06.04.06
Posted in faith at 10:36 pm by Brandon
As promised, I read Brian McLaren’s latest book, The Secret Message of Jesus. My review will be neither as academic, nor as in depth as Greg’s great treatment of the book. However, I’d like to offer what thoughts I can, regardless of how elementary they might be.
So, let me say at the outset, I liked The Secret Message of Jesus (SMoJ). And yes, I’d even suggest you either buy yourselves a copy or run down to your local library and get it so you, too, can give it a read. I’d like to structure this little review by first talking about some critiques of the book. Then, moving on to what I believe are strengths.
I’ll be honest, I’m not wild about the rhetoric of SMoJ. What I mean is this, when you call something a secret, people start to think that it actually is intended as a secret, that Jesus really only wanted his message to be clear to a few, wise folks. Now, McLaren clearly demonstrates that he knows that this was not the case, yet the rhetoric of the terms “Secret Message” used throughout the book can be a bit confusing.
Another thing that sort of drove me nuts was the idea that this secret message is a totally new idea in Christianity today. I feel like the rhetorical move of calling the Jesus’ ministry a “secret message” tends to downplay those movements in Christianity that’ve really hit the Kingdom of God nail on its proverbial head. For example, the ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And, while McLaren offers nods to Dr. King, and various other executors of the social gospel, the message isn’t really a secret.
Yet, at the same time, McLaren knows his audience. Because for many people, the story of Jesus’ message as retold by McLaren, may just as well have been a secret. McLaren’s discussion of the life and meaning of Jesus (who he was, what he did, and what his message was) along with his treatment of other NT authors, was good. It reminded me quite a bit of NT Wright, Marcus Borg, or some other Jesus scholar who emphasized casting the message of Christ in the culture of a 1st century middle eastern village.
To whom is this message a secret? Well, probably to many church-goers in America. The kind that think Christianity is first and foremost about substitutionary atonement–that’s who’ll be surprised by the SMoJ. I admit, I didn’t find the SMoJ incredibly surprising. And, I think that’s okay. Instead, for me it was a reaffirmation of many things that I’ve been thinking about in my own coming to terms with church, God, and life.
If you’re a fundagelical-ish, aberchurch-goer, however, you may be in for a shock or two regarding what Christianity actually is. And, for me, this book has been good for that, helping people to understand what I think about Christianity. Because, frankly, I’ll hand it to Brian on this one, he nailed it. He said in this book, almost exactly what is in my heart. Books like that are few and far between.
Tags: The Secret Message of Jesus, Brian McLaren
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Posted in faith at 10:36 pm by Brandon
As promised, I read Brian McLaren’s latest book, The Secret Message of Jesus. My review will be neither as academic, nor as in depth as Greg’s great treatment of the book. However, I’d like to offer what thoughts I can, regardless of how elementary they might be.
So, let me say at the outset, I liked The Secret Message of Jesus (SMoJ). And yes, I’d even suggest you either buy yourselves a copy or run down to your local library and get it so you, too, can give it a read. I’d like to structure this little review by first talking about some critiques of the book. Then, moving on to what I believe are strengths.
I’ll be honest, I’m not wild about the rhetoric of SMoJ. What I mean is this, when you call something a secret, people start to think that it actually is intended as a secret, that Jesus really only wanted his message to be clear to a few, wise folks. Now, McLaren clearly demonstrates that he knows that this was not the case, yet the rhetoric of the terms “Secret Message” used throughout the book can be a bit confusing.
Another thing that sort of drove me nuts was the idea that this secret message is a totally new idea in Christianity today. I feel like the rhetorical move of calling the Jesus’ ministry a “secret message” tends to downplay those movements in Christianity that’ve really hit the Kingdom of God nail on its proverbial head. For example, the ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And, while McLaren offers nods to Dr. King, and various other executors of the social gospel, the message isn’t really a secret.
Yet, at the same time, McLaren knows his audience. Because for many people, the story of Jesus’ message as retold by McLaren, may just as well have been a secret. McLaren’s discussion of the life and meaning of Jesus (who he was, what he did, and what his message was) along with his treatment of other NT authors, was good. It reminded me quite a bit of NT Wright, Marcus Borg, or some other Jesus scholar who emphasized casting the message of Christ in the culture of a 1st century middle eastern village.
