Brian D. McClaren, The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth That Could Change Everything. W Publishing Group (Thomas Nelson), 2006.
Referenced in: Theology of Mission, Proposals and Formulations – Missio Dei
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Brian McLaren is one of the most influential authors in the emergent movement. Some look to him as an apostle/prophet (in the functional not “official” sense) who is calling the church away from “status-quo, male dominated, power-orientated, cover-up-prone organized Christian religion.” (xiv) Others seem completely opposed to him, seeing his writings as a near-heretical, syncretistic, and radically deconstructionist perversion of revealed truth (e.g. see D. A. Carson, Becoming Conversant with the Emergent Church). Personally, when I read McLaren, I find myself alternately saying, “Amen, preach on!” and then just a few pages later shouting, “Surely you didn’t say that!” So I encourage people to read with discernment.
Why read this book? More than any other work before it, The Secret Message of Jesus expresses the thinking of the theologians that have shaped the emergent movement in a way that the theologically uneducated can understand. These include N.T. Wright, John Howard Yoder, Jim Wallis, Walter Brueggeman, Walter Wink, Ron Sider, Rene Padilla, Chuck Gutenson, Dallas Willard, Tony Campolo, Lee Camp, and others. If you read this book only to get a grip on why emergents think the way they do, it will serve a good purpose. I suggest reading it appreciatively first, and then critically. I suspect that whether you plan to or not, you will come away challenged and at times a bit upset over what you hear.
From the Publisher
When Brian McLaren began offering an alternative vision of Christian faith and life in books such as A New Kind of Christian and A Generous Orthodoxy, he ignited a firestorm of praise and condemnation that continues to spread across the religious landscape. To some religious conservatives, McLaren is a dangerous rebel without a doctrinally-correct cause. Some fundamentalist websites have even claimed he’s in league with the devil and have consigned him to flames.
To others though, Brian is a fresh voice, a welcome antidote to the staleness, superficiality, and negativity of the religious status quo. A wide array of people from Evangelical, Catholic, and Mainline Protestant backgrounds claim that through his books they have begun to rediscover the faith they’d lost or rejected. And around the world, many readers say that he has helped them find-for the first time in their lives-a faith that makes sense and rings true. For many, he articulates the promise of what is being called “emerging Christianity.”
In The Secret Message of Jesus you’ll find what’s at the center of Brian’s critique of conventional Christianity, and what’s at the heart of his expanding vision. In the process, you’ll meet a Jesus who may be altogether new to you, a Jesus who is…
- Not the crusading conqueror of religious broadcasting;
- Not the religious mascot of partisan religion;
- Not heaven’s ticket-checker, whose words have been commandeered by the church to include and exclude, judge and stigmatize, pacify and domesticate.
McLaren invites you to discover afresh the transforming message of Jesus-an open invitation to radical change, an enlightening revelation that exposes sham and ignites hope, an epic story that is good news for everyone, whatever their gender, race, class, politics, or religion.
About the Author
Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, pastor, and networker among innovative Christian leaders, thinkers, and activists. His groundbreaking books include A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, The Secret Message of Jesus, and Everything Must Change. Named by Time magazine as one of America’s top twenty-five evangelicals, McLaren has appeared on Nightline and Larry King Live, and has been covered by The Washington Post and the New York Times.
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