A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvini (Emergentys)

Rating:
Summary: Stretching / Wandering
Review: Brian McLaren - a man with a great heart. I picked up this book after hearing Brian speak at the Catalyst 2004 conference in Atlanta. While I do not agree with everything he is working through in this book, I appreciate his heart and his search for a deeper sprituality found in seeking Christ. Brian, unlike others in the emergent movement, seems more open to opinions other than his own. He holds to his guns in this book, such as the need to participate in habitat saving events in his community, but leaves the door open for others who do not fully agree with him.

I am always willing to engage with someone who is not close-minded. Brian is humble, he writes about not having it all together, yet wanting to piece together what he knows. This I can respect, and feel akin to a lot of the time. The section of the book that is most challenging is the section on 'The Seven Jesus's." Brian take a good amount of time dissecting different views of Christ in different church traditions, pulling from each one. He comes up with a sum that is greater than all the parts, and is hard to argue with. Don't read this book if your opinions are set in stone - it will just bug you. But, if you have an open mind and like to dialogue with others who push the envelope - than check it out.

Rating:
Summary: worthy of discussion
Review: i think this book is just the medicine that the evangelical church world needs. instead of harping on differences or arguing over "essentials" (an endless conversation), the author makes an attempt at bringing divergent groups together in appreciation for one another's strengths, gifts and contributions to christianity at large. some may take issue with one point or another (as perhaps they should), but the topics at hand are worth discussing. check out agenerousorthodoxy.blogspot.com for one such honest discussion.

Rating:
Summary: blending grace and truth...
Review: In simultaneously self-efacing and deeply moving language, Brian communicates the critical need for today's Christian church to embrace the best of every aspect of its history and identity, while acknowledging with humility where it has fallen short. Brian's central argument is that the church must become an increasingly inclusive, loving, grace-giving place, passionately committed to following Jesus as Lord, Savior, AND Teacher in order to bless the world (including and especially non-adherents). His book oozes with hope and optimism for how "a generous orthodoxy" might change the future of the church's relationship with the world.

Rating:
Summary: read the book before you review, please
Review: it is so amazingly annoying to read reviews, and then find an obvious clue that the reviewer has not read the book (as is obvious in Erin and Sunny's reviews below). really, sunny, just because amazon's database cut off the subtitle of the book. i'm the publisher, and i MORE than welcome critical comments. i will say, however, that i'm extremely proud of this book -- it's one of the most significant books in christian publishing this year, IMHO.

Rating:
Summary: Stirs the pot and brings up a few chunks to chew on
Review: McLaren argues that all of the theological hair splitting misses the core message of Jesus. He spends some time talking about the elements of each of the "categories" and "denominations" that he would include in his more inclusive orthodoxy.

He effectively stirs the theological pots a bit, pulling lots of good chunks to the surface to chew on. I really don't agree with him on a few points, but I really enjoyed seeing his perspective and enjoyed his self-effacing, whimsical style.

I would challenge those like me in the evangelical circles to read this... not to confirm what we already believe... there are lots of books to do that... but to understand arguments outside our collective comfort zone. Whether your adopt McLaren's conclusions or not, understanding the thought process can be a helpful exercise. You may decide that you get clarity on your own beliefs simply by setting them in contrasting light to Brian McLaren's.

I wouldn't recommend this to someone who is new to the faith. Getting a clear understanding on the fundamentals (not fundamentalisms) ought to be a pre-requisite. This ought to be a mature audiences only (in terms of development of personal faith) book. But for those who have already wrestled with the big questions of faith you'll find this to be an easy read and worth the time you spend with it.



Rating:
Summary: Why McLaren is an evangelical + protestant + it is ok
Review: McLaren often relies on an image of a great feast where every part of the Christian tradition brings the best it has to offer to the table and everyone enjoys the feast together. Further, when describing the term Emergent, McLaren relies on a number of analogies that are insightful. One, coined by Steven Johnson, suggests that a higher intelligence can emerge from a well functioning community where each part of the community is doing their part and their interaction gives birth to something greater than the parts (276).

