Rating: 
Summary: Thank God For McLaren
Review: This book has revolutionized my mindset as a follower of Christ. I often wonder if it was not for my friend that introduced this book to me, where I would be. This book opened my mind to issues and ideas that that I often thought upon, but was not free to raise them within the tradition I was raised in.
Brian claims freedom for others like myself that have transitioned into the postmodern way of thinking. We are now free to express our ideas because of the freedom of thought.
Rating:
Summary: Shaken and Stirred
Review: When a friend loaned me this book I was expecting familiar fare. There have been so many new Christian trends or fads in recent years that my expectations were low. Was this another Toronto event or some new revival that was going to change the world, as we know it? I had followed those trends with great enthusiasm and lingering disillusionment. All of which is why this excellent little book was devoured in a few hours. It is the semi-fictitious story of a burnt out pastor and his relationship with an intellectual maths teacher. Through their conversations we are led to question all that we have taken for granted about our faith. It is disturbing and challenging to see that much that we take for granted about the bible, evangelism, heaven and hell etc is coloured by our modern worldview and needs to be revisited in a post-modern world. Our traditional division - conservative v. liberal, is set in a different context - 'wouldn't I rather be a liberal who really cared about God's will than a good conservative evangelical who was smug in my understanding, who had stopped 'hungering and thirsting and thirsting after righteousness.'' I did not agree with everything. But I certainly came away with some fresh thoughts and a desire to reconsider the heart of my faith. And I certainly found myself surprised by what I did agree with. This will not give you the frothy short-lived lift that is a weakness of many Christian books. Neither, on its own, will it change your life. But it raises issues that cannot be ignored. Maybe I should review it again after a re-read in a year or so.
Rating:
Summary: An eye-opening read for a "mature" Christian
Review: A New Kind of Christian has given me much to think about. After reading the book, I find myself regularly asking where I put my faith--in Christ or in the Christian sub-culture in which I was raised. I have never been comfortable with my traditional (modern) views on evangelism, church life, and relating to others. I am now reexamining these ideas in the context of the post-modern culture and am finding a new way to approach them. While a challenge to many of my "sacred cows" this book has definitely helped me in my search for truth.
Rating:
Summary: Sharing the Journey
Review: This book takes courage to read, to review and to live by. It is not, as some who have reviewed it claim, an attack on the infalibility of Scripture or an effort to demean those who would suggest that wooden literalism is the ideal hermeneutic. This is a book about how to reconcile the Church today with the post-modern world. The use of the POMO term skews this discussion out of the gates - in my opinion it even serves to demonize the position too early on in many people's views. For me this is a book that I will share with other Christians who are struggling with how fundamentalism has damaged their own faith, as well as those friends who are agnostics - whose biggest denial of the Christian God is the Christian Church.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you
Review: I am so thankful that Brian McLaren wrote this book. I had been thinking that I was alone in my faith concerning how Christianity is affected by the culture of the day, whether in the Middle Ages or today. However, Mr. McLaren opened my eyes to the fact that there are Christians who feel the way I do. His books have been liberating in allowing my faith and my walk to grow.
Rating: 
Summary: Not For Everyone
Review: McLaren's semi-fictionalized account of a 39 year old Fundamentalist pastor who is about to leave the ministry is not for everyone, but it MIGHT be for you. If you like to wrestle with new ideas and often speculate on the future of the church, you will like this book. If you are pragmatic, you will find it to be a waste of your time. If you are in college or mid-life and struggle with whether your world view needs to be changed this book is for you. I recently discussed it with a group of pastors and discovered that most of them wrestled with their faith during certain critical transitional stages in their lives. Several of them did not see this book as a describing a crisis of faith, but a time of maturing. If you are theologically rigid, this book will anger you. You may even want to burn it. If you study everything you think will give you a handle on postmodern thought you will probably want to read this book, but it may not be as helpful as you think. Many of the ideas are only speculation. Who would have thought during the hippie era that we would one day slip back into a conservative quest for financial success? The future is difficult to predict. If you are a Fundamentalist you need to read this book. It will be challenging, but it will help broaden your faith. Sometimes looking at myself critically through the eyes of others is the last thing I want to do, but it helps me see myself from another point of view. If you are more liberal or postmodern, you have already lived this book and it will just be "preaching to the choir". You may like it, but it might not be worth the read. It might even reinforce your bias. To make a long review short, this book will stir up emotions. If you think you want to read it, you might not get much out of it. If you think you'll hate it, you probably should read it.
