. He also notes the contemporary fascination with the "Gnostic Gospels" and "The Davinci Code". He wonders how we could have reached a point where the Jesus presented in those so called accounts could seem more interesting to some people than the Jesus presented in the canonical gospels. He suggests that a benefit from all this hype is that, while those accounts themselves are misleading, they could force us to consider "the possibility that the church's conventional versions of Jesus may not do him justice."
To be totally honest with you, I keep thinking "This is the book I wish I had written." Let's get in to section 2:
Part 2 is called "Engagement: Grappling With The Meaning of Jesus's Message"
Chapter 6 explores "The Medium of the Message". In this chapter, McLaren examines Jesus use of "parable". What could possibly be the benefit of trying to advance this radical message in short, seemingly irreligious stories? He also takes a closer look at the string of parables found in Matthew 13. I really appreciated Brian's insight in this chapter. I think his background in Literature really pays off here.
Chapter 7 is titled "The Demonstration of the Message". Here McLaren tackles the subject of Miracles. Why did Jesus perform them? Did it have anything to do with his message? McLaren also looks at worldviews here. Did God just set the world in motion, to run on its own...and are miracles when he reaches in from a distance and "fiddles with the gears"? Is there another way to look at miracles other than when a generally uninvolved God decides to intervene?
Chapter 8 deals with "The Scandal of the Message". What were/are the powers and principalities that Jesus was trying to overturn. How does his message combat them. Demons, possession and the like also get some discussion in this compelling chapter. McLaren actually tries to find some common ground for people who believe in literal demons and those who don't. It is a very interesting and compelling take on the subject.
In Chapter 9, McLaren explains that "You Can't Keep a Secret". Here, he tackles "The Great Commission". He even integrates the differently worded versions of it from the different gospel writers into a single paraphrased account. What exactly was the mission that Jesus laid out for his followers. Over the years, have we begun to miss the point of it?
I loved chapter 10. It's called "Secret Agents of the Kingdom". McLaren says, "Too often, when the story of the movement of Jesus is told, most of the focus is on the religious professionals. But what if their role is at best minor? What if the real difference is made in the world not by us preachers, but by those who endure our preaching, those who quietly live out the secret message of the kingdom of God in their daily, workaday likes in the laboratory, classroom, office, cockpit, parliament, kitchen, market, factory, and neighborhood?" This chapter is positively inspirational. I admit I wiped a couple of tears.
Chapter 11 is called "The Open Secret". In this brief chapter, McLaren deconstructs the argument of Christianity v/s Paulianity that is being promoted by some these days. He points out many of the places where Paul overtly speaks of "the Kingdom" (Jesus central message), and then discusses why Paul doesn't just repeat the ideas that Jesus taught and uses different terminology. He also talks a good bit about "inclusion" here.
In Chapter 12, McLaren talks about "Hiding the Message in New Places". He explores how Paul found new ways to communicate the message of Jesus, like subverting Caesar's political propaganda and putting Jesus in Caesar's place. Again, the I am reminded of the work of N.T. Wright, though, as before, it is presented here in a much more accessible form. Brian also points out that while Paul doesn't use parables, he does use stories, including his own to spread the message.
Chapter 13 was a surprise to me. He titles it "getting it, Getting in". Here, McLaren delivers a beautifully fresh take on "the Plan of Salvation", (yes, that plan of salvation). I really can't describe to you how I felt when I read this chapter. "Hope" I guess gets closest to what I felt.
Section 3 is titled "Imagination: Exploring how Jesus's secret message could change everything".
Chapter 14: "Kingdom Manifesto"--In this chapter, McLaren walks us through "The Sermon on The Mount". If one buys into Jesus' "Secret Message", what does that mean for the way they live their life? McLaren sees this passage as being key to answering that question. He explains:
"I should acknowledge that many people assume the sermon intends to answer one question--namely, 'How does an individual go to heaven after death?' This was my assumption as well for many years, but as I have reflection the life and message of Jesus, I have become convinced that Jesus is exploring a very different set of questions--namely, 'What kind of life does God want people to live? What does life in the kingdom of God look like? What is a truly good (or righteous) life? How does this message differ from conventional messages?' Rather than directing our attention to life after death in heaven, away from this life and beyond history, these questions return our focus to the here and now--and in so doing, they provide an essential window into Jesus' secret message."
Chapter 15: "Kingdom Ethics"--Here,...
