August 31st, 2008

I’m contemplating heading down to Abilene in a few weeks for Lectureship, since I have some vacation days available (it’d be short notice for my boss, so I don’t know if it’s possible at this point).  I checked the speaker list today to see who would be there, and I found the name of my favorite writer and preacher: Brian McLaren.

Right now I’m not sure what to think.  I’ve resolved (more than once) over the last year to dig a little deeper into McLaren’s beliefs than the blurbs, blog postings, and sound bites I’ve typically seen.  I do remember actually liking More Ready Than You Realize.  So I bought A Generous Orthodoxy, and I’ve tried to listen to some lectures/sermons, with my mind as open as possible.

I haven’t pushed my way through much of AGO, but I’m giving it a shot.  He filled in at Mars Hill (Grand Rapids) a few weeks ago, so I downloaded the podcast this week. He said a lot of things I agree with - and that are plainly evident once someone says them out loud - about worldviews and class/subculture based narratives.  Unfortunately, he didn’t use much scripture.  I wasn’t able to listen to the whole of it, but after about 32 or 33 minutes of a 44 minute sermon, there was only 1 direct reference, and two indirect references to the Bible. He may have used whole chapters in the last 11 minutes, but it’s not likely, given his sparing use in the first 30.

Scripture references aren’t everything.  I’ve heard plenty of bad sermons that used lots of them.  But when I’m listening to a sermon, I like to know that it’s grounded not only in reality and philosophy, but in the Bible.  Anyway, I’m cool with the liberal politics, because this is a theological convention, not a political one.  But I’m not cool with some of his new fangled theological positions, because they ignore a lot of the scripture that he’s not using.  I’ve detailed some of those things in other posts.

Anyway, I’m definitely going to listen to the podcasts, if I can’t get down there. I’m a bit concerned with the impact this will have on the school.  We’ll see!

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2 responses so far...

I’m currently going through The Myth of a Christian Nation with a blog that’s doing a chapter-by-chapter review of the book. It’s just started. The intro-chapter one commentary will be presented this Thursday. The blog is Cramer Comments if you’re interested.

Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out.

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