Book Review: Brian McClaren's "Everything Must Change"

I've been a fan of Brian McClaren for a few years now, mostly because he writes well and comes from a perspective that is neither downline conservative evangelical nor liberal mainline protestant. McClaren does a pretty good job of articulating some of the angst that many of us feel who fall  outside those traditional boxes. I have read a lot of N.T. Wright's work as well, and find him to be in much the same vein--looking at the biblical narrative about Jesus from a contextual perspective--not by worshiping the text but by getting underneath it to find the powerful truth within. When it comes to Jesus and his agenda, I think they are spot on.

McClaren puts his thesis in language that your average person can get a handle on. The basic premise is this: the "framing narrative" of evangelical Christianity--that people are steeped in original sin, God is angry about that, demands payment, sends Jesus to be the substitute, believe in him and you go to heaven, don't and you go to hell--is really neither workable nor biblical. This is the framing narrative with which many of us grew up. I was never comfortable with it (not that that's the goal, mind you), but I always wondered why the whole of Jesus' life and ministry was boiled down to essentially the cross with the resurrection as a little added bonus. The whole thing was pretty afterlife focused--all about going to heaven when you die or, if you don't pray the right prayer before you die, going to hell in a handbasket afterward.  The teachings and parables of Jesus seemed to be viewed as somewhat interesting filler material--yeah, you should be nice to people, but it's more important to get their souls saved (oh, and if you don't get your friends saved and they wind up in hell, it'll be at least partially your fault). I realize now that much of my faith growing up wasn't based on mission or good biblical exegesis, but primarily on fear. Faith was a form of fire insurance and you were good to go as long as you kept going to the altar to get your policy renewed.

When I was in seminary, though, I had the dual revelation of both reading the Bible in depth and in context and latching on to N.T. Wright's work because of the influence of Dr. Mary Fisher. Hers was one of my last classes in my last semester and it absolutely blew me away. Here was a message about Jesus that made sense--that he came to complete Israel's story, that he was not announcing God's abandonment of creation for a home "way beyond the blue" but was proclaiming the good news that God was indeed redeeming his good creation through the coming Kingdom and that Jesus was showing the way for his disciples to participate in God's program of redemption. The Gospel's are much more earth-based, concerned about getting the life of heaven into people than getting people into heaven. What we do now matters--not as a dry run for an eternity of plunking harps, but because every good act of grace we do for others and our world brings God's Kingdom that much closer. My "framing narrative" shifted big time.

McClaren's work came along about that time, taking this idea and making it accessible. His latest book focuses on the narrative of the Kingdom as being the dominant paradigm for how Christians should approach the global crises we face. He takes the reader to different places around the world to see where this is happening. It's a fascinating read that left me nodding my head in agreement quite a lot. I'm recommending it to folks in my church as another way of getting access into what I've been preaching about for the last five years.

Critics have branded McClaren a heretic, but I think he's really at the forefront of a new reformation. If what he and others like Wright say is true then, indeed, "everything must change." How we do church, how we do spiritual formation and Christian education, how we approach the environment and political issues--all of it falls under the Kingdom program and paradigm.

I've put a link to the book in the Amazon widget on the blog page if you'd like to order a copy. If you do, let's have some more conversation about it.

Comments

[Jason Carlettini]

I have enjoyed reading some of your posts and I too am a fan of N.T. Wright and of McLaren's older works. From my experience with both and where they seem to currently fall I would not put then in the same or even a similar theological category. You may want to check out McLaren's new three book series I think it is something like "The Finding Series". In one of those he lays out where he currently lies theologically and it is very sad. He clearly articulates that he has become a pluralist who believe that Christianity is simply one way of viewing the the ultimate reality just like the other major religions. There is even a diagram of the ultimate reality being a big ring or circle with smaller rings looped around it that represent the true Ulitimate Reality. From what I have read I do not think you would agree with this theology and wanted to give you a heads up since you write, "I think he's really at the forefront of a new reformation".
As I mentioned earlier I am a huge fan of some of McLaren's earlier works and his practical thoughts for the church, theologically however, I think he has fallen in a very incorrect place. Blessing to you, Merry Christmas.

[Jason Carlettini]

I was at a bookstore last night and check on what I wrote earlier. The book is Finding Faith and McLaren's summary of his new, nonchristian, faith can be found on p. 177-180.