I took a class from Brian MClaren at Mars Hill Graduate School last month. I enjoyed it immensely. It was based on his book, Generous Orthodoxy.
A few of my colleagues and friends have taken issue with some of the challenges Brian (and others) raise in the quest to perhaps personalize their faith journey. By raising questions and wondering why we believe what we do (and behave like we do) as Christians, some have seen a slippery-slope theology that they don't like.
I have no degree in theology, only in history, political science and international relations. I have studied church history in depth and perhaps because of my Catholic upbringing and journey of faith have some broader understanding of Christianity (studying Russian history and the Orthodox Church helped, too!). My personal journey has taken me to many denominational settings and forced me to look, learn, and evaluate how expressions of faith are made. My 10-year each tenures with the Natl. Assn. of Evangelicals (NAE) and World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) have brought me into contact with virtual all expressions of Protestantism. In addition, since I was often tasked with "ecumenical relations" at NAE and WEA (involved in things like Evangelical and Catholics Together) I feel fairly confident of where the primary, foundational pieces of orthodox Christianity are.
Okay, that may give you some context for the following.
Many haven't even read McLaren's books or even attempt to understand what he's really trying to say (or *do* with what he says). I don't believe he would say that all truth is a personal choice (as some seem to imply). He might agree with me and say that many evangelicals (especially Americans) seem more concerned with whether they are right on certain points rather than to demonstrate the love of Christ to our culture. He might agree with me in saying that many of our churches are not as relevant as they could be because they seem to have been more interested in creating and building Christian subcultures rather than creating and building relationships with non-followers of Christ (especially the marginalized of society). He might agree with me in saying we have been too interested in our congregations and not with our communities. He might agree with me in saying that we seem to be more interested in preaching the good news rather than reaching with the good news through our love and concern.
All of these have marvelous and numerous exceptions, but they still are that. Many of the emerging leaders around the world (NOT just Brian McLaren), from which I have had the privilege of learning much, are trying to develop a practice of following Christ that has less of the hypocrisy and more authenticity (see Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz), less of the arrogance and more humility (see New Kind of Christian, by McLaren), less rules / regulations and more life (see Doug Pagit's Reinventing Spiritual Nurture), less theological theory and more practice (see Theology for the Community of God, by Stanley Grenz); less conservative/republican and more prophetic (see Jim Wallis, God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It).
All in all a very good thing in my estimation. I have seen no compromise of core Biblical beliefs, no call for embracing universalism, no baby going down the drain. Francis Shaeffer used to warn evangelicals about going down the slippery slope of liberalism (change your views on one thing and everything else will go, too). The fact is many of us have might have been so concerned about the slope that we've failed to see that we're not even climbing the mountain anymore.
And certainly, since western/northern/American Christianity has had so much influence in the South/non-west, there are challenges in those settings as well. Fortunately, we are learning from our non-western friends and colleagues. In addition, many of them have tried to look deeply and substantially into how to avoid the trappings of merging Christianity and culture (and they, too, have not always succeeded).
When McLaren calls for a "generous orthodoxy," he is asking us to be open to new and different things. Baptists, look at the ways in which the Orthodox affirm liturgy and learn from them. Charismatics, look at the ways the Presbyterians think and learn from them. Catholics, look at the ways that many Protestants embrace God's word and learn from them. And, we all can (and get to) assist each other in the journey.
Most of the values of this so-called emergent generation of Christ-followers are ones that I believe we should loudly applaud and encourage: community, relationship, social justice, authenticity, partnering -- things that have often not been emphasized enough. Are these folks perfect? Of course not; nor do they claim to be.
