Just finished reading the very excellent book
The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian D. McLaren. I so appreciate McLaren's ability to articulate the message of the gospel with a refreshing objectivity. He really helps readers get a handle on the context in which the Bible was written that is largely ignored today as many translate the Bible in a modern vacuum marked by their theological assumptions. He dispels so many of the myths that are being perpetuated throughout Christianity about the message of Jesus, the "end times," and discusses what it all means for us in terms of practicality. Wonderful and highly recommended!
2 comments:
I've read some of McLaren's stuff -- specifically his book: A New Kind of Christianity. Although he does present the message of the Bible in a new and fresh way, I believe he takes way too much liberty with the text. Specifically, he depends much greater on one's current social context for interpreting rather than what he claims to be interpreting the text based on how the initial audience would have understood it.
Funny. I find the exact opposite. He looks very closely at the original context ... much closer than many people today. Especially in this book. He suggests we interpret the Bible through the lens only of the last couple of hundred years rather than going back to first century Judaism.
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