Book Review: A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian D. McLaren

In this book, Brian McLaren, a leader in the “emergent church” movement, explains why he is “a missional + evangelical + post/protestant + liberal/conservative + mystical/poetic + biblical + charismatic/contemplative + fundamentalist/calvinist + anabaptist/anglican + methodist + catholic + green + incarnational + depressed-yet-hopeful + emergent + unfinished CHRISTIAN” (quoted from book cover).

I believe McLaren is profoundly ignorant of almost all the categories above that he ascribes to himself. In almost every instance, he admits to having a remote fascination with what I consider a superficial analysis of each of these denominations/movements. I will briefly comment on one of his chapters, in which he discusses what it means to be “biblical.”

It is very fitting that this book not have a Scripture index in the back. McLaren hardly ever references the Bible (even when he does, it is usually in a careless manner), though he thinks himself “biblical” (chapter 10). “I believe [the Bible] is a gift from God, inspired by God, to benefit us in the most important way possible: equipping us so that we can benefit others, so that we can play our part in the ongoing mission of God. My regard for the Bible is higher than ever” (177).

He explains that he has rejected a view that holds the Bible as “an answer book” (177), that it teaches us “a simple, clear, efficient, and convenient plan for getting to heaven after death,” and that it is “a rule book that made it objectively clear, with no subjective ambiguity, what behaviors were right and wrong for all time, in all places, and among all cultures” (178). Instead of this, he claims that he wants to view the Bible the way the Bible views itself.

He explains that he wishes a doctrinal statement like this would be affirmed by Christians: “The purpose of Scripture is to equip God’s people for good works,” and he really prefers not to use vocabulary the Bible itself does not use, such as “inerrant, authoritative, literal, revelatory, objective, absolute, proposition, etc.” For McLaren, it is biblical to use the Bible “with the goal of becoming good people who, because we follow Jesus, do good works in God’s good world” (183). What is clear is that McLaren thinks the Bible is here primarily to give us moral guidance, which is what other liberals generally conclude as well.

He thinks that there is a better way to interpret difficult passages that deal with “brutality, chauvinism, ethnic cleansing, or holocaust.” He summarizes his view with this statement: “We need to reclaim the Bible as narrative” (185). For example, in dealing with the Jews action of “ethnic cleansing” when entering Canaan, he says the following, “And so we ask: In that context was God commanding the people to do, not what was ideal or ethically desirable for all time, but what was necessary to survive in that world at that point?” (186).

But the Bible is clear why God commanded Israel to destroy the Canaanites. It was not because it “was necessary to survive in the world at that point,” it was a punishment for the Canaanites’ sin (cf. Gen. 15:16). Regardless of the misapplications this conquest of Canaan might have fostered in the modern world, McLaren is still not dealing with the issue in a biblical manner.

He summarizes his view with the thought that we ought not “read the Bible as a timeless document,” rather, we should read it as “a timely one” (189). He says this even after having admitted that Scripture is God-breathed. While it is true that God’s Word is “timely,” we must ask if it is something that is eternal—something that contains truths regardless of the time in which it was written.

On this issue we are compelled to ask what does the Bible say about God’s Word? It “lives and abides forever,” because God is its Author (1 Pet. 1:23). The psalmist cries out, “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven” (119:89) and “The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.” (119:160). It is true that the conquest of Canaan is not to be repeated, but in that conquest a truth is contained: one day the Lord will come again to execute judgment on all sinners, and those in the kingdom of the redeemed will prevail.

Though an author of one of the forewords compares this book to Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, which helped to ignite the Reformation, I prefer to compare it to a modern liberal attempting to dress up that fading doctrinal enterprise of the mainline churches with a more “generous” and kind face. McLaren has a very slight grasp of the Bible, let alone theology—indeed, it seems clear to me that he has abandoned any semblance of a biblical Christianity.