Product Description

Acclaimed author and emergent church leader, Brian McLaren states, "More and more Christian leaders are beginning to realize that for the millions of young adults who have recently dropped out of church, Christianity is a failed religion. Why? Because it has specialised in dealing with 'spiritual needs' to the exclusion of physical and social needs. It has focused on 'me' and 'my eternal destiny,' but it has failed to address the dominant sociological and global realities of their lifetime: systemic injustice, poverty, and dysfunction." McLaren asks, "Shouldn't a message purporting to be the best news in the world be doing better than this?" What he sets forth in this provocative, unsettling work is a "form of Christian faith that is holistic, integral, balanced, that offers good news for both the living and the dying, that speaks of God's grace at work both in this life and the life to come, both to individuals and to societies and the planet as a whole."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #143309 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Brian D. McLaren is an internationally known speaker and the author of over ten highly acclaimed books on contemporary Christianity, including A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and The Secret Message of Jesus.

Customer Reviews

A brilliant deconstruction of consumer led society
I was inspired and challenged by this book, which goes well beyond other McLaran books I have read in offering a trenchant critique of modern western values and an outline of what a Jesus centred alternative would look like. I can thoroughly recommend it.

An evening class with McLaren
This is the third Brian McLaren book I've read. I thought 'A Generous Orthodoxy' was absolutely superb. Conversely 'A New Kind of Christian' turned me right off. So knowing what McLaren is capable of, both good and bad, this book would tip the scales one way or the other. Verdict? Its a mixed bag. It feels a bit like attending an evening class in 'Jesus & The World Today' delivered by a tutor who is generally enthusiastic, at times prone to rambling anecdotes or detours into obscure technicalities but with frequent golden nugget of brilliance that keep you wanting more.

a body of work
The first McLaren book I read was 'The New Kind of Christian' which is very good!! It was the book that attracted me to his work and his style of writing. In this book McLaren voices further thought on the Christian life in contemporary society; a critique of western values set against the back drop of Jesus' life and values. I always see McLaren's writings as a body of work which probes and asks questions about how Christianity works and even deeper philosophical ideas which do make people entrenched in organised religion such Christianity frustrated or angry. My message to anyone intersted in this book it READ IT...McLaren is one of the only guys out there I can find who is asking deeper quesitons of Christianity science and philosophy, its great to read all his stuff, sure I don't agree with it all, but that precisely the point, the new kind of Christian doesn't have to, the message is that Jesus finds us where we are and takes us from there. Christians in the postmodern may have different walks with Christ or very similar, it is Jesus' hope that propones change and a pradigm shift in the Christian outlook is what McLaren is driving at.