Rating:
Summary: Change is scary, but missing the move of the Spirit is worse
Review: All of us are prone to reading what we want into a text and many have approached this book with preconceptions. Those preconceptions are clearly reflected in some of the negative reviews of the book posted here. As some have claimed, this book does NOT reject the existence of Truth, but merely forces us to face the fact that we all interpret our world. There is no such thing as unbiased observation. The book makes clear Truth exists, but we must also recognize our proclivity to interpret and read into this world our preconceptions. Further, the book asks us to examine the notion that our culture and worldview greatly influence our interpretation of Truth. This book entreats us to examine the effects that modernity has had upon our understanding of the Truth of Scripture, the Truth of who God is, and the Truth of what it means to be a Christian. Just as the medieval mind could not conceive of Christianity (Truth) apart from the Pope and the geocentric understanding of the universe, what have we Moderns so wed to our Christianity? "De-emphasizing" theology is another of the false charges brought against McLaren. He does not de-emphasize theology but argues for a new understanding of theology. Our current systematic theologies are excellent, but also very modern. In the spirit of modernity we have dissected, analyzed, arranged, and put everything into neat little boxes and categories. To read the Bible is not to read a "systematic theology" but a story. The Bible is not a collection of propositions but of stories, poetry, parables, teachings, letters, etc. McLaren advocates for a new "theology" (study of Scriptures) NOT discarding the old, but appreciating and holding dear the old as we continue our study. If Truth, as God has revealed it to humanity, is in the form of a story, why should not our statement and understanding of that Truth reflect as much? Why must truth be stated, understood, and memorized in dry systems and not in the full color of the Story of God's work in this world? McLaren's book does not "dump" on modern Christianity as some have incorrectly stated. In fact, McLaren highlights the good along with the bad. He does not call for a rejection or shunning of modernity. He calls for an evaluation of how modernity has shaped our Christianity. He does not ask us to reject Truth, logic, reason, or rationality - he does ask us to accept that post-moderns are not as impressed by those things as they are by integrity, service, and transformed lives. Propositional Truth is not to be rejected but AUGMENTED by Truth INCARNATION (modern Christianity's inherent compartmentalization is infamous for the separation of belief and life). McLaren soundly demonstrates that while the Bible contains answers to many of our questions, it is NOT an "answer book" (in that it is NOT a modern "text book" as many would treat it). For example, Genesis chapters one and two were NOT written to give us a scientific explanation of the origins of the world. They give us a theological understanding of the creation and are written as poetry, not scientific prose. Reading those chapters as if they are a science text "answer book" will lead us to wrong conclusions every time. McLaren's book merely calls us to do GOOD EXEGESIS of the text (something that any seminary professor would surely agree with). McLaren's only point is that we must stop asking the text to be something it's not and to do something it was never intended to do. And while I do NOT fully embrace McLaren's ideas about Heaven and Hell, I find the arguments some make for a literal heaven and hell to be ludicrous. Matthew 25:46 (the parable of the Sheep and Goats) has been used as justification for believing in heaven and hell's literal existence. If this parable (which is highly symbolic) is used to argue for their actual physical existence, I wonder if those who hold such a position are also ready to argue that there will be literal goats and sheep lined up at their doors. Further, all that Matthew 25:46 says is, "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." McLaren argues FOR eternal life AND eternal punishment. There is in fact NOTHING in his views that would contradict the teaching of this verse. Professors from some seminaries have condemned this book (seminaries are correspondingly one of the strongholds of "modern" Christianity). Of course they would be very threatened by a discussion of "post-modern" Christianity. Some of them have reviewed this book based upon a hurried reading, the imposition of their own assumptions upon the text, and their blase dismissal of the author's arguments - all highlighting a clearly defensive posture. It appears to me that some are unable to hear what this book is really saying because there is so much at stake - and many are unwilling to take this book seriously lest the security of their own position and beliefs be shaken.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic- He met me right where I was
Review: I absolutely loved this book. I was given A New Kind Of Christian by one of my best friends and at first wasn't interested at all. However after the first three chapters I was hooked. The topics that he discusses are the exactly the same things I was feeling, but didn't know how to articulate. It helped me to realize why I sometimes I felt that I did not agree with or relate to my church, family or teaching's that I was brought up with. I realized that it is not that they are wrong or I am wrong just that we see things differently and that is okay. I think an important thing to remember is that Modernity is not the disease and Postmodernism is not the cure. However we do need to adapt our style of evangelism and can use the "modern" way of doing things for both helps and an avenue to see our mistakes.
