★★★★★
We have just enough religion to make us hate but not enough to make us love one another. --Jonathan Swift
What
does it mean to be a Christian in a multi-faith world? In a world that
keeps shrinking, McLaren draws us back to Christian neighborly
principles, encouraging respect and interfaith understanding, but
without sacrificing our allegiance to Christ. While it may be true that
fostering an us-versus-them atmosphere strengthens the walls and adds
purpose to our lives, this does not mean it's the only (or proper) way
to remain strong in our faith. McLaren teaches a Christian identity that
moves us toward people of other faiths in wholehearted love, not in
spite of their non-Christianity identity and not in spite of our own
Christianity identity, but because of our identity as a follower of God in the way of Jesus.
Anne
Rice once proclaimed, "In the name of Christ ... I quit Christianity
and being Christian." Many of us have felt the same frustration as we
outgrew our oppositional tendencies and pondered what it really means to
be Christian. McLaren calls it "Conflicted Religious Identity
Syndrome," this matter of opposing opposition, for it is
opposition—standing not only for something but against something—which stabilizes our identity.
But
if we jettison our strong/hostile Christian training, will we drift
toward its opposite, a weak/benign faith? Yes, if we don't direct our
efforts! Weak faith is weak faith! So McLaren calls for
strong/benevolent Christians. Contrary to the arguments
of aggressive atheists today, the antidote to bad religion is not no
religion, but good religion.
As
I read back over my review, I see that I’ve used too many big words; I
haven’t been very true to the flavor of the book. It actually is quite
readable and satisfying, and I loved it.
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