A review by cmcuffman
A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith by Brian D. McLaren

1.0

I could critique this book from about a hundred different angles. Like how I've never met a person in my life who believes the things about the Bible that he combats. Or how he uses some of the very methods that his own view of Scripture finds unacceptable to prove certain points. Or how he chooses to answer the questions he wants to answer, not necessarily the ones most people are asking. Or how he ignores almost every Scripture passage which his opponents would likely bring up to debunk his positions. I came away totally unconvinced that this man is truly interested in discussion, yet despite a very closed-minded view toward anything resembling a "Greco-Roman" narrative or a "constitutional" approach to the Bible, he claims that that respectful, open-minded discussion is only what he's interested in. It sounds more like he doesn't think he necessarily has the answers, but he sure as heck knows that no one else has them either--I mean, look at how people thinking they're right has turned out! I found him at times reasonable, but more often ignorant, presumptuous, mild-mannered yet arrogant. He claims that the narrative of Scripture and redemptive history "demand" to be understood a certain way, but his perception and the consensus of a few people (who were already inclined to be biased in a particular direction) are the only authorities he can really offer. Again, he ignores most of the questions which would be asked in response to his "self-apparent" assertions. He won't let Scripture be its own interpreter because of how people have misused Scripture in the past, so he forces his own protective mold over the text so that interpretation can never get out of hand. As a result, he ignores history and the millions of Christians who apparently were being told something completely different and completely immature by the Holy Spirit. This has become a rant, so I will conclude with the facts. McLaren sees the God portrayed in most of the Bible as the result of immature theology and completely unworthy or worship. His evolutionary approach to seemingly everything doesn't really necessitate God at all but only requires a good example of that into which humanity should grow. He believes that Scripture contains explicit and numerous falsehoods about the person and work of God and the nature of marriage; yet he seems confident that those things pertaining to the person and work of Christ (at least in the gospels) were recorded with integrity. He leaves one wondering why one needs God, the Bible, or even other Christians to lead a happy, productive, meaningful life. In short, this is not a "new kind of Christianity" being portrayed, but an old kind of (sloppy and decidedly liberal, while also--yes, I'll say it--nauseatingly heretical) Moralistic Theraputic Deism.