Rating:
Summary: Only for those ready to be challenged in their thinking
Review: I am writing in response to a previously posted review of this book titled, "Capitulation to postmodernism." While Douglas Groothuis is a respected professor, all of us are prone to reading what we want into a text. He approached this book with his pre-conceptions of what it said and those are clearly reflected in his review. While some of his objections are valid, many betray a hasty reading and lack of willingness to really engage with the arguments that the text is trying to make. This book does not reject the existence of Truth, but merely forces us to face the fact that we all interpret our world. There is no such thing as an unbiased opinion. The book makes clear Truth exists, but we must also recognize our proclivity to interpret and read into this world our pre-conceptions. Further, the book asks us to examine the notion that our culture and worldview greatly influence our interpretation of Truth. This book entreats us to examine the effects that modernity has had upon our understanding of the Truth of Scripture, the Truth of who God is, and the Truth of what it means to be a Christian. Just as the medieval mind could not conceive of Christianity (Truth) apart from the Pope and the geocentric understanding of the universe, what have we Moderns so wed to our Christianity? "De-emphasizing" theology is another of the false charges brought against McLaren. He does not de-emphasize theology but argues for a new understanding of theology. Our current systematic theologies are excellent, but also very modern. In the spirit of modernity we have dissected, analyzed, arranged, and put everything into neat little boxes and categories. To read the Bible is not to read a "systematic theology" but a story. The Bible is not a collection of propositions but of stories, poetry, parables, teachings, letters, etc. McLaren advocates for a new "theology" (study of Scriptures) NOT discarding the old, but appreciating and holding dear the old as we continue our study. If Truth, as God has revealed it to humanity, is in the form of a story, why should not our statement and understanding of that Truth reflect as much? Why must truth be stated, understood, and memorized in dry systems and not in the full color of the Story of God's work in this world? McLaren's book does not "dump" on modern Christianity as Groothuis incorrectly states. In fact, McLaren highlights the good along with the bad. He does not call for a rejection or shunning of modernity. He calls for an evaluation of how modernity has shaped our Christianity. He does not ask us to reject Truth, logic, reason, or rationality - he does ask us to accept that post-moderns are not as impressed by those things as they are by integrity, service, and transformed lives. Propositional Truth is not to be rejected but AUGMENTED by Truth INCARNATION (modern Christianity's inherent compartmentalization is infamous for the separation of belief and life). Groothuis' contention that the Bible is in fact an "answer book" completely misses the point of McLaren's line of argumentation. While the Bible contains answers to many of our questions, it is NOT an "answer book" in that is NOT a modern "text book" as many would treat it. For example, Genesis chapters one and two were NOT written to give us a scientific explanation of the origins of the world. They give us a theological understanding of the creation and are written as poetry, not scientific prose. Reading those chapters as if they are a science text "answer book" will lead us to wrong conclusions every time. McLaren's book merely calls us to do GOOD EXEGESIS of the text (something that as a seminary professor Dr. Groothuis would surely agree with). McLaren's only point is that we must stop asking the text to be something it's not and to do something it was never intended to do. And while I do NOT fully embrace McLaren's ideas about Heaven and Hell, I find Groothuis' arguments for a literal heaven and hell to be inexcusable coming from a seminary professor. He uses Matthew 25:46 (the parable of the Sheep and Goats) as his justification for believing in heaven and hell's literal existence. If he is going to use this parable (which is highly symbolic) to argue for their existence as literal entities, I wonder if he's also ready to argue that there will be literal goats and sheep lined up at their doors. Further, all that Matthew 25:46 says is, "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." McLaren argues FOR eternal life AND eternal punishment. There is NOTHING in his views that would contradict the teaching of this verse. Douglas Groothuis is a professor at a seminary - one of the strongholds of "modern" Christianity. Of course he would be very threatened by a discussion of "post-modern" Christianity. His hurried reading of this book, the imposition of his own assumptions upon the text, and his blase dismissal of it's arguments all highlight the defensive posture that he has taken. It appears to me this man is unable to hear what this book is really saying because he has so much at stake - he is unwilling to take it seriously lest the security of his own position be shaken.