Although rejecting the static dream of an abstract moment when humanity makes the world perfect (286), McLaren has offered a way of church that is indeed an abstract concept. There is no church that is the Generous Orthodoxy promoted here. What is needed is to help the particular churches that are still flawed move along toward the ideal of the body of Christ. Ultimately, this would be an eschatological act of God (eschatology is separate issue that I wish McLaren would work on, it would perhaps better ground his work).

Brian, I appreciate your vision for where Christianity can go. I think there is a lot to learn from such optimism and a desire to interact with and learn from all Christians. But I think what you have to offer the conversation is not the synthesis itself. Instead, the conversation needs thoughtful Evangelicals. Your book is mostly a conversation with those who are evangelical but don't like Evangelicals. You are protestant and evangelical before you are catholic and anabaptist. And that is just fine. Instead of trying to be more than what you are, focus in on this tradition and make it what it could be, then bring that family to the table to eat with everyone else and allow whatever is going to emerge from that to happen on its own. We, unfortunately, cannot create the Emergent church, it can only happen when all of the parts of the church are dining together. The city doesn't need another housing development, what it needs is for the Evangelical mansion and the Catholic duplex and the Anabaptist apartments to fix themselves up and create a nice neighborhood that everyone will want to move into.

For those out there who consider themselves Emergent or postmodern, I suggest you pursue one of three options. The first is to reclaim your particular tradition. Probably this is evangelicalism in some form. What have you grown up in, how have you known God? Take a hold of this tradition, criticize the tradition, and work it out. Fight for decent music in the church or a better missions program. Point out the planks and pry them out, replacing them with fine timbers.

The second option is join up with the Catholics or Orthodox. They will survive the end of modernity because they came before it and aren't, at the core, modernized. If what you're looking for is the historical tradition or a mystical form of worship, this is where it is happening. Sign up, get in the middle of it, enjoy it, and then realize the remodeling needed here. Help sweep up the porch to start but be ready to refinish the basement.

Finally, the third option is to join the Anabaptists (Mennonites or Church of Brethren or something along these lines). They, like the Catholics and Orthodox, were non-modern, taking a critical stance against most of the cultural norms while seeking to bear witness to the truth of the Gospel. The negative here is that they will, or should, be non-post-modern as well, all the while embracing the good that is going on in culture but not assimilating. If you are seeking a truly missional, incarnational church then join up here. Because they are newer than most of the rest there is plenty of construction to be done, something that Anabaptists do well but take a long time at.

At my church we have amazing potlucks because many in the church are coming from different backgrounds. What makes the potluck a success is that the Cambodians make their food and bring it, the Italians do the same, as do the Vegetarians. The dishes are all brought from these homes and placed together at a table, then we all benefit from the synthesis of a meal that is formed. If everyone from my church all crammed into one kitchen and tried to create a dish that was the synthesis of all of these dishes it would be terrible and disgusting. A relative generous orthodoxy must be developed within each part of the Christian family and the greater General Orthodoxy will be the synthesis of these, that sort of just happens, but cannot be crafted or manipulated.


Rating:
Summary: A Mind Expanding Book
Review: McLaren states up front that his goal in writing this book is that he will get people to think about (and not necessarily agree with) some of the ideas he shares in his book. Wow! He sure delivers on this. I am amazed at the breadth of the strands of Christianity (and beyond) which McLaren so succintly summarizes...and how he finds the "good faith" in so many diverse histories and people. His style is very inviting as he seeks to start a conversation and not just have the last word. I found it very helpful as a backgrounder on Christian faith and how the Christian church got to its current configuration. I recommend this book to any God-seekers who are not fully satisfied with the status quo of simple answers and a fully certain world and want to explore new ground with a very helpful, wise and continuing-to-learn sage.

