A Generous Orthodoxy - Brian McLaren

I have just finished reading this book. It is definitely a recommended read.

Brian McLaren is either seen as one of the most forward thinking Christian writers or a heretic... depending on your orthodoxy (to coin his phrase).

The jist of the book is two fold. Firstly, being a Christian is about being a blessing to ALL people. Secondly, how that plays out changes and therefore our orthodoxy is something that is constantly changing and growing.

If I wanted to be ungenerous, I would critique McLaren's take on things on three fronts.

Firstly, he does not consistently recognise that Jesus is actually God manifest in human form. He seems to have a rather fluid view of the Trinity (that said so do many). I think this causes him some confusion and takes him down some unhelpful paths.

Secondly, McLaren elevates experience, litergy, tradition and particularly creeds to at least the same level as scripture. While I recognise that scripture is subject to interpretation (and hence has pitfalls), it is a lot "safer" (maybe I mean more useful or more right or more trustworthy) than experience, litergy, tradition and creeds.

Thirdly, McLaren focuses a lot on Christians doing stuff. This is all very good stuff like blessing others, helping the poor, redeeming the environment, reaching out to the marginalised... etc... BUT I believe he misses an aspect of just "being'. By this I mean that part of being a follower of Jesus is enjoying creation and 'being' a Jesus follower. McLaren actually talks about this but does not connect it with who we are as believers. SO I think Jesus calls us to "be" Christians and to "do" Christian stuff. (I'm not sure I have explained this clearly... I hope you understand).

These three issues are things that I suspect McLaren is still working through (like the rest of us, he hasn't got everything worked out).


If I wanted to be generous, I would recommend this book for the way it challenges. It is a call to get back to basics of LOVE GOD, LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR. It is a call to accept Jesus as our saviour AND our Lord. It is a call not to dismiss our heritage. It is a call to look forward. It is a call to focus on the unity in Jesus rather than hammer other denominations. It is a call to reach out to people who don't think the same as us. And a lot lot more.

I can quite understand why many churches and many Christians have got upset by this book. McLaren is not generous (I don't think this is intentional which makes it all the more damaging) in his critique of Christians who say they have the "right" way of being a Christian (these people where known as Pharisees in the Gospels... but they still exist today in all parts of the Christian community). He systematically (which is funny because McLaren is almost anti-systematic in his approach) destroys any argument that we, as mere humans, can claim to have worked out how to walk the 'right line'. For a Pharisee, who devotes all their time to working out the 'right line', this is deeply offensive (just as it was when Jesus called them on it). This has resulted in McLaren being critiqued either inaccurately (this is generally done by taking a statement out of context or in part) or personally. Both of these approaches are unfair based on what I have read in this book.

So have a read. Come to it with a closed mind, an open mind or a thoughtful mind. It doesn't matter. It will challenge you.