Strange flipflop

I just got back from Off the Map Live (Hear, Listen, Connect) and soon I’ll upload my photos of the event. Many have commented on what felt strange about seeing so many different kinds of people gathering to talk about Jesus and what following him should look like.
But that wasn’t the strangest thing to me. [...]

Two Flawed Prophets

The Bible is full of material which challenges simplistic interpretations and this is one of them. It is a tale of two prophets: “the prophet from Judah” delivers a true prophecy that was fulfilled with accuracy more than three centuries later. The “old prophet from Bethel” transmits a lie that trips up the prophet [...]

The Murky Marriage of Love and Truth

In an interview by Next Wave, Brian McLaren defines the purpose of his book, A Generous Orthodoxy (which I am enjoying and have been responding to over the last few days):
In a sentence, A Generous Orthodoxy is an attempt to remarry two things that never should have been divorced — truth and love….
This reminds [...]

My McLaren Colloquy: 4. The Faithful Remnant

Conversing with his friend Samir Vesna on pp 129-130 of A Generous Orthodoxy, Brian McLaren writes,
Restorationists… often refer to themselves, Samir says, as a remnant…. “We’re not small because we’re ineffective, or lazy, or ingrown, or otherwise unattractive; we’re small because we’re a faithful remnant! Everone else has compromised…. We’re the few, the committed, [...]

My McLaren Colloquy: 3. New fields of opportunity

On page 140 of A Generous Orthodoxy Brian McLaren writes:
When I imagine what a generous orthodoxy can become, I realize I must seek to honor both conservative and liberal heroism. And when I do, I want to consider myself both liberal and conservative. I must learn from their mistakes, and when I do, I don’t [...]

My McLaren Colloquy: 2. Restorationism

One of the most fascinating and vigorous sectors of protesting Protestanism has been “restorationism” — a belief held by a succession of groups through church history that, by finally getting the last or lost detail right, they now represent a full-fledged restoration of “New Testament Christianity.” – A Generous Orthodoxy, p. 128
Like Brian, I was [...]

McLaren/MacArthur colloquy: 1. Honoring evangelicals

I appreciate the honorable treatment Brian McLaren gives to evangelicals when he writes: (A Generous Orthodoxy, p. 119)
“evangelicals have a passion that drives them into action: their emotion puts them in motion. And this emotion goes right to the heart of what it means to follow Jesus: loving God and loving others…. That’s why you’ll [...]

Brian McLaren – Final talk on Saturday: "A Revolution in Kindness"

Brian McLaren’s final speech was simply outstanding — here are my notes, expanded by my recollections a bit….
Brian: I believe the deepest question facing all Christians — the nagging question, is “is God really kind?”
The Bible helps us and also makes this more difficult for us to answer.
For example, Romans one tells us that God [...]

Questions after Brian McLaren’s Saturday speech

Q How do you deal with power without appealing to power??
A The Cross is symbol of Roman domnination — and Jesus transformed it
The Symbol of Cross means peace thru suffering, not through torture and dominationn
Elaboration: Jesus was crucified by the Romans which symbolized their power to torture and dominate anyone who opposed their authority.
300 [...]

Brian McLaren’s Opening Remarks, Friday Morning

Brian spoke for a few moments to open up the conference and I was fiddling with my computer to get ready to take notes, but I remember one really valuable thing: he said “imagine that all the people have their names written down on a sheet, and the column on the left is the good [...]