Brian D. McLaren

"Drawing from his work as global activist, pastor, and public theologian, McLaren challenges readers to stop worrying, waiting, and indulging in nostalgia, and instead, to embrace the powerful new understandings that are reshaping the church. In [this book], he explores three profound shifts that define the change"--Dust jacket flap.

How the World's Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian

The Great Spiritual Migration

Jonathan Tysick

I greatly enjoyed McLaren's "New Kind of Christian" trilogy as well as "A Generous Orthodoxy" and was curious to see what he was up to more recently. Although there is a good deal of wisdom contained within this book and although I am sympathetic to many of the things he spoke about (economic activism, environmentalism, post-colonial Christian thought etc.), I found myself disagreeing with the big picture. 

McLaren poses a false dichotomy between seeing Christianity as a system of beliefs and as a way of life. It is then slightly ironic that McLaren then goes on to talk about how important our beliefs about God are and that changing one's beliefs about God is important. My main problem with this book was the underlying sentiment that all religions are fundamentally there to serve human flourishing as we evolve. There is no need to evaluate the truth claims of opposing ideas, as long as we work together for justice and the common good. This leads him to interpret Paul's metaphor "the body [of Christ]" to include all religions! It felt like McLaren wanted to "have his cake and eat it too" in many ways (retain Christian faith but yet move beyond it) and the vision of Christianity that he is migrating from seemed far too simplistic.

Les Reynolds

So much good stuff in here. Can’t wait to unpack it more as a group.

The Great Spiritual Migration How the World's Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian

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