"It seems ridiculous to imagine that he would be insecure among them, considering them his rivals, or that he would find it necessary to extract from them explicit agreement on fundamental doctrines before condescending to cross a road with them. It's unthinkable, if one of them came to confer with him by night like Nicodemus, or in broad daylight like the rich young ruler, that he would intimidate them, threaten them, call down fire upon them, patronize them, or humiliate them. Maybe his followers would pull out a sword and slash off their ears, or herd them and their followers into ghettoes, concentration camps, or reservations where their influence could be limited. But never Jesus. Never."
It is all too easy to imagine two alternative approaches to the Christian faith. The first one being a strong and hostile faith and the second one being a weak and benign faith. The first approach having a distinctive Christian identity and at the very least a strong suspicion of people of other faiths. The other approach is one that is benevolent towards other faiths but lacks any thing to make it distinctively Christian. A third approach we could imagine is one which tries to make the two meet somewhere in the middle, a faith expression that is moderately strong and moderately benevolent.
For Brian McLaren none of the above approaches is good enough, so he sets out to find something better with the words of his (unnamed) mentor in mind:
"Remember, Brian: in a pluralistic world, a religion is judged by the benefits it brings to its nonmembers."
The question that this book wrestles with is if it is possible to have an expression of the Christian faith that is both strong and benevolent. Can we remain faithful to the distinctive movement of Jesus without having distrust and hostility towards other faiths? In doing so Brian, through out the book, effectively re-orients the question as How can we not and still be faithful to the movement of Jesus?
Why?
Because we may not have a choice... If we don't find a way to re-form our Christian (as well as Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist,Native American Spirituality, etc...) faith communities then we may very well find that we not only have not lived up to the best that our traditions offer but we have destroyed ourselves in the process.
I cannot recommend this book enough! Brian McLaren is truly a gift to the Christian community and I have learned so much from all of his writings. In light of the events of recent decades this may be one of the most important books you can read (whether you claim any religious faith or not) in regards to how we can live together as well as create a livable world for future generations.
You can grab you're very own copy of the book here and while you wait for it to arrive you can look forward to a few excerpts that I plan on posting.
Grace & Peace
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