A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Conte

It's amazed me, reading the reviews of this book online. So many people either love or hate this book, much as McLaren expected. I, however, approached this book with much skepticism and ended up gaining so much from it. McLaren's book does much to shake up common perceptions of the Christian faith. He asks questions about several aspects of the church that most of us never have before. I'm a college student who is planning to move on to seminary afterwards, and I came to this book with many preconceptions and conclusions about my God and my faith. McLaren did quite a good job making me reevaluate where these notions stem from. McLaren is not going to be loved by all from this work (as the reviews on here prove). What he teaches flies in the face of the widely accepted, fundamentalist approach that is so popular in America today. And I came from that background not too long ago. But it left me feeling like I was missing something in the equation, something I couldn't put my finger on. I came to realize that I was much more emergent in my theology and lifestyle, even while holding the Bible in high esteem as God's word, and McLaren does an excellent job helping me to understand where that is leading me. The chapters on each denomination are all well-written, not claiming to be exhaustive but more a catalogue of first impressions. Being a moderate Baptist, I loved getting to see a different slant on other denominations I've been involved with (Methodist, Catholic, ect.). I agree with the author that none of these denominations gets things all right, and we must pull the most God-honoring aspects from each to approach a true generous orthodoxy. I'm a Baptist, but I also can worship with an Orthodox or Catholic friend and bask in their different way of honoring our savior. The real uproar, however, seems to stem from McLaren's approach to other faiths (honoring the members of them and loving them, living life with them and helping them to love Christ) and theology. Honestly, though, this is a wake-up call we all must look to. Fundamentalists especially (and I was one for a while, so I know where I came from) need to be willing to have their preconceptions tested, and to come away either stronger in those beliefs or with new conceptions. All of us have theological flaws, and that is a fundamental aspect of this book. McLaren is not always right in what he writes, but to me he comes pretty darn close. So read this book to feel challenged. In it, orthodoxy is envisioned not as a concrete guideline by which you pass or fail, but an ongoing journey in which we learn more about God and still have so much more to realize. In it, a life renewed comes not through Christianity, as most think it must, but instead a love and accpetance of Christ himself (without even having to engage in the Christian religion itself). In it, members of other faiths aren't enemies, but friends to love and honor in their love of God, people not to bring out of thier faith to

(This review was accidentally first placed on the hardcover version- I own this updated one, even though both are pretty much the same) It's amazed me, reading the reviews of this book online. So many people either love or hate this book, much as McLaren expected. I, however, approached this book with much skepticism and ended up gaining so much from it. McLaren's book does much to shake up common perceptions of the Christian faith. He asks questions about several aspects of the church that most of us never have before. I'm a college student who is planning to move on to seminary afterwards, and I came to this book with many preconceptions and conclusions about my God and my faith. McLaren did quite a good job making me reevaluate where these notions stem from. McLaren is not going to be loved by all from this work (as the reviews on here prove). What he teaches flies in the face of the widely accepted, fundamentalist approach that is so popular in America today. And I came from that background not too long ago. But it left me feeling like I was missing something in the equation, something I couldn't put my finger on. I came to realize that I was much more emergent in my theology and lifestyle, even while holding the Bible in high esteem as God's word, and McLaren does an excellent job helping me to understand where that is leading me. The chapters on each denomination are all well-written, not claiming to be exhaustive but more a catalogue of first impressions. Being a moderate Baptist, I loved getting to see a different slant on other denominations I've been involved with (Methodist, Catholic, ect.). I agree with the author that none of these denominations gets things all right, and we must pull the most God-honoring aspects from each to approach a true generous orthodoxy. I'm a Baptist, but I also can worship with an Orthodox or Catholic friend and bask in their different way of honoring our savior. The real uproar, however, seems to stem from McLaren's approach to other faiths (honoring the members of them and loving them, living life with them and helping them to love Christ) and theology. Honestly, though, this is a wake-up call we all must look to. Fundamentalists especially (and I was one for a while, so I know where I came from) need to be willing to have their preconceptions tested, and to come away either stronger in those beliefs or with new conceptions. All of us have theological flaws, and that is a fundamental aspect of this book. McLaren is not always right in what he writes, but to me he comes pretty darn close. So read this book to feel challenged. In it, orthodoxy is envisioned not as a concrete guideline by which you pass or fail, but an ongoing journey in which we learn more about God and still have so much more to realize. In it, a life renewed comes not through Christianity, as most think it must, but instead a love and accpetance of Christ himself (without even having to engage in the Christian religion itself). In i

I just finished this book hours ago, so I'm still reeling a bit. I picked it up because I kept hearing about it and it annoyed me. I also kept hearing about Brian McLaren's "emerging" movement, to the point of being annoyed with him and it too. I had read a few McLaren quotes and he came off as mainly a purveyor of warm fuzzies and little else. I basically read this book because I wanted to be more familiar with the "emerging church" and McLaren in general. I expected to roll my eyes at every politically correct musing and shallow pop-culture all-inclusive pluralistic theology. But I didn't roll my eyes even once because this is quite honesty the best book on orthodoxy that I've read...well, since Orthodoxy! (by Chesterton.) This book is about as good as it gets. McLaren can WRITE, too. I usually don't look to books like this for beautiful prose, but it is. This book is basically a mosaic composite of the best splinters of Christ in all of Christendom's seperated sects. But it's so much more than that. It gets you excited about being a follower of Christ again. It reconnects you to long lost relatives and leaves you with a sense of extended family as you think about other denominations. But it ends with a challenge and a vision that blows your hair back. Feeling somewhat of an affinity for the Reformed Faith, I can honestly say that in all my reading, nothing has ever challenged my static Reformed doctrines like his chapter on calvinism does. But that's the great thing about this book. He challenges Christians of all persuasions, while appreciating their contribution. He doesn't ask anyone to abandon their branches, but to flesh them out by continuous seeking. With that said, I couldn't disagree with him more on some points. You probably will disagree with him on points I agree with him on. That's the beauty of it. This book isn't about coming to the "right conclusion," but about asking the adventurous questions again. His chapter on the shared emergent vision is worth the price of the book alone, and it won me over. I couldn't be more floored. Buy this book and savor it.

"Generosity without orthodoxy is nothing, but orthodoxy without generosity is worse than nothing" - Hans Frei When most of us think of generosity, the first things that come to mind are time and finances. If we take the time to reflect, however, we will find that there are other valuable assets that we should be generous with, such as our opinion and our understanding. That's the truth at the heart of Brian McLaren's new book, A Generous Orthodoxy. As one of the leading figures in the emergent church movement, McLaren has worked to knock down barriers between Christians of different theological backgrounds by preaching that none of us has a handle on the whole truth. Christianity is much broader than American Evangelicalism. Sometimes this is hard to grasp in a country where Evangelical has become synonymous with Christian: you won't find many Roman Catholic books in your local "Christian" bookstore, you won't hear many Mennonites on "Christian" radio, you won't often see an Eastern Orthodox service on "Christian" cable TV stations, and you won't often here Mainstream Protestant speakers at "Christian" conferences. Yet all these branches ascend from the same solid trunk: faith in Jesus as the revelation of God. McLaren demonstrates this early in the book by introducing us to the seven Jesuses he has known throughout his life. To many Evangelical readers these Jesuses will range from the familiar (Evangelical, Charismatic), to the exotic (Eastern Orthodox, Anabaptist), to the heretical (Liberal Protestant and Liberation Theological), but McLaren makes the point that all these disparate groups are following Christ in their own way, and that none of us has the full truth of Jesus. The subtitle of his book is "Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished Christian" One of McLaren's strengths as a thinker is the fact that he never attended seminary. His background is in literature (as is mine), a course of study that teaches students how to look at things from many angles simultaneously. There is no one right involved in understanding a poem. Literature is a field where every question only gives birth to more questions. That's why one of my college professors stated that engineers hated her class; "they always want to know the right answer...and there isn't one" Much of contemporary evangelicalism seems as if it were constructed by a gung ho team of RPI engineers: everything fits into place, and everything is carefully designed to conform to the iron clad laws of physics. The only difference is that in the conservative church it is the iron clad laws of evangelical theology that hold everything together. Rigidity has its place; rigid structures like towers and walls are wonderful for mounting a defense against an opposing army, b