6 Views on Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity
Brian McLaren’s book, A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith, is causing quite the stir on the Net. I’ve collated links to several reviews.
Tim Challies
Tim Challies has penned a strong (speaking the truth in love) general response at his site. It’s well worth reading.
For a detailed, point-by-point, loving, logical, and theological response, I encourage you to visit Mike Wittmer’s site. Mike has posted responses to each of Brian’s ten questions.
*The Introduction
*Question 1: What Is the Overarching Story Line of the Bible?
*Question 2: How Should the Bible Be Understood?
*Interlude: The Defining Issue—The Creation/Fall/Redemption Narrative
*Question 3: Is God Violent?
*Question 4: Who Is Jesus and Why Is He Important?
*Question 5, Part 1: What Is the Gospel?
*Question 5, Part 2: What Is the Gospel?
*Question 6: What Do We Do about the Church?
*Question 7: Can We Find a Way to Address Human Sexuality?
*Questions 8-9: Can We Find a Better Way of Viewing the Future? and How Should Followers of Jesus Relate to People of Other Religions?
*Question 10: How Can We Translate Our Quest into Action?
Kevin DeYoung
Kevin DeYoung, over at his Gospel Coalition blog, DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed has a two-part post. He’s also updated and expanded his response to the book in PDF format.
*Christianity and McLarenism, Part 1
*Christianity and McLarenism, Part 2
*Christianity and McLarenism, in PDF.
Scot McKnight
Christianity Today has posted a review by Scot McKnight, professor at North Park University. McKnight has been relatively sympathetic to some of McLaren’s past writings. However this review states that the book is not so much revolutionary, but evolutionary. You can read it here.
Panel from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
A panel of professors from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in this post calls the book “a fresh take on an old lie.”
You can view the video of the entire panel discussion here.
My Take (Bob Kellemen)
I’ve posted a multi-part series with a different slant on the book. What are the implications of McLaren’s ten questions for the personal ministry of the Word? Or, put another way, What is a biblical counseling and spiritual formation response to McLaren’s take on the ten questions?
*Introduction: Brian McLaren, I Accept Your Invitation
*Overview: A Biblical Counseling Response to Brian McLaren
*Question 1: The Narrative Question
*Question 2: The Authority Question
*Question 3: The God Question
*Question 4: The Jesus Question
*Question 5: The Gospel Question
*Question 6: The Church Question
*Question 7: The Sex Question
*Question 8: The Future Question
*Question 9: The Pluralism Question
*Question 10: The What Now Question
*Conclusion: The Final Word and the Word After That
*Final Recap: Links
*Free Resource # 1: I’ve collated my entire blog series into a Word Document. Visit: A Conversation about Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity
*Free Resource # 2: I’ve interacted with some of these issues in another free Word Document. Visit: Just Where Did the Emergent Idea of Salvation Emerge From?
Join the Conversation
What are your thoughts on McLaren’s book, Challies’ review, Wittmer’s reviews, McKnight’s review, the SBTS review, and my series?
Easy answer: “if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed.”. Mclaren has abandoned the faith once and for all delivered unto the saints. Apostasy, heresy–that about says it.
I enjoyed the SBTS panel discussion. One panel member was afraid he was overstating it when he spoke of McLaren’s clever, slippery style as demonically inspired. But he is right on point. McLaren’s ideas about the “bad” god of the Old Testament are eerily identical to Luciferian teaching. Mclaren believes that the OT god was mean to humans? He needs only to go one step further and say that Satan was unfairly expelled from heaven to make his position entirely clear. McLaren has already contributed to a Luciferian website called the Vision Project. http://www.thevisionproject.org/Essays/mclaren_brian.html.
I’m grateful this is coming to light. Let’s repent of any hardness of heart and not give Satan another foothold in Jesus’ Beloved Church.