Rating: 
Summary: An Invitation to Life in Jesus in a Postmodern World
Review: This is a very thought-provoking book. Possibly its most important contribution is the way the good news and salvation are expressed through the words and actions of the main characters Neo and Dan. The good news is presented as an invitation to join God's agenda in everyday life -- believing and following Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life of love.Neo is a wonderful (but human and imperfect) example of one who accepts this on-going invitation and lives a life of love and service as a dynamic high school science teacher, faithful son, fun-loving friend of non-Christians and challenging friend and mentor of fellow disciples. His frienship with Pastor Dan is not entirely one-sided, though. Dan helps Neo on his spiritual journey, too, and in the practical details of ordinary life. The "New Kind of Christian" that McLaren presents affirms that Jesus is Lord and Savior, that his death on the cross paid for our sins. But he or she doesn't stop there because God doesn't stop there. By the grace of God and the power of the Spirit, "A New Kind of Christian" lives the kind of life that Jesus would if he were in our place -- in a rapidly emerging postmodern world. God help us become that kind of people, help me become that kind of person. Across all denominations, may the Church become that kind of Church -- the Body of Christ.
Rating: 
Summary: A punch to the face of a disgruntled traditionalist.
Review: This book rocked me. Via a Socratic-like conversation between McLaren (me) and "Neo", wave after wave of unsettling and refreshing thoughts pummeled my heart, bringing me to tears at one point where I could see Christ within a retained Native American culture. For me, Evangelical based texts of late are filled with tired and irrelavent information which fails to reach those not accustomed to their specific language. This text, however, consolidated many of my own issues with current evangelicals, and offered hope of a fresh new world. If you're afraid to re-think and re-examine, this isn't a book for you. You'd be better off reading C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. If you're new to these thoughts, hold on to your hat . . . It's going to be a bumpy ride. But when you get out of the plane, you might find yourself in heaven.
Rating: 
Summary: Too little, too late
Review: It is one thing to wake up suddenly and realize that your institution is decrepit, flaccid, and has been asleep for several generations. It is entirely another to get out of bed. Brian McLaren is one of several prominent figures in a growing circle of American evangelicals who have "woken up"--but still lack the courage to put their bare feet onto the cold bedroom floor. This book (and others like it by Dallas Willard, Robert Webber, N.T. Wright, etc etc) is profoundly misleading. "Exciting," "challenging," and "progressive" post-modern terminology is used throughout, giving the reader the sense that the book is itself exciting, challenging, and progressive thelogy. But it is not. It offers no solutions, no challenging theological conclusions. It merely a "reframing of theological issues" in terms of new questions. Granted, this formulation of new questions is an extraordinarily important task, since it always precedes a paradigm-shift. But the essential re-formulations took place DECADES ago. It is a telling symptom of the insularity of American evangelicalism and its generations of anti-progressivism, anti-intellectualism, anti-liberalism, and sociopathy, that books like "A New Kind of Christian" do not mention that they are simply re-publishing ideas that have been widely accepted in most academic and theological circles world-wide (with the exception of American "Bible colleges" and "conservative seminaries") for at least twenty years. No, we do not need any more reformulations. The critical questions have already been asked. Now they need to be answered. But books like this one get in the way of answers by ensuring that many energetic minds will be used up in a self-congratulatory circle of redundant questioning. "Progressive" evangelicals are making the fatal error of equating the post-modern critique with the "new theology." But no: the "new theology" is "on the other side." The post-modern critique is simply a prolegomenon to the new theology; nothing more. Let's remember the challenge of the writer of Hebrews: No more milk, we want some food.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for the new millenium!
Review: If you are tired of "conservative evangelicals," this is the book for you! Brian McLaren does an amazing job of expanding the definition of Christianity to include post-modern ideas without losing the core truths of the faith. This book will expand your mind and your understanding of God and your relationship with him. It will open your eyes to new depths, heights, and lengths of the greatness of God. The easily readable format and story-like structure make it all the easier to to read and understand. I heartily reccomend this book to anyone seeking to be a Christian in the confusing and always changing world of the 21st century.