Rating: 
Summary: Post-modernism is a good thing?
Review: "A New Kind of Christian" is primarily about the importance of change within the church in order to make the church more relevant to a post-modern world. When reading the book I often thought of the adage, "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity." And then questions would come to mind: What are the distinctions between essentials and non-essentials? Are there some essentials in Christianity, which would be disastrous to change? When is dogma a virtue? These are foundational questions, which I wish McLaren had at least attempted to answer. Not all change is good, and he seems to miss this self-evident point. It would have substantially bettered the book had he provided some qualifiers that would assist in determining change resulting in progression vs. change resulting in regression. --One of the primary things that concerns me with this book is how little value is placed on truth from a theological perspective. Repeatedly McLaren downplays the importance of theology and the intellectual Christian life. He claims the 'wars' between liberals and conservatives are 'over', and that Christians need to stop defending those fronts. However, this would be to abandon essential issues such as ........what constitutes salvation, the nature of God, biblical inerrancy, and biblical compatibility with science. These continue to be very real issues, and the debate is now more relevant than ever. To give up now would be tragic. The liberals and conservatives tackle these issues by asking the simple question 'Are the claims true?' and 'Is the Bible accurate?' Now 'A New Kind of Christian' comes out and declares, "It doesn't matter if they're true or not, it's irrelevant, we need to progress and change - let's move on, and leave all of this behind." Do you see how subtle and dangerous this approach is? --McLaren degrades those who believe in absolute truth, and suggests those who believe 'knowledge is power' are wrong. He has a pragmatic view of truth, declaring something is true if it 'works'. However, he then fails to define how someone can know if something 'works' or not. He makes very general statements about changing things in the church until they 'work'. What does that mean? .... Until more people show up?.... Until people 'feel' they 'like' church 'more'? His meaning is very vague. --Here's the inconstant part, the author periodically quotes passages from the Nicene Creed, or from Paul's words to Timothy, or from the Gospels. However, he doesn't present these words as being 'true' or not because he doesn't see the value in defending their truthfulness. He simply presents them as words that have 'helped' him or that he thinks are 'beautiful phrases' or that he 'agrees with'. This is a very slippery view because it is a position that must equally value all things that all people find useful and beautiful. Scripture is no longer exclusive, truth is no longer absolute, Christianity is no longer the only way. There is value in all religions, and all wise writings, the scope of religion transcends all human experience. Do you see how we carefully walks away from Christianity into general 'Spirituality'? --Unfortunately, this book is more dangerous that the writings of someone like John Shelby Spong because it is so much more covert and subtle. Evangelicals are reading this book, and I'm guessing some of them have a difficult time discerning where the author departs from orthodox Christianity. If you read this book, I would suggest you test every word and phrase as you read it with a critical eye - seek do divide truth from error, right from wrong, light from darkness, and the good from the bad.
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