Rating:
Summary: Being True to the Truth
Review: McLaren suggests each of the various Christian traditions holds some beneficial practices and beliefs. This seems to be a fair-minded and reasonable approach to the subject of Orthodoxy.

Doesn't it also seem to follow that while various traditions each hold something worthy of conservation they may also hold to practices, which are not? If so, I was wanting McLaren to acknowledge some means for distinguishing between both. I wish McLaren had identified this. Furthermore, it would have been helpful to the reader if he had identified catagories where freedom should be encouraged and catagories where diversity of beliefs becomes a vice.

Are there some doctrines where liberty is not a virtue? That is, can/should individuals hold differing views on the deity of Jesus, etc? McLaren's open-door theology appears to undermine the idea of universal truths, which apply to all peoples in all times and all places.

How wide does McLaren cast the net of orthodoxy? Consider page 198 where McLaren claims each of the `sola' phrases from the reformation to be `too narrow'....

- 'Sola Scriptura' is too narrow. The bible alone isn't sufficient as a means of authority?
- 'Sola Christus' is too narrow. Jesus Christ alone isn't sufficient for salvation?
- 'Sola gratia' is too narrow. We need more than God's grace?
- 'Sola Deo Gloria' is too narrow. There is something other than God's glory we should live for?

The book suggests where McLaren as an individual `feels comfortable'. But it doesn't convey why some doctrines are true and some are false. If a right knowing of the boundaries of orthodoxy is a requirement to godly living & loving others - then I can't suggest McLaren's book. However, if doctrines are like groceries and each person gets to pick and choose what they 'like' then McLaren's book succeeds in abundance.



Rating:
Summary: Generous Orthodoxy = Empty Christianity
Review: This is a compressed version of an exceedingly long review I wrote at the site that bears my Amazon user name.

To spare you having to read the full text if you are not so-inclined, I will ruin any sense of expectation by giving in advance my general impressions of this book. In short, it is awful. I consider it, in terms of content, one of the worst I have ever read and it stands as damning evidence of what passes for Christian reading in our day. Though it was easy to read, and even enjoyable at times, throughout the text Brian McLaren has consistently, deliberately and systematically dismantled historical Protestantism. From Sola Scriptura to hell to biblical inerrancy, nothing is sacred. At this point, those who are devotees of McLaren, The Emergent Church and post-modernism, will no doubt already have felt their blood boil and will be ready for a fight. I would encourage those people to keep reading. Those who are more traditional Christians will be grappling with an all-too-familiar feeling that this book represents yet another attack on the faith. And that is exactly what this book is. The remainder of this review will concern itself with showing how this book does away with biblical faith, replacing it with something far less godly and far more human. In short, something that is simply not Christianity.

It is difficult to critique the writing of people like McLaren because discerning what they actually believe is far more difficult than finding what they do not believe. Settling on those beliefs is akin to nailing Jello to the wall - it is a near impossible task as the Jello has no consistent form or shape, always changing, always conforming to what contains it. We are often left to read between the lines, interpreting what the author believes in light of what he rejects.

Upon reading the description on the back cover, I immediately became curious as to what McLaren's authority will be. As he examines the wide divergence of traditions with Christianity, how will he decide which to hold on to, which to cast aside and which to adopt as his own? Will he test all things in the light of Scripture and follow Paul's directive to Titus to "teach what accords with sound doctrine" or will he rely instead on his own wisdom and experience? It does not take long for the answer to become clear. His generous orthodoxy will not be a biblical orthodoxy for it does not begin and end with Scripture. He does not weigh each and every doctrine or experience by the Word of God. In his concluding chapter he tells us "To be a Christian in a generously orthodox way is not to claim to have truth captured, stuffed and mounted on the wall." Parenthetically, I would like to point out that this is an irrational statement, for I know of no Christians who would make the claim that he has arrived at absolute truth in every area of doctrine. We will continue with McLaren who says that orthodoxy is a "loving community of people who are seeking truth on the road of mission and who have been launched on the quest by Jesus, who, with us, guides us still." Again, notice that he refuses to acknowledge that perhaps we have captured much of objective truth through the Scripture. Orthodoxy is "a way of seeing and seeking, a way of living, a way of thinking and loving and learning that helps what we believe become more true over time, more resonant with the infinite glory that is God." So to McLaren, orthodoxy is thinking or opinion, not doctrine. Furthermore, it becomes "more true" over time. How can something be more or less true? It is either true or false, unless of course, one is fully absorbed in the relevatism of postmodernism.