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Summary: are you ready to THINK about your faith??
Review: This book is phenomenal...If you think Christianity seems to be missing something, this book is for you...but don't read it if you are looking for answers...it will open up a new world of questions, the kind of questions that make you think...the kind of questions that will release God from the box most protestants, including me, have Him in...
Rating: 
Summary: Messes With Your Mind - In A Good Way
Review: The engaging conversational style of this book makes for a deceptively easy read, but I think that the book can be read many times over to uncover deeper levels of meaning and, with the help of the excellent notes section, can be used in conjunction with gaining a deeper understanding of the Bible. I wouldn't recommend this book for uncommitted seekers or brand-new Christians (I'm speaking from personal experience here). I think it could be interpreted by them as merely underscoring the petty differences that many in entrenched church cultures seem to focus on, but I think that it is excellent for other Christian folk. Why not pass it along to your pastor? I found the most inspiring part of the book to be how Neo's passion for Christ was not undimmed by his negative church experiences. I did not find the book to be a justification for "cultural relativism" or a denial of the existence of ultimate truth. Books like this one are important for us to read and consider if we truly want to understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus and live a life that exemplifies that to non-believers. I especially liked his take on "evangelism" and how it should be based on building relationships, providing service and being open to engage in conversation, as opposed to blatant salesmanship. Liked the ending where the prototypical pastor example for the postmodern era was a woman! Thanks for a great book Mr. McLaren.
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Summary: Read at your own risk. This book may chalenge you!
Review: McLaren does an incredible job with this narrative into the conversations between himself and "Neo". I am sure any Christian who reads this book will directly relate to the position of McLaren as he wrestles with the desire to hold on the the familiar, comfortable beliefs that he has come to see as his unshakable pillars. At the same time I know that any Christian who honestly desires to grow deeper in their relationship with God will realize that Neo's thought pattern is not only Biblically sound, but challenging in calling us out of our "modern" method of thinking and challenging us to live as "Post-Modern Christians" enabling us to take the gospel to a world which is already living in a post-modern mentality.
Rating:
Summary: Constructive criticism
Review: I like the concept and the provocative nature of the book. I didn't like Neo being one guy with all the answers. Why not have the pastor character stumble into a community setting where the group is grappling with the ideas instead of pretending somebody can carry this banner alone? It just stretched credulity a bit too far for my imagination. Neo (and the author speaking through him) was restrained enough to avoid being called "preachy", but barely. Perhaps contrasting this book to the 5 STAR book "Finding Faith" is why I could only give it a 3.
Rating:
Summary: Finally! A Book that Made Me Think!
Review: McLaren has written one of the few books I have read in a long, long while that has challenged me to THINK! There are no " Five steps to a fuller Christian Life" here. One has to work thru the book on his own. An excellent read and even more importantly, a challenge to put into practice.
Rating:
Summary: A New Kind of Confusion
Review: I eagerly awaited the reading of this book. I have read two of McLaren's other books and they were a great blessing. I enjoyed the dialogue approach but the holes in McLarens' theology were so wide that any unexperienced hacker could get through them and also try to twist and turn the Bible into saying what it doesn't say. I do think that McLaren is right on when he diagnosis the problem of many churches and how training on new seminarians would be more effective. His theology of not being interested in what people really believe and just belong streteches the concept of community. Maybe people shoild just join the Rotary or the YMCA judo class if they are that desparate for community. I can tell that Brian has traveled outside of America and has some exposure of different world views but he has never lived in a Muslim culture or in Europe where truth isn't so much dead as lost in his own cultural culde sac where everything is relative and nothing is true. I would encourage people to read and learn what Brian has to say and come to understand important issues for the church but also read more relativism as finely crafted as I have seen in a long time.
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