A New Kind of McLaren

Our small group Bible study has decided to pick up McLaren's A New Kind of Christian and spend the summer reading and talking about it.  I had the opportunity to hear McLaren speak in the late 90's at a young leaders conference in California.  I was intrigued by his "postmodern" argument, but somewhat hestitant to buy it hook line and sinker.  When I read the book after it first came out I was more convinced that this shift from modernity to postmodernity was something real and required "a new kind of Christian."  I believed that this was especially true in Canada. 

That was the framework from which I entered pastoral ministry.  However, four years into my work as a pastor I am beginning to wonder if McLaren's work really is accurate or representative of the shifts going on in culture.  When I read his book now, oddly, it feels outdated and simplistic.  And in certain instances his work has been anywhere from unhelpful to downright dangerous in pastoral ministry. 

I want to spend the next few weeks responding to McLaren's work in detail, giving my impressions of it now, five years from when I first read it.  While I understand that McLaren's thought has developed and grown, as recently as two years ago I heard him give the same modern - postmodern transition argument.  I think I can still claim that this argument forms the basis of his thought.  I should say that I still appreciate the emerging chuch movement and McLaren's contribution.  But from its very inception I have been reluctant to jump into the emergent thing whole hog.  I'd like to explore the source of my reluctance a little more.

So, batten down the hatches!  This should be fun...

Comments

[ron]

David, it's been awhile since I've read McLaren's New Kind of Christian, maybe I'll pull it off the shelf and follow you.