The 297-page book is published by Zondervan, 2004, and sells for $19.99. Of course you needn't travel any further than the Presence bookstore if you wish to secure a copy for yourself and a few select friends who you either want to encourage or disturb.

In the interest of fairness, the reader should know that this review of A Generous Orthodoxy will itself be quite generous. It seems that others have found numerous reasons to be somewhat less generous, and McLaren's willingness to tackle some controversial issues with honesty and considerable aplomb is among the reasons I am eager to recommend his work.

For the past couple of years in general and the past year specifically, much of the emphasis of Presence has been on experiencing life outside the box. This "life outside the box" is the call to live fully in the moment, fully in the presence of God - a presence we believe to be actualized and consummated. But living with this kind of awareness brings significant challenges. We are not out of the box for long before we realize we have emerged into yet another box, and once we realize that, the new box has to go as well. It is a constant challenge, and illustrates the difficulty of living with labels and systematic theologies.

McLaren seeks to learn from disparate and even contradictory voices. He believes that if we look beyond the labels and into the hearts' intent that lay behind so many familiar movements of our time, we see these movements springing up from an appreciation for mining the depths of God, his word, his ways. This diversity, if allowed, can stir within us an openness both in seeking and understanding the multifaceted approaches to the faith in which we stand.

With great clarity and simplicity McLaren offers mind and heart-opening responses such as:

To be a Christian in the generous, orthodox way is not to claim to have the truth captured, stuffed, and mounted on a wall. It is, rather, to live and grow in a living community of people who are seeking the truth on the road of mission, and who  have been launched on the quest by Jesus, who, with us, guides us still. Do we have it-have we taken hold of it? Not fully, not yet, of course not. But we keep  seeking. We're finding enough to keep us going. But we're not finished. That, to me, is orthodoxy-a way of seeing and seeking, a way of living, a way of thinking and loving and learning that helps what we believe become more true over time, more resonant with the infinite glory of God.

Approaches like this serve us well for we (in the fulfilled community) are often seen as (and ignored as) a people who are "un"orthodox in our ways. What if that could change? What if the newer and younger voices of the faith could be heard in the ways that McLaren suggests? What could happen if a movement was suddenly underfoot that embraced a generous orthodoxy? I believe that such a movement has begun, and that writers like McLaren are part of it. By the grace of God, our future might be more open than our collective past has been.

McLaren calls his introductory chapter--"For Mature Audiences Only." From the start he makes the reader aware of his intent to delve into many different areas that will make the average fundamentalist squirm. A lot of this has to do with McLaren's willingness to tackle, and in many cases embrace, the thorny epistemological ramifications of postmodernism and poststructuralism. McLaren, whose academic training was in the English department and not the divinity school, is recognized as a leader in the "emerging church" -- a postmodern, post-Willow Creek church growth movement with ties to missional theology. McLaren, along with others in the movement, stress that while the Bible has timeless truths, they come out of and are a product of a timely message, one contextually situated and culturally framed. This should sound somewhat familiar to those in the fulfilled prophecy movement, for whom the historical and cultural context of biblical prophecy plays an important role.

Refreshingly, McLaren is not going out of his way to step on toes or to be controversial--his style is light and open, yet honest, going straight to the heart of our unchallenged stories.

For instance, as the book opens McLaren addresses the issue of Jesus, contrasting the Jesus we learned in church with research on the historical Jesus. With provoking chapter headings such as, "The Seven Jesuses I Have Known," "Would Jesus Be a Christian" and "Jesus: Savior of What?" McLaren tackles weighty issues at the very core of the "Christian" faith. And thankfully he does it in a way that allows the emerging light of historical scholarship into the room.

Particularly helpful is McLaren's ability and willingness to explore the various interpretive streams embodied in the theological language we've used for centuries. McLaren not only exegetes texts but interpretations as well, offering a comparative analysis of various metaphors of atonement and the Cross: The legal metaphor has God as judge of a guilty humanity deserving of death. The economic metaphor sees God as the good master while the military metaphor sees him as a God at war with a human race that has rebelled.

Just from these few examples it is easier to understand how different faith-groups have aligned their message and presentation of what we know as the greatest story ever told. And when we begin our course with a particular bent one way or the other, by the time we get to the end of the road we may very well find ourselves well off base from where God intended for his people to be. At a minimum it warrants understanding and discussion, and perhaps most importantly, a mutual participation in working this story out.

McLaren's approach is deliberately and unapologetically missional, and focused on narrative. Inevitably, however (and we at Presence are familiar with this), people want to know about the big-ticket items: heaven and hell. Who is in? Who is out? What happens to whom? And when? McLaren addresses this wisely:

Why do you consider me qualified to make this pronouncement? Isn't this God's business? Isn't it clear that I do not believe this is the right question for a missional Christian to ask? Can't we talk for a while about God's will being done on earth as in heaven instead of jumping to how to escape earth and get to heaven as quickly as possible? Can't we talk for a while about overthrowing and undermining every hellish stronghold in our lives and our world?

It is this kind of wisdom, this willingness to cut to the chase with unwavering honesty, that commends McLaren to sincere spiritual seekers. In the eternal 'now' or the 'ever-present-moment,' why should we be preoccupied with so many of the questions that have forever been asked and forever been unsatisfactorily answered? In other words, what do they have to do with our mission that is always lived out in the now? Nothing. And the sooner we step out of this particular box the sooner we adopt a more centered and biblical approach to bringing this consummated kingdom to the rest of the world.

Eventually McLaren gets around to dealing with an issue near to the hearts of our audience: eschatology. His view is that the eschatology of abandonment is being overtaken by a more engaging gospel of the kingdom--and we agree. He writes:

For pop-Evangelical eschatology to proliferate, it had to ignore or, better, reinterpret much written by the Old Testament prophets. Prophetic visions of reconciliation and shalom within history (metaphorically conveyed via lions and lambs, children and serpents, swords and plowshares, spears and pruning hooks) had to be pushed beyond history, either into a spiritualized heaven or a millennial middle ground--a post-historic time zone between history and eternity, so to speak. They also had to marginalize Jesus with all his talk of the kingdom of God coming on earth, being among us now, and being accessible today.

While McLaren would see that kingdom as partially present yet still partially future, his openness--his generosity, if you will--gives us a great opportunity to find agreement and areas of common purpose. And, if we can begin to grasp just how broad a generous orthodoxy should be, it will not be long before many others are more willing to look into the ideas of an eschatology already fulfilled.

A Generous Orthodoxy is a book that should be read by anyone serious about advancing the message of fulfilled prophecy. McLaren is one of the better thinkers of our time, and the book is an enjoyable, accessible offering from a capable and cogent mind. If you haven't done so already … get the book.

I highly recommend it.

TIM KING is president of Presence and editor of Living Presence Journal. He and his family live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This article first appeared in the Fall 2004 issue of the Journal, Vol 14, no. 4.

URL: http://www.presence.tv/cms/generous_orthodoxy.php

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