Book Review: A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren
Brian McLaren is considered to be a major spokesman for the emergent church movement. Because of that, I'd wanted to read material by him. In March of this year, I finally read one of his books. Here is my review of his book A Generous Orthodoxy.
August 19,
2006
Book being reviewed:
A Generous Orthodoxy
by Brian McLaren
I have been hearing about the emergent church movement for some time, but had not had a chance to read any books by people well-known in the field until I read this book. The way I ended up reading this book was that it was part of a Lenten book study our church did with another church, a study which included three books: this one, The Heart Of Christianity by Marcus Borg, and Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. Of the three books, I was most eager to read A Generous Orthodoxy. It turned out, however, that this was my least favorite of the three books.
One weakness of the book is McLaren's style of writing, which I would describe as sloppy, or all over the place. It's like reading someone's unedited blog, with random thoughts constantly being inserted among the main points. Another weakness of the book is that I didn't find it to say anything really new to me. Though I had never read anything about the emergent church, I had read much of what he talked about in other contexts. On the other hand, what is good about this book is that it takes all those various ideas I've read elsewhere and puts them all together.
What I like about the book is that it emphasizes that we need to pull away from the self-assured, know-it-all ideas about our faith, and be a little more humble about our understanding of God and our view toward other people. Some readers and reviewers of this book have twisted that to say he is being relativist, but I don't find anything relativist in the book at all.
I particularly liked the chapter "Why I Am Mystical." This is the aspect of the emergent church that most appeals to me. I think we have lost the mysterious beauty of God by reducing him, in this manner that McLaren describes on page 168: "At the heart of the theological project in the late modern world was the assumption that one could and should reduce all revealed truth into propositions and organize those propositions into an outline that exhaustively contains and services as the best vehicle for truth." It's like turning your marriage into nothing more than logical reasons why you choose to live with your spouse.
Another passage from the book that I particularly like is found in chapter 18: "But 'the Christian religion' is neither the ultimate goal of Jesus nor the ultimate goal of God, in my view. Rather, the goal of Jesus is the kingdom of God, which is the dream of God, the wish and hope and desire of God for his creation--like a parent's hope and dreams for a beloved child." On page 320, in a footnote he says more about this: "I believe that Christianity is not the kingdom of God. The ultimate reality is the kingdom of God, and Christianity at its best is here to proclaim and lead people into that kingdom." The three books our two churches studied all had an underlying theme about the kingdom of God, and what it's all about; these three books shed new light about the kingdom of God for me, although the other two books were more enlightening than this one on the topic.
Within the discussion groups I participated in during our Lenten book study, most people shared my view that this book was okay, but not up to the level of the other two. Some, however, had never read anything like this and found the book to be fascinating. The book is easy to read, so even though it has its weaknesses, I would recommend it to others as a way to provoke some thought and spiritual growth.
I have posted this review at Amazon.com. I invite you to go to that web page and vote yes on my review if you find it helpful. This increases my reviewer rank at Amazon. Thanks!
Book being reviewed:
A Generous Orthodoxy
by Brian McLaren
I have been hearing about the emergent church movement for some time, but had not had a chance to read any books by people well-known in the field until I read this book. The way I ended up reading this book was that it was part of a Lenten book study our church did with another church, a study which included three books: this one, The Heart Of Christianity by Marcus Borg, and Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. Of the three books, I was most eager to read A Generous Orthodoxy. It turned out, however, that this was my least favorite of the three books.
One weakness of the book is McLaren's style of writing, which I would describe as sloppy, or all over the place. It's like reading someone's unedited blog, with random thoughts constantly being inserted among the main points. Another weakness of the book is that I didn't find it to say anything really new to me. Though I had never read anything about the emergent church, I had read much of what he talked about in other contexts. On the other hand, what is good about this book is that it takes all those various ideas I've read elsewhere and puts them all together.
What I like about the book is that it emphasizes that we need to pull away from the self-assured, know-it-all ideas about our faith, and be a little more humble about our understanding of God and our view toward other people. Some readers and reviewers of this book have twisted that to say he is being relativist, but I don't find anything relativist in the book at all.
I particularly liked the chapter "Why I Am Mystical." This is the aspect of the emergent church that most appeals to me. I think we have lost the mysterious beauty of God by reducing him, in this manner that McLaren describes on page 168: "At the heart of the theological project in the late modern world was the assumption that one could and should reduce all revealed truth into propositions and organize those propositions into an outline that exhaustively contains and services as the best vehicle for truth." It's like turning your marriage into nothing more than logical reasons why you choose to live with your spouse.
Another passage from the book that I particularly like is found in chapter 18: "But 'the Christian religion' is neither the ultimate goal of Jesus nor the ultimate goal of God, in my view. Rather, the goal of Jesus is the kingdom of God, which is the dream of God, the wish and hope and desire of God for his creation--like a parent's hope and dreams for a beloved child." On page 320, in a footnote he says more about this: "I believe that Christianity is not the kingdom of God. The ultimate reality is the kingdom of God, and Christianity at its best is here to proclaim and lead people into that kingdom." The three books our two churches studied all had an underlying theme about the kingdom of God, and what it's all about; these three books shed new light about the kingdom of God for me, although the other two books were more enlightening than this one on the topic.
Within the discussion groups I participated in during our Lenten book study, most people shared my view that this book was okay, but not up to the level of the other two. Some, however, had never read anything like this and found the book to be fascinating. The book is easy to read, so even though it has its weaknesses, I would recommend it to others as a way to provoke some thought and spiritual growth.
I have posted this review at Amazon.com. I invite you to go to that web page and vote yes on my review if you find it helpful. This increases my reviewer rank at Amazon. Thanks!
Posted: Sat - August 19, 2006 at 05:35 PM
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