Here’s the Question: Just a short question: I have a Christian background, but the way I understand the message of Jesus and the Hebrew Bible makes me to avoid calling myself a Christian, mainly for similar reasons as described in your book A New Kind of Christianity. Instead of saying good-bye to the whole Bible, I spent almost half my lifetime (36) studying and searching to find an understanding of the message of Jesus that makes more sense to me.... Read more
Mesa – a new global network of emerging Christian leaders – has had its first in-person gathering in Thailand this week. Our time began with two days in a rural village where we shared life with a family there. We slept as they sleep and ate as they eat. (Although each meal was probably like their best holiday meal … home-cooked dishes, lovingly prepared with local foods from their own fields and gardens.) We also worked as they worked –... Read more
Here’s the Question: i have read several of your books, the most recent one being ‘a new kind of christianity.’ i love your take on how to view the future, but what do you really think about Jesus’ returning again? will it happen? or is just some vague hope in the distant mysterious future? i suppose i am still nursing my scars from fundamentalism, but the real return of Jesus offers me genuine hope. is it just a mirage? a... Read more
That Monday-morning question kind of makes me cringe. It might be innocent enough, but it also might express how we see church gatherings these days – a consumer product that we evaluate as we do any other product: “How was the game?” or “How was the movie?” or “How was your vacation to Disney World?” On a typical Monday morning, it usually means two things: how was the sermon, and/or how was the music? Bryan Sirchio has written an important and... Read more
The Al-Shabaab terrorists who slaughtered over 60 fellow human beings in Nairobi’s Westgate Mall tried to spare their fellow Muslims through a kind of religious quiz. If you could answer certain religious questions – who was the prophet’s mother, can you recite a verse from the Quran, can you say the Shahada – you were set free. If not, you were murdered. They were responding to “advice” from the late Osama bin Ladin in a 2010 letter to Al-Shabaab, when he urged... Read more
As I’ve written about elsewhere (especially in Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road), a lot of us are infected with CRIS – conflicted religious identity syndrome. The subtitle of A Generous Orthodoxy demonstrates an advanced case of CRIS. The syndrome extends beyond Christianity, of course. Even SBNR’s (Spiritual But Not Religious) aren’t satisfied with that label, as a fascinating article by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat explains. They are working with Rabbi Rami Shapiro and others to serve “seekers without... Read more
I’ll be joining many others in praying for the situation in Syria on Saturday because I think it’s time we realize that Dr. King was right: we can’t cure violence with violence. Mirroring violent behavior sets vicious cycles of offense and revenge in motion. We need a more creative response – not passivity, not inaction, but something more creative and constructive than “punishing” or “retaliating” or trying to cure violence with violence. What might those more creative and constructive alternatives... Read more
Here’s the Question: Just finished your book. It REALLY spoke to me. It’s where I’m headed in my life’s journey. That said I fear that I may be quite alone the closer I get to this transformation. The church i attend is nowhere close to such a paradigm shift (and they are far from mainstream). Living out this new way of thinking is a bit alienating…thoughts? I know you are busy, I just hope you can spare me a minute. I just... Read more
That's Wild Goose in a nutshell - having an Evangelical activist and a Jesuit activist as roommates. Read more
I have great respect for the work of Muslim intellectual Dalia Mogahed, co-author with John Esposito of Who Speaks for Islam, an incredibly important book. The post below is important for several reasons. Obviously, it sheds important light on the dangerous situation in Egypt, especially the stage-management being planned by the military junta, and the subversion of democracy in the name of democracy. It also gives important background on Egyptian prisons (not Afghan caves) as the conceptual birthplace of Al Queda. Here’s the article:... Read more
Brian McLaren
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