book review » Love is the most excellent way

Review: Your Church Is Too Small by John Armstrong

Mar 132010

John’s book seeks to answer the question “How can we (Christians, churches) move closer to the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17?”

At first glance it seems like doctrinal differences between churches pose an insurmountable barrier to unity. However, John believes lack of love for Christians in other traditions is what actually stands in the way.

John’s beliefs are rooted in his own experience. As he has taken initiative to build relationships with Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians he has realized his attitudes rather than his doctrine were what prevented him pursuing unity whole-heartedly.

John is advocating a unity-in-diversity in which churches who affirm the historic creeds and make Jesus central can join together in mission even though their beliefs and worship styles are not identical.

I liked John’s comments about the Bible, that everyone interprets it; and so it is wise to be humble rather than holding prideful certainty about one’s own beliefs being right and other Christians’ beliefs being wrong. This humility opens doors for shared mission between Christ-centered, historic-creed-affirming churches.

John points out, as churches grow closer to Christ they will grow closer to each other.

This sounds so simple, yet the implicit message “If you are not pursuing unity you are not as close to Christ as you could be” is radical and thought-provoking. It lays out a challenge to all Christians to examine their hearts and repent of attitudes and behavior that oppose unity.

I hope Christians will read John’s book and consider whether pursuing unity has the priority it ought to have in their lives. And will follow John’s example and suggestions for bringing Jesus’ prayer closer to fruition.

Note: although I’m no longer a churchgoer, I posted this review because John is a friend of mine and I believe what he says in this book will move the church in a positive direction.

Review: A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McLaren

Writing 45 Responses »

Mar 022010

A while ago I decided it’s not possible to know with certainty what is true about the Bible or God (or even whether God exists).

What I care about is whether the stories people tell about the Bible and God motivate people to make the world a better place. I like Brian’s stories because I believe that’s the effect they have on those who are open to them. Brian’s stories encourage people to make Christlike love the goal of the church, to share with those in need and to be less wasteful with limited global resources. If people do those things, that will wonderfully contribute to improving the world we live in.

Some of Brian’s stories in his latest book line up with the conventional conservative Christian theology I learned. Others differ significantly: for example, Brian rejects the conventional narrative ascribed to the Bible. He depicts it with this diagram

Brian comments

this master narrative starts with one category of things—good and blessed—and then ends up with two categories of things: good and blessed on the top line and evil and tormented on the bottom.

He continues

Can we dare to wonder, given an ending that has more evil and suffering than the beginning, if it would have been better for this story never to have begun?

Indeed. I have dared to wonder that and it’s very refreshing to see that I’m not alone.

Brian rejects this narrative because it is more influenced by Greek Platonic thought than by the collection of writings which comprise the Bible. Reading Brian’s reasoning was an “Aha!” moment since the conventional narrative does not seem very ‘Jewish’ to me based on my knowledge of how Jewish people view the world.

Instead Brian draws a narrative from the Bible about ‘God the creator, liberator and reconciler’. Brian leaves many things more open-ended than the theology I was taught. He writes “history is not pre-recorded”. He doesn’t specific the extent of God’s reconciliation (unless I missed it), but his emphasis on the verse in Romans “For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all” leaves the door open for universal reconciliation.

Later, Brian provocatively states: the ‘ultimate revelation of God [is] not [seen] in the Bible, but in Jesus’.

Why not the Bible? Because Brian believes the Bible is a collection of writings which reflect an evolving human understanding of God. This gives him the freedom to reject troublesome Bible passages such as those about God being violent. Jesus was not violent, so the authors who wrote that God was must have had a flawed understanding of God.

I particularly enjoyed Brian’s comments on the book of Job. I appreciate reading different thoughts and ideas about Bible stories I’m familiar with.

I expect people happy with conventional conservative Christian beliefs will ignore what Brian has to say (or write critiques detailing where they think he is wrong). But Christians who have become troubled by those beliefs just as Brian became troubled – and I think there are many – will appreciate this book. I expect they will find some of their own questions and journey reflected in his, just as I did. And receive validation, reassurance and hope for the future.