{"id":1719,"date":"2008-04-14T19:48:45","date_gmt":"2008-04-14T19:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=1719"},"modified":"2010-12-22T12:26:10","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T17:26:10","slug":"6218","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/04\/14\/6218\/","title":{"rendered":"McLaren: Stymied? Try Asking Different Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stan Friedman<\/p>\n

CHICAGO, IL (April 14, 2008) \u2013 Brian McLaren is like that pestering kid in the classroom who keeps asking questions and won\u2019t let the teacher move on to the next lesson.
\n
\nBut McLaren says his penchant for asking questions actually shares a connection with his days as an English teacher. \u201cWhen a student would get stuck, I would tell them to step back and look at the big picture and ask different questions,\u201d he said during a recent interview with Covenant News Service.<\/p>\n

In his latest book, Everything Must Change<\/em><\/a>, McLaren steps back to get a macro view of the world and focus on two \u201cbig picture\u201d questions: What are the biggest problems in the world? What does Jesus have to say about these global problems?<\/p>\n

\"McLaren\"McLaren, who is one of the leading thinkers in what he likes to refer to as the \u201cemergent conversation,\u201d believes that when people confront problems by asking different questions, they may find better solutions.<\/p>\n

Asking different questions requires different approaches and language if Christians are to influence a culture that is increasingly skeptical and less knowledgeable of religious tradition, McLaren said. \u201cI\u2019m raising questions about a lot of standard definitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, McLaren suggests in his book that in place of kingdom of God, Jesus today might use images such as \u201ca divine peace insurgency,\u201d \u201cGod\u2019s un-terror movement,\u201d \u201cnew global love economy,\u201d or \u201cGod\u2019s sacred ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also is questioning and suggesting alternatives to the conventional \u201cframing stories\u201d by which we make sense of the world and our lives. For example, he says the gospel is more than telling people they are sinners who are going to burn eternally in hell unless they repent and believe in Jesus before they die or he returns.<\/p>\n

Some critics have accused McLaren of soft-selling the gospel, but he claims to be doing the exact opposite, calling for a life of radical commitment to Jesus that extends to all of life and not just an individual\u2019s salvation. Part of the problem, McLaren suggests, is that Christianity has been presented as something that doesn\u2019t require discipleship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kingdom of God is not simply a new belief or doctrine that can be patched into an old way of life; it is, rather, a new way of life that changes everything,\u201d McLaren writes.<\/p>\n

Scot McKnight, the Karl A. Olsson professor in religious studies at North Park University and a leading commentator on the emerging movement, wrote on his Jesus Creed blog<\/a> that Everything Must Change<\/em> is \u201cBrian\u2019s most important book,\u201d noting that \u201cthis book needs to be seen as a definitive book for emergent and from now on no one can speak responsibly about emergent without knowing this book.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKnight is sometimes a friendly critic of McLaren and takes issues with some of his conclusions, but states that \u201cBrian is facing big, big issues. This book is a proposal for Christians to take up the challenge of Jesus and turn toward those issues. There are no books quite like this and for that reason alone it deserves to be read by all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLaren wants the book to be more than read.<\/p>\n

Authors routinely travel the country on book tours, but McLaren has eschewed the traditional approach, choosing instead to hold several training and worship events that run from Friday nights through Saturday afternoons. \u201cI really wanted to be with people who wanted to go deeper with it,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought it would be rewarding for me as well as them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although McLaren speaks several times, the worship times incorporate new music and the creative use of art in liturgy. \u201cA key element to mobilizing people in our churches is liturgy,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

McLaren is surprised at the number of non-Christians who have attended the events. \u201cI\u2019ve had people come up to me and say, \u2018I\u2019m not a Christian, but I\u2019m really searching,\u201d he said. A former Baptist pastor who had turned from his faith told McLaren, \u201cThis is another step in finding my way back.\u201d<\/p>\n

He praised the Evangelical Covenant Church for being out front in asking questions while maintaining its strong commitment to scripture and making disciples. \u201cI think the Evangelical Covenant Church has a lot of pastors and teachers who are a lot further along than many other evangelicals.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLaren sees himself within the evangelical tradition, but some have said he has been unduly harsh to those in the tradition. \u201cI don\u2019t think I mention evangelicals very much,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

McLaren explains he is concerned about fundamentalists of all persuasions who deny the opportunity for conversation. \u201cSome people in the mainline churches act like they have the justice thing all wrapped up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAtheists can be just as vitriolic as anyone else,\u201d he added. Some of the invectives have been hurled in a spate of recent best-selling books promoting atheism and denigrating religious faith.<\/p>\n

The success of such books has been driven partially by people\u2019s reaction to seeing religious violence and hearing the harsh words of different religious groups\u2019 proponents.\u00a0 \u201cI think it\u2019s very relevant for what I am talking about,\u201d McLaren maintained. \u201cI\u2019m talking about a way of dealing with differences.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLaren differs with critics who say he believes the world\u2019s ills can be solved through an economics that redistributes wealth and then trusts in an ever-evolving growth of humanity\u2019s goodness. Rather, he said, \u201cI think that is where people are not paying enough attention to the reality of sin. We have to have a very sober estimation of human evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is one advantage that we have in the church \u2013 we can talk about sin,\u201d McLaren says. The church is also the place from which to call for discipleship rooted in the power, love and grace of God. And to keep asking questions.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO, IL (April 14, 2008) \u2013 Brian McLaren is like that pestering kid in the classroom who keeps asking questions and won\u2019t let the teacher move on to the next lesson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMcLaren: Stymied? Try Asking Different Questions - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/04\/14\/6218\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"McLaren: Stymied? 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