Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Just Finished A Generous Orthodoxy

As some of you know I'm in search of what the "Emergent" church is. After volunteering at a Christian book shop I now have 40 quid worth of research materials. I started with "a Generous Orthodoxy" by Brian D. McLaren. Its a very autobiographical book. On one hand I appriciated it as it seemed to name a lot of elephants in the room, on the other hand it also felt like debates I had back in High School, only with some sorces to back up the claims.
I'll have a more full review up hopefully sometime this week.
Peace,
Chris

3 comments:

Chris Duckworth said...

I read that book - or what I could take of it - and was moderately impressed, but also convinced that he plays fast and loose with terminology. For example, he calls himself a fundamentalist (among about 30 other things), but then re-defines what a fundamentalist is. He takes a cafeteria-approach to faith, beliefs and practices, and as such is bound by nothing other than his own subjectivity. I don't find him 100% objectionable, but his fundamental approach is flawed - he doesn't represent any of the traditions he claims in his book's subtitle. Rather, he is someone who has created his own brand of Christianity, and as such represents the great American principal of individualism and self-reliance. Who needs a tradition - warts and all - when I can create my own form of Christianity, all while pretending to stand in the Great Christian Tradition?

I read him and explored Emergent last summer, and (if you're interested) you can read my reflections on Brian McLaren and Emergent by clicking on the Emergent category link on my blog, http://www.lutheranzephyr.com

Christopher said...

I just went through your emergent page. It gave me a lot of food for thought. Thanks for that.
I'll have my thoughts on the book up hopefully today. First though I have to write an essay about Eccumenicism to try to get into a National Council of Churches of Christ event come November.
Peace,
Chris

Chris Duckworth said...

Perhaps I was a little harsh in my critique . . . I don't find all of his theology objectionable. In fact, I like his basic premise of not wanted to get caught in the details but focusing on the big picture - we need voices like that in the Christian universe.

But I just wish he'd be a little more "honest" about where he is coming from - he is a liberal evangelical who likes to borrow and be influenced by other traditions - and that is OK. But don't go claiming that you are of this tradition or that tradition.

As a Lutheran I may be influenced by this or that tradition, but at my core I am still a Lutheran and NOT an Anglican, Presbyeterian, Catholic, Evangelical, Baptist, etc. . . . .