In The Secret Message of Jesus : Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything Brian McLaren does what McLaren does best. He synthesizes and popularizes the work of theologians and scholars so that their work is made more accessible to a broader audience. I don’t mean by this that McLaren is simply parroting what others are saying. He’s an imaginative thinker and I’m always impressed by the creative insights and faith-quaking implications he teases out of his writing.
Some of his critics like to say that his writing betrays the fact that he didn’t go to seminary and receive a formal theological education. I actually think this is a plus for him. In this regard he reminds me a lot of C. S. Lewis who like McLaren wrote about heavy subjects with great insight, but not from the perspective of a classically trained theologian. I contend that it is Lewis and McLaren’s lack of theological training that allows them to approach certain topics in fresh ways.
In “The Secret” McLaren is exploring the nature, content, impact, and practice of Jesus’ teachings on the Kingdom of God. It looks like McLaren is interacting substantially with the writings of Dallas Willard, N. T. Wright, and Walter Wink. (Who isn’t interacting with Willard and Wright these days?) He also seems to have spent some time with Lee Camp’s Mere Discipleship. If you’ve read much of Wink, Wright, or Willard, then you probably have a pretty good idea of what McLaren is up to in this book.
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
I am really, REALLY jealous that you’re reading this book and that I can’t yet. Consider me a real-live commandment breaker at this very moment, because I’m coveting like a madman.
I agree, by the way, that the lack of a seminary degree works to McLaren’s advantage. That, and the fact that his degree IS in English. It helps to be a good writer, you know. Seminarians like to defend their prose as “academic writing,” but, in my mind, there’s no excuse for lousy writing. 🙂
I couldn’t not disagree more.
I had to read that three times. Funny, I think.