To whom is this message a secret? Well, probably to many church-goers in America. The kind that think Christianity is first and foremost about substitutionary atonement–that’s who’ll be surprised by the SMoJ. I admit, I didn’t find the SMoJ incredibly surprising. And, I think that’s okay. Instead, for me it was a reaffirmation of many things that I’ve been thinking about in my own coming to terms with church, God, and life.
If you’re a fundagelical-ish, aberchurch-goer, however, you may be in for a shock or two regarding what Christianity actually is. And, for me, this book has been good for that, helping people to understand what I think about Christianity. Because, frankly, I’ll hand it to Brian on this one, he nailed it. He said in this book, almost exactly what is in my heart. Books like that are few and far between.
Tags: The Secret Message of Jesus, Brian McLaren
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Trackback URL »
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wildwest said,
June 5, 2006 at 8:53 am
Ahhh, Brian McLaren. I love that man.
Jason said,
June 5, 2006 at 7:51 pm
While I harbor no “man-love” for Mr. McLaren, I do see that he has a great deal of influence on a more evangelical culture that I am not familiar with. I have not read this book, only a couple of articles he has written and found them well-done but they really told me nothing I didn’t already know. Then again, I come from a mainline church, which seems to theologically jive with some of his points. I do enjoy his take on worship up to a point and his ability to get evangelicals thinking about social issues rather than “biblical” issues.
Glad you liked the book…
grace and peace
Steve C said,
June 6, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Only through part one of the book, but I like what I have found thus far ok…. I enjoyed his take on things and felt myself reminded and aligning myself on what he was saying. I thought it was funny how he did the whole “tried, true and overused” illiteration technique in part one - full of “C’s” and for the life of me I can’t remember them.
I felt a bit of smugness with his being the “one” who has seemed to discover the “secret” by actually reading the gospels with a fresh set of eyes. “Yeah Brian, no one has ever done that before”…. “no one has ever seen what you have seen”… but can relate to it as well with my own smugness of seeing something fresh for the first time. It just seemd odd to call it a “secret”.
BUt I need to read more… and will post my review (as promised) later on my site as well. I am sure you all can’t wait… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Joe said,
June 8, 2006 at 10:23 am
I bought this book based on your review today. I also bought “To Own a Dragon” by Don Miller, which I’m reading first. I’m excited to read SMoJ, though.
Joe said,
June 8, 2006 at 10:14 pm
One chapter in, and holy shit, I’m hooked. This book is great so far. Thanks!
dougb said,
June 9, 2006 at 10:19 am
Brandon, have you read his Generous Orthodoxy?
tm said,
June 12, 2006 at 12:23 am
I am attending the RCA Synod in Pella, IA this week and I had an opportunity to listen to Brian’s ideals regarding the “new” way of being a Christian. I believe that the Belhar Confession has something to add to this new movement of acceping people to Christ regardless of race, ethnicity, etc…
He is a very exciting speaker and he does sign all of his books personally if you catch him after his speeches.
God Bless
Jody said,
June 17, 2006 at 6:17 am
thanks for your review, i’ve been thinking about reading it some time soon. as well as Generous Orthodoxy as doug mentioned. i’ve heard the message of SMoJ compared to The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard - a book i really like, i guess we’ll see…
Joe said,
June 21, 2006 at 10:12 am
I just wanted to say thanks for reviewing this book and letting your readers know about it. I’m half-way through it (I stopped reading because I couldn’t get past the part about scoring on the wrong goal because it made me realize I had some things in my life that I was definitely doing that on) and I wanted to say thanks so much because I’m glad I’m reading this book and learning to think on the things of the kingdom of heaven and the true eternal life.
Joshua Watson said,
June 21, 2006 at 4:25 pm
I just wanted to say that I love your site. I enjoy it so much that I added it to my links page, which gets quite a few daily hits. I hope it helps. I also blog about Progressive Christianity on my site TheZealotInMyCloset.com, which is also where your link is located.
Maria said,
June 21, 2006 at 5:20 pm
Thanks for reviewing Brian McClaren’s new book. I’m looking forward to reading it - mostly because I read and loved the New Kind of Christian trilogy recently.
I’ve found that while I don’t necessarily have a bunch of aha moments while reading his stuff it is helpful to put into words ideas/themes that I understand to be true but often don’t have words for seeing as I grew up in the world of substitutionary atonement.
mg
Michael said,
June 24, 2006 at 1:29 pm
miss your posts
how’s the new blog coming?
Mike said,
July 3, 2006 at 1:36 pm
I haven’t read all of this, but i wrote an extensive critique on my new page.
http://theweblogs.blogspot.com/