A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey

By Brian D. McLaren

A Leadership Network Publication

A New Kind of Christian's conversation between a pastor and his daughter's high school science teacher reveals that wisdom for life's most pressing spiritual questions can come from the most unlikely sources. This stirring fable captures a new spirit of Christianity--where personal, daily interaction with God is more important than institutional church structures, where faith is more about a way of life than a system of belief, where being authentically good is more important than being doctrinally "right," and where one's direction is more important than one's present location. Brian McLaren's delightful account offers a wise and wondrous approach for revitalizing Christian spiritual life and Christian congregations.

If you are interested in joining a discussion group devoted to a A New Kind of Christian please visit groups.yahoo.com/group/NKOC.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Feb 28, 2002
• ISBN: 9780787960025

Brian D. McLaren

Brian D. McLaren (MA, University of Maryland) is an author, speaker, activist and public theologian. After teaching college English, Brian pastored Cedar Ridge Community Church in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area. Brain has been active in networking and mentoring church planters and pastors for over 20 years. He is a popular conference speaker and a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings in the US and internationally.

Reviews for A New Kind of Christian

[gdill-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A New Kind of Christian is a fictional dialog between a pastor on the verge of quitting the pastorate due to his theological struggles and his daughter's wizened high school science teacher who so happens to be a former pastor. They meet during a youth event one night where a music band called, "The Amish Jellies" are rockin' away. The two men bond a friendship that carries them through a year or two of dialog about faith, salvation, philosophy, and theology. Not your typical traditional views, but views that are refined for the 21st century. Much of the book is a proscription for post-modern theology. McLaren provides ample evidence to suggest we are transitioning from the Modern era to a Post-Modern era. The church has a choice to transition with the rest of society, or pull back its reigns and hold tight to the mechanized ways of the Modern era (1500-2000 AD), essentially becoming irrelevant. McLaren also provides a Post-modern way of looking at the Gospel, not as some free ticket out of hell (Modern view), but entrance into the kingdom of God to be incarnated on earth now. The Gospel is not sold as some consumeristic product customized to individuals, but relevant to communities and nations as the prophet Isaiah spoke so much about. Salvation is not confined to being saved from hell, but a work that is to be done by serving others and modeling Christ's love to others throughout our lifetime. Although the book is 10 years old I found much of the material very refreshing, not the typical drivel coming from traditional fundamentalist authors still stuck in the Modern era today. The end of the book provides helpful and practical ways for church leaders to move their churches from the Modern era into the Post-modern.In a nutshell this was another terrific book by Brian McLaren. A book that I think all church leaders should read. Sadly, many will toss this book aside as just another book about liberal theology. Really, it's none of that. It's simply revisioning old Biblical issues and seeing what they may look like in the 21st century and beyond. Conservatives hate the term, but cultural relevancy is key if the church wants to survive in the post-modern era. Otherwise, the church will become much like the churches we see throughout Reformation-era Europe... aged relics of the past turned into dusty museums.

[madcow299 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the book and found it challenging. While I do not agree with all the authors suppositions, I found many of his questions eye opening and his suggestions perhaps enlightening as the church transitions over this next few decades. I liked his ideas of utilizing traditional methods of spirituality, intense short term retreats, monastic practices, mission trips, and the like. I find it interesting how many reviewers( not just here but on other sites) are simply dismissive of McLaren and the whole idea of emerging church. I think this will be to their own detriment. We who occupy the current church must honestly and openly interact with new kinds of Christians because I believe that more and more Christians, especially young Christians will lean towards post-modernity. I think its worth reading and genuinely considering.

[melopher_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed the first part of this book, but was frustrated with the ending. There are many good points made, but towards the end, however, I felt a lack of focus. Many of the issues approached are ones that I've dealt with and pondered myself, and many of the questions are well worth asking.

[stephendr_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is an unfortunate book. At least the title is honest. Those who get to know Brian McLaren will certainly discover that he is a new kind of 'Christian': a Christian who undermines the authority of the Scripture; a Christian who dismisses propositional truth; a Christian who rejects what is orthodox for what is relevant; and a Christian who puts anthropology before theology.

[sandra305 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Prior to reading this book, I knew very little about the "Postmodern Era" and the "Emergent Church," so I appreciated the opportunity to find out more about both. I agree with a lot of what McLaren says and I particularly liