Thursday, January 31, 2008
Interview with Brian McLaren
Here is an interesting interview with Brian McLaren. This dude gets some seriously bad press (on the blogs I read). I found myself not so taken aback by much of this interview. Check it out for yourself. I didn't read the whole thing and have never read any of his books so I can't really give a truly informed opinion, but just wanted you to have an opportunity to judge for yourself.
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4 comments:
Zach, I agree that McLaren does have many good things to say in this interview (along with some unclear and/or problematic statements, but that's another post). I do really recommend that you read at least one of his books. I've read various interviews with him, and I also have read much of A Generous Orthodoxy and plan to read more of his writing.
From what I can tell thus far in his work, he seems to have had some bad experiences with evangelical Christian leaders (and perhaps laypeople) over the years. It also appears that perhaps he has only had limited exposure to a seriously thinking, intellectually rigorous, and emotionally healthy, well-rounded evangelical Christianity. I get this distinct sense from some of his writing. As I said, he does make some good points. He is on target about the Bible's teaching that following Jesus means much more than "being saved and having a personal relationship with Him" in some sort of simplistic, overly individualistic way. He also makes the sound point that the Kingdom of God is not exclusively to be considered as a future reality for the follower of Christ but is also be to lived out here and now, in loving and helping those around us and in working for a better world that more reflects the character of God.
However, one serious problem that I have gradually noticed in McLaren's thinking is that he tends to confuse the conservative American "Churchianity" that he so dislikes with other actual Biblical teachings, such as the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ for sinners, and the sinfulness of active, practiced homosexuality. He even once hinted in one his books that penal substitution is a form of "divine child abuse." Obviously, one can dislike certain trappings of American evangelicalism without disparaging clear Biblical teaching, but McLaren has been on the wrong side of that line increasingly over the years, and it is troubling.
Interestingly, many of his more valid criticisms of Christian culture and its lack of engagement with the world were voiced decades ago by Francis Schaeffer. Schaeffer called the evangelical church and culture on the carpet over many serious shortcomings, and he did so while still strongly affirming Biblical doctrine. I wish that McLaren would think and write as carefully and faithfully as Schaeffer did. Again, not thst McLaren doesn't make good points, but others have made the same points in the past, without the aspects of his writing that are so disconcerting.
Sorry for the typos... and epic-length post :-)
Christopher,
Good points. I have so much to read right now that Big Brian is probably going to have to wait, but I do want to check it out.
I am no fan of the divine child abuse stuff. That is straight wack jack Biblically speaking...
z
What I think is that trying to look critically at what current "leaders" like McLaren, Osteen and even Richard Dawkins are saying should help us to strengthen our faith. There are issues raised by these folks where we have had blinders on, but there are some places (particularly for outspoken atheists like Dawkins) where we must strongly and adamantly disagree. What we need to realize that is, in all things, God will see his work done, whether we see it or not. My hope for myself and other Christians as well is that critically thinking about these folks leads us to develop a more thoughtful, contemplative, and (most importantly) Biblically-sound Christianity.
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