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: 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 [...]

Barna Saturday: Why I joined the Revolution

Barna Saturday: Why I Joined the Revolution
For most of my life I was on a very different path — I spent twenty-plus years to try to help churches — chronicling the accelerating changes that have now become a revolution.
I used the old style or classic quantitative methods — research — who, came, how many did [...]

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 [...]

Barna first Q&A

Q from former youth pastor — What about the scriptures that say that the body has pastors, elders, leaders, etc. How do we reconcile those with the Revolution which seems to be abandoing those kinds of forms?
[Kindig: my notes are sketchy here someone, either George or the questioner, talks about how a Wolfgang Simpson book, [...]

Brian McLaren – Domesticated the true revolutionary power of Christ

Brian McLaren spoke after lunch today….
My unedited notes:
Throughout human history , the paradigm has been: people without power are hurt by people with power. So they use the selfish assumptions and violent methods of the powerful to claw themselves into power… so that by the time they have arrived, they themselves are just as violent [...]