Here are a few random observations:

He builds and then refutes straw-man arguments. He continually paints things in the worst possible light, often in a completely false light, and then seeks to be profound in refuting those arguments. This was most notable to me in his discussion of Calvinism. He presented beliefs no true Calvinist adheres to and then proceeded to show that the false view was wrong. Ironically, on page 135 he criticizes both liberals and conservatives for continually comparing "their own best to their counterpart's worst" yet that very spirit pervades this book.

He proves nothing. Time and time again he mentions facts, especially from history, with no attempt whatsoever to prove them true. He gives no context, no proof, no particulars and no citations. I suspect many of his readers have as little knowledge as he does of history, especially Reformational history, and will thus believe what he says, regardless of its truthfulness.

He is so nice. Those of us who are concerned far more with truth, and by that I refer to God's truth as outlined in Scripture, are rarely as nice as McLaren. We are forced to call sin sin. We are forced to reject much of what other people value, treasure and believe. We unapologetically reject what does not adhere to Scriptural models. McLaren and other Emergent leaders are always so nice, accepting everything and politely, though often sarcastically, rejecting Truth. What chance to Protestant apologists have against such niceness? Yet it does not matter, for foolishness in the eyes of man is wisdom in the eyes of God. God be true though every man be a liar!

In the end I have to reject this book as being something entirely different than Christian. It portrays some sort of faith modelled loosely on aspects of Christianity, but there is far more error than truth. McLaren has proven himself to be just one more in a long line of "Christian" leaders leading people away from Scripture and away from the absolute Truth it contains. Of course McLaren can always claim that we, the old-fashioned, non-Emergent Protestants, just don't get it; that somehow we are so absorbed in our modernism that we cannot make the transition to the new realities of our society. But with others, I am committed to the Bible and to remaining under God's authority.

Having read McLaren's statement of faith, I can see little evidence that he understands or accepts even the basic tenets of the faith. I do not doubt McLaren's niceness, kindness or even his desire to see the church Reformed for the better. But his generous orthodoxy is far removed from true Christianity. Christians need to reject this book and reject McLaren as a leader and teacher as long as he continues to espouse such views. I would call upon him to repent of his arrogance in rejecting God's authority and to return in submission to our Lord.

Rating:
Summary: If you have all the answers, avoid this book.
Review: This is, in my opinion, Brian's best book yet. The long term direction of Brian's teaching and the broader Emergent Church movement he represents is still a bit undefinied; and you know what - that is maybe what is best about him, his writing, and his books. Rather than state why he has all the answers in a pithy book systemizing his doctrine, he proposes the solutions he has found to the questions he has wrestled with. In taking this approach, his analysis is approachable and thought-provoking. Coupled with Brian's willingness to admit he may be wrong, and to clearly state he is only asking his readers to follow him as he follows Christ (echoing the uncertainty even Paul felt), the reader feels nurtured, prodded, but generally led to greener pastures. It remains to be seen whether or not McLaren's theology, which requires a heavy dose of paradox and mystery, can be sustained in an age of reductionism and rationalism. Even post-modern man will look to increasingly specific answers to questions Brian addresses. His treatment of the Canaanite genocide is one area where his ideas are provocative and need to be heard; however, I do not believe they ultimately go far enough and will leave some very empty handed. Will the Emergent Church rescue Christianity from the current bias it now holds or will it serve to be a bridge to more "liberal" theologies? Only time will tell. This book is a critical step in the process of walking across the bridge.