Edgework

In his book, A New Kind of Christianity, McLaren has been proposing exactly that – a new kind of Christianity. His strategy has been to deconstruct what he considers to be thought patterns and ways of behaving that simply do not square with the gospel of Christ. This he has done by asking a lot of serious and difficult questions about the faith that has come down to us and providing an alternative way to understand what it means to be a faithful Christian today.

McLaren has suffered a lot of abuse for carrying through with this project. So it is understandable that he now pauses to determine how and where these new understandings might find a place in the Christian context. And this is no small matter. It is not only about changing our ideas about faith and life. It is about the possibility of entering into a more profound expression of the Christian faith.

Wrestling our way through this book with McLaren has not been easy. Yet many of us have shared his  passion and sense of urgency. Along with him, we have grappled with the issues at hand in the context of “…prayer, worship, devotional reading, fellowship, solitude, fasting, soul friendship and other spiritual practices” (228). And along the way we too have been moved by ‘ecstatic’ insights and have come to the conclusion that the Good News is even better than we could have imagined (228).

But now what? Historically, some of the major new movements within Christendom have found roots and wings more by confrontation and challenge. I think of Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses on the church door. Or the Anabaptists challenging all state churches and as a result suffering tremendous persecution. Certainly William Wilberforce did not shrink back from confronting the slave trade because many of his contemporaries were not ready to move to higher expressions of God’s will in the world. And how well I remember Martin Luther King, Jr. confronting the religious and political powers with a new vision of equality for blacks and whites in America.

McLaren recommends a less abrasive approach to moving his vision forward within the church. First, he says, it is important to recognize that whole communities, as well as individuals, are at various stages of their faith journey. Second, he suggests, that we find creative ways of moving the dialogue forward with those who are ready for it to happen.

To make his case for a gentler, more gradual, strategy McLaren employs a “history of religions” approach to help us understand how God was perceived in various stages of human development. Survival required a God who meets basic needs. Security asked for a warrior God. The need for power blended God with national politics. Independence called for a personal savior. Honesty insisted on the right to ask difficult questions. And the quest for healing sees God as the great healer who draws all things together as they should be. The same developmental dynamic, argues McLaren, is present in the journey of individuals. So his call is to recognize in which stages our contemporaries are at and then seek innovative ways of moving our brothers and sisters along to new vistas of faith and life such as we have discovered.

Personally I feel torn between these two approaches. My first inclination, upon discovering a new biblical vision is to mount a challenge to the powers within traditional church structures whatever the cost may be. On the other hand, I do recognize that in my own journey I have passed through different stages and at various points along the way I would have vigorously resisted the vision McLaren holds forth in this book. However, at this stage in my life, I am ready to engage it much more fully.

Secondly, I am somewhat troubled about saying that it is okay for contemporary Christians to remain indefinitely at levels of understanding which God would call us all to transcend. Can we really wait until people are “ready” before we speak about what we have seen and heard? Let’s go back to the example of Martin Luther King, Jr. Would it really have been better for him to just talk quietly to those who were ready to listen and leave the perpetrators of injustice alone? The question  I ask is when  quiet diplomacy must turn to open confrontation?

McLaren says he is confident of the quieter approach because,“…sin is ultimately a refusal to grow” 239. And further, when we look at the full-color portrait of Jesus in the Gospels, “… we will always be prodded out of our comfort zone and summoned by love to continue our quest” (240). And finally, he says that we have the presence and power of the Spirit of Jesus to breathe new life into the community of Christ.

While all this is may be true, McLaren himself has released at least seven or eight books documenting his new vision which has created a lot of tension in the Christian community among those not ready to receive his message. So ultimately, it seems to me, we all must find our own way of promoting this new way of understanding faith and life – sometimes quietly with those who are ready to listen, but at other times more boldly by throwing out the challenge to even the ones who keep resisting any movement.

Whatever route God calls us by which to move forward, we must “…learn to combine the courage to differ with the grace to differ graciously” (243). Whether we choose confrontation or diplomacy, our journeys will not be easy and we will be the subject of various kinds of abuse by those who feel we are betraying the tried and true Christian faith. In any case, some of us are called to blaze rough trails now so that others can more easily follow in the future (243). May God give us courage and grace to do just that.

For On-Going Dialogue:

1. In your opinion, is the vision McLaren has been calling us to in this book significantly different from that of most evangelical positions? Why or why not?
2. What, in your opinion, are the pros and cons of promoting this new vision of faith and life gently with those who are ready to move on?
3. What, in your opinion, are the pros and cons of boldly proclaiming this new vision of faith and life even to those who are not ready to receive it?
4. How confident are you that the vision McLaren has set forth in this book will find root in your faith community and in the Christian church at large?