In your book, A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey,
you draw an analogy between modern churches that look like everything is fine
with being like “horse buggies” that were built when the automobile was
invented. That is, the best buggies were built right when they were
becoming obsolete, is that who your new book is for, Christians who are bought
into a form of Christianity that is fading?
McLaren: Nobody
has asked me that question yet, and it forces me to face something that I
probably haven’t really faced so far, namely, that the folks who are thoroughly
bought into current forms of Christian faith are unlikely to change. They’ll be
likely to interpret this new book as an attack on what they hold dear, which
really isn’t what I intend at all. I’d say this book is more for Christians who
have tried and tried to buy into the dominant forms of Christianity today …
traditionalism, the religious right, the prosperity gospel, and so on – and who
simply can’t give their hearts to those forms of Christian living. They feel
there’s something more calling them, and they’re on a quest for that something
more. That’s more, I think, who I’m writing for, although I’m glad to have any
of the others come along who are willing.
Join the groove: Do you think we are seeing a gradual replacement of an old kind of Christianity in favor of a new?
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