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448 of 485 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
McLaren helps us rediscover what Jesus really taught, March 27, 2006
This book should finally lay to rest any complaints that Brian is too often vague and evasive in stating what exactly he does believe about the gospel. In this book he is crystal clear. Bottom line: it's about the kingdom of God.
Of course, that's not to say that Brian purports to answer every question or spell out a detailed systematic theology. Instead, rather true to form, he paints us a picture with broad strokes, giving us a new way to look at what Jesus and his gospel were all about. And he does it with a remarkable clarity and simplicity.
Indeed, the most surprising thing about this book is that it seems to have been written as much for non-Christian seekers as for fellow Christians. This is a book you could give to your "spiritual but not religious" friends who might be interested in learning more about Jesus. However, from the looks of some of the previous comments here, this quality seems to have already caused some people to misread and misunderstand Brian's words. For example, Brian does NOT say that he doesn't believe in demons or supernatural powers, but he does acknowledge that some of his non-Christian readers may have a hard time believing in such things, and thus he tries to cast his discussion of Jesus' encounters with demonic powers in terms that would make sense to skeptical people.
The title itself has to do with the idea that Jesus often concealed his message in parables and questions. Rarely does Jesus ever give a clear statement of what the gospel is all about. In fact, in Matthew 13:10-15 Jesus flat out admits that he is being deliberately unclear. Brian asks why would Jesus do such a thing? If doctrinal knowledge is so very important (at least according to evangelical theologies), then why couldn't Jesus have just spoken more clearly and told us everything we needed to know. Why did he speak in parables rather than in doctrinal statements? Why does the Bible contain letters and poems and stories rather than systematic theology?
What Brian suggests is that perhaps Jesus' purpose was not to simply impart knowledge. Instead maybe Christ's goal was to effect spiritual transformation in the lives of his hearers by inviting his hearers into an interactive relationship with himself; and maybe this goal is best achieved by means of parables and other similarly evocative forms of communicating.
But what is Jesus' secret message then? According to Brian, it comes down to the idea of the kingdom of God as a present, political, social, and personal reality. In other words, he focuses on the fact that Jesus didn't seem to talk about heaven as some place we go to after we die, but rather as a reality that we can begin to live in here and now ("the kingdom of God is among you!"). And perhaps by living in this reality (according to its ways and values) we can begin to transform the world in such a way as to bring a little bit more of heaven to earth.
In other words, Brian challenges the dominant evangelical theologies that make Christ's message all about how to get forgiveness for your sins so that you can go to heaven after you die, and instead gives us a bigger, fuller view of the gospel. This gospel certainly includes forgiveness for sins, and resurrection from the dead, but it goes so much more beyond that. The idea is that Jesus didn't only come to tell us how to die, he also came to show us how to live!
Brian puts it this way:
"What if Jesus' secret message reveals a secret plan? What if he didn't come to start a new religion - but rather came to start a political, social, religious, artistic, economic, intellectual, and spiritual revolution that would give birth to a new world?" (p. 4)
Brian spends the rest of the book describing this revolution and this new world. The book itself is divided into three main sections. The first, "Excavation: Digging Beneath the Surface to Uncover Jesus's Message", dives into the historical and especially the first century Jewish context of Jesus' message. To me it seems obvious that if we are to really understand what Jesus is all about we must first understand him through the eyes and ears of his original audience. What astounds me is that there are still some Christians (like some of the ones who have already posted reviews here) who see this approach as a threat to an "evangelical" understanding of scripture. But if we truly respect the Bible and desire to know what it's really saying, then wouldn't we want to look at it first through the lens of its historical and cultural context rather than through the lenses of our systematic theologies? After all, most of our current theologies, whether evangelical or liberal, were developed centuries later in response to very different questions than those that concerned Jesus and his followers.
As Brian uncovers this historical context of the message he shows how it has revolutionary political and social implications, both for Jesus' time and for ours. Not revolutionary in the sense that Jesus was trying to violently overthrow Rome and set up a new Jewish kingdom in its place, but revolutionary in that Jesus was calling people to live according to the values and practices of a new social order, and swear allegiance to a different Lord than Caesar. This is the thrust of the book's second section, "Engagement: Grappling with the Meaning of Jesus's Message", as Brian more fully explains the implications of Christ's message of a kingdom of sacrificial love, subtle subversion and radical inclusion.
The third and final section, "Imagination: Exploring How Jesus' Secret Message Could Change Everything", discusses the practical and personal implications by examining how this new understanding of Jesus transforms our understanding of social relationships, spiritual practices, as well as the dynamics of just war versus active peacemaking. But Brian wades into even more controversial subjects when he suggests that this new understanding of the gospel requires us to also rethink our traditional understandings of Heaven, Hell and the End Times as well as who is really "in" and "out" of the kingdom and what that means. Without getting too mired down by trying to explain what Brian says about all these topics, I will say that the picture he paints is a far more satisfying and biblically consistent view than many of the ones that I've encountered in the evangelical Protestantism I grew up with.
Of course, it shouldn't be assumed that much of what Brian writes is entirely his own creation. This entire book is really a popularization of the work of many respected biblical scholars and historians such as N.T. Wright, Walter Wink, Dallas Willard and C.S. Lewis among others. He is standing on the shoulders of others, but he putting their work in terms that are more accessible to the average lay person, and indeed, even to non-Christians.
And it's a message that needs to be heard. This understanding of Jesus' message certainly will change everything for those who embrace it. Many of the perplexing absurdities and dilemmas of evangelical theology simply disappear when seen through this lens; while at the same time one is still challenged by Jesus' message to reorient one's whole life according to this new kingdom lifestyle. This is a message that needs to be heard. Not Brian's message, but Jesus' message - Jesus true message, stripped of centuries of theological accumulations. This is more than just a new view of the gospel (i.e. new "theology", new abstract ideas). It's an invitation to a new kind of life. Jesus secret message is an invitation to live in the Way of the Kingdom. It's a message that the world desperately need.
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45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, uncompromising, and accessible to a wide range of readers, April 28, 2006
This is, once again, an excellent book. McLaren has done a marvelous job of going back to the real text of scripture and pointing out what Jesus has said and how he thorough. That said, in many ways, the ideas in this book are not really theologically novel thoughts, and as such, I believe this book is very accessible even for those who may be suspicious of the emergent movement or McLaren's writings. McLaren frequently references respected Christian scholars and leaders whose names should not ring bells of terror to any Christian: Martin Luther King, C.S. Lewis, Dallas Willard, Walter Bruggemann, and Tony Campolo.
The Jesus presented in The Secret Message of Jesus is orthodox and non-heretical. But Jesus is shown to be a real person with a very radical message - one which we are often too uncomfortable with to give real credence to in our lives. He didn't fit into easy, comfortable boxes back then, and he doesn't now, either. McLaren demonstrates a real commitment to scripture as he not only does an excellent job of walking through Christ's manifesto, the Sermon on The Mount, his parables, and other teachings and explaining them through the contextual lens of the culture of Christ's day, but also demonstrating what they can mean for us today. It is an uncompromising, no-holds-barred approach to Christ and what he expects of his followers.
I think the thing I appreciated most about this book was how McLaren was able to tie together Paul's writings with Jesus' teachings and help the reader get past the sometimes stumbling block of "Paulianity" vs. "Christianity." He explained Paul's writings, which we sometimes see as contradictory to or inconsistent with Christ's, as a logical development which applied to a new and changing culture of both Christ-followers as well as the political era of the day. I also found Appendix A, containing his study of church history and some of its shortcomings with regard to the message of Christ, fascinating.
I studied theology at a conservative Christian college, and there discovered the scholarly studies of scripture that are often inaccessible to the lay person. I learned to read scripture in a way that took into account context and culture and ancient writing styles. Because of this, much of what McLaren says is not new to me, but the great strength of this book is that it makes accessible to lay readers the truths gained from Christian scholarship that are not often utilized in the modern church.
And I believe that is the point of the title of this excellent work, The Secret Message of Jesus. It is not that Christ's message has been completely hidden for centuries and only now has McLaren discovered it. It is rather that the church has tended to water down and compromise Christ's message and that lay church members have not always had the resources or wherewithal to see that message in all its unflinching honesty. Certainly many have over the years, including C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Boenhoffer, and Martin Luther King, to name just a few. This book is just an attempt to compile and make accessible the truth that has always been there.
I encourage you to approach this book with an open mind. It is hard for me to believe some of the extremely negative reviewers have even read the book. Go to a bookstore and page through it if you are curious but not ready to commit. I think it will be a very worthwhile read, both for fans of McLaren as well as for those who are unsure or even skeptical. And ultimately, read it with an open Bible in hand, for I believe that will be proof enough.
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by Brian D. McLaren
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