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Q | Conversations on Being a Heretic from Q Ideas on Vimeo.

Scot McKnight interviews Brian McLaren at Q Conference in Chicago.  The interview holds so much rich material.  Lots of stuff stood out to me.

First, Brian begins the dialog with a reference to the previous presentation and that, “If our theology doesn’t lead us to be concerned about the kind of things we talked about in the last session, its a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.”  This is the fundamental tension within evangelical Christianity. The world is calling our bluff and saying, “Where’s the love?”

Second, Brian mentions that as he was writing Everything Must Change, people would consistently ask him about what he thought of atonement. At the heart of the Gospel is this question of reconciliation, or how does God bring humanity and God back into harmony.  I believe this question is THE defining question of the “conversation”. It was one of the reasons I wrote my book, Discovering The God Imagination: Reconstructing A Whole New Christianity.  At the heart of the emergence conversation was the tension we hold with our inherited stories.  Everything did need to change because story is what informs our sense of reality.  And if we get the story wrong, our understanding of the Gospel will be wrong.

Third, Scot’s second question is provocative because he calls Brian out for what some (maybe he) see as a direct shift in his thinking from Generous Orthodoxy to the A New Kind Of Christianity.  The question suggests that Brian that the second book disagrees with the first.  Brian’s primary tension is the construction of the Greco-Roman narrative, which he details in his book.  But Brian simply suggests a generous understanding of the story.  In other words, he stays in the tension of disagreement recognizing that some see it differently.  He simply suggests that “some of us need to explore other alternatives.”  He himself doesn’t believe there is tension between the two, and from my perspective I would tend to say he sharpens his own understanding of his own beliefs in ANKOC.

Fourth, Brian does directly address the question of universalism.  He says, “It would not be honest to say that I’m a universalist.” He suggests that the primary conversation is NOT who goes to heaven and hell but how is the kingdom of God coming to earth.  Here’s the concern.  We can’t get to Brian’s question until we address Scot’s.  Scot even suggests its both.  This is the tension.  It suggests that Brian is in a place his audience is not.  Scot calls Brian out for “tickling” people with old questions of salvation.  I can’t state enough how much my book addresses this fundamental tension. ;-P

Fifth, Brian states that the Jewish narrative is about getting them out of Egypt and captivity.  But then he says its not about getting them out of hell, which Scot agrees with.  I would actually suggest that its both.  The narrative of Egypt is a state of captivity, which is hell on earth. In other words, the metaphor or Egypt is suggesting the present reality of hell.

If this interview did anything for me it suggested that Evangelicals are beginning to wrestle with the conversation.  Much of the early stages of the emerging church was simply raising our hand and asking questions.  If what Brian is saying is untrue, it would be easy to just dismiss him.  But we’re not. He’s on the stage and Scot is still engaging him in conversation. It leads to an interesting question.  Has the evangelical church turned a corner in terms of finally engaging the conversation.  Is the evangelical church finally ready to begin wrestling with our understanding of historic orthodoxy. I don’t agree with Brian’s fundamental conclusion in regards to the problem.  But I do agree that we need to talk about it.  And I believe my book is a way forward.

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Discovering The God Imagination: Reconstructing A Whole New Christianity explores a profound possibility. What if we’ve misunderstood the Gospel? What if our historical approaches to Christianity have been distorted by the very same problem they are attempting to solve?  Available today from CreateSpace and Amazon. Order from CreateSpace and use code 5GFARGT9 to receive a 15% discount.