Author Archive
Brian McLaren
Two Roads Diverged in the Evangelical Wood
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
When I was a young Evangelical Christian coming of age back in the early 1970s, I remember feeling that there were two paths before me. One was legalistic, anti-intellectual, combative and rigid. The other was missional rather than legalistic, reflective rather than anti-intellectual, communicative rather than combative, and supple rather than rigid.
I chose the latter path, represented by an array of figures (from C.S. Lewis to Francis Schaeffer to John Stott) and organizations (from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship to the Jesus Movement to Evangelicals for Social Action to Sojourners).
In the decades since then, those paths have criss-crossed and split and converged and re-diverged in more ways than I could have imagined. The choices have changed, but the need to choose has not.
Could A Decline in Numbers Bring New Hope to Southern Baptists?
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
Although I’ve never been a Southern Baptist, I have a special place in my heart for them. I experienced a teenage, under-the-stars spiritual experience which occurred at a Baptist camp on a retreat hosted by my best buddy’s Baptist church.
In recent years, I’ve been saddened to see the fundamentalist and culture-wars turn in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The strident superiority of some SBC leaders has not reflected well on the tradition. A group that traditionally upheld the autonomy of the local church has behaved less and less in line with that tradition, as a kind of group-think monoculture has gained ascendancy.
A Father’s Day Reflection
Sunday, June 19th, 2011
It’s daunting for me to even begin writing about Fathers’ Day … I’ve often said that fatherhood is probably the most meaningful experience in my life, and my debt to and love for my father goes beyond words so fast that it’s hard to know where to begin, and even harder to know where to stop.
So approaching this Fathers’ Day, I’d like to mention three simple things that I’ve experienced both with my dad and as a dad.
Is the Quran Divinely Inspired?
Sunday, June 5th, 2011
Here’s the Q:
I will keep this short and to the point. I am a devout Christian and will stay that way. But, I am also exploring Islam and trying to learn how to live at peace with our Muslim brothers and sisters. I’ve been reading the Quran and Allah: A Christian Response and have come to a question.The Quran, divinely inspired?
I’m just wondering how I should treat the Quran and what you think about it.
My Thoughts on Sojourners, Coalition Building, and LGBTQ Rights
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
On my personal blog, I traced my journey on the issue of homosexuality and explored the challenges of coalition-building. It’s from this place that I’ve been reading about the recent critique of Sojourners over their decision not to accept an ad that would have, in their opinion, “taken sides” on homosexuality.
Some progressive Christian friends of mine have been very critical of this decision and the rationale offered for it, issuing some highly critical statements about Sojourners and its founder, Jim Wallis. Other voices have been raised to counter some of the critique. (Here’s one, and here’s another.) And a few have noticed that sometimes progressives can develop a dualistic, polarized rhetoric that is remarkably similar to that of their mirror image, as Aaron McCarroll Gallegos commented:
Who Will Be Our Next Monster to Fear?
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
On the death of Osama bin Laden, theologian Miroslav Volf expresses my sentiments when he writes:
“We are right to feel a sense of relief that a major source of evil has been removed. But we should reflect also on the flip side of that relief: the nature of our fears. As the King hearings and state-level anti-Sharia bills indicate, many people in our nation find themselves under a spell of a “green scare” analogous to the red scare of the 1950s. But fear is a foolish counselor, and our war in Iraq — unnecessary, unjust and counterproductive — is evidence of this.”
