Reading Everything Must Change October 16, 2007
Posted by Zack in Missouri , trackback
I’m going to start digging into Brian McLaren’s Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. He’s known as a “progressive Evangelical”—and there are even websites set up by fundamentalists calling him the son of Satan. But he’s been a huge influence to the broad evangelical movement. Young people especially have named his books as inspirations in all of the evangelical settings we’ve explored over the past couple of months.
One thing I’m hoping to get from this book is a better grip on the subtle (looking in from the outside anyways) theological shift beneath the surface of the revolution in evangelical Christianity.
It’s especially hard for me to grasp this moving target because I never knew the previous theology that they’re now shifting away from. So, what’s new? What’s the difference? What are the difficult parts for people to accept? What is scary about this?
All I can tell so far is that the shift is BIG. It seems to be shaking the very foundation of the faith. You can hear it in the tone of voice of preachers as they cross the line in a sermon…as they drop the bomb that questions people’s deepest assumptions. At Catalyst, you could hear it in the subdued Amens and muffled applause, when the speakers crossed these lines, as the crowd really had to think.
Here’s one way that Brian explains it in Everything Must Change:
As a follower of God in the way of Jesus, I’ve been involved in a profoundly interesting and enjoyable conversation for the last ten years or so. It’s a conversation about what it means to be a “new kind of Christian”—not an angry and reactionary fundamentalist, not a stuffy traditionalist, not a blasé nominalist, not a wishy-washy liberal, not a New Agey religions hipster, not a crusading religions imperialist, and not an overly enthused Bible-waving fanatic—but something fresh and authentic and challenging and adventurous. Around the world, millions of people have gotten involved in this conversation, and more and more are getting involved each day. (One reason we keep calling it a conversation is that we can’t find a short way of describing it yet.)
…the versions of Christianity we inherited are largely flattened, watered down, tamed—offering us a ticket to heaven after death, but not challenging us to address the issues that threaten life on earth. Together we’ve begun to seek a fresh understanding of what Christianity is for, what a church can be and do, and most exciting, we’re finding out that a lot of what we need most is already hidden in a trunk in our attic. Which is good news. (P. 2-3)
The most exciting and uplifting thing about this is the part about people being challenged instead of comforted by this new understanding of Jesus. If you’re looking to replenish your faith in humanity, especially the American people, then this is the jackpot: As these revolutionary Evangelical preachers make their messages and churches more and more challenging, more and more people show up.
Millions of kids are flocking to Christian conferences, music festivals and just plain church not to get their “ticket to Heaven” or learn how to hate gays, but to join an international movement of people ready to give their lives in order to redeem the world—both individual broken lives as well as whole broken social and economic systems.
So I’ll keep working on this book. On days when I don’t have any in-person encounters to report on, I’ll try to report on my progress through the book.
Tags: Brian McLaren, Everything Must Change
Comments»
Zack,
Eliacin from Kingdom Praxis here. First thanks for the link.
Second, I buy all my books used, so I’ll have to wait a bit for this one.
Let me know your take on it.
My impression by what I’m reading and hearing about is that Brian is not so much saying new things (nothing that other groups like Sojourners, Evangelicals for Social Action, Mustard Seed Associates, liberation theologians in the Global South et cetera) have said, but reframing the message of hope in new words and for new ears. I’m glad for the many who are willing to engage in this conversation of radical discipleship and journey.
Peace.
FYI - the North Park Seminary prof Scot McKnight has been blogging through this book for the last several weeks. (jesuscreed.org)
I also don’t find anything new here. See what Obama said in recent weeks about his religious experience.
People with this creed believe our earthly responsibility is to build the Kingdom of God on this earth (make everything here perfect)…not the Great Commission. It’s also a works based theology.
Let’s stick to what the Bible says…Let’s win souls for salvation and live our lives as we should as Christians and the message that this guy is passing along becomes unnecessary.
Thanks for the reminder to read McLaren’s latest. I’ve read and been challenged by all of his books. I have been too busy to read anything about this latest one until I saw your post. I’ll pick up a copy this weekend. I am a new reader to your blog and look forward to adding you to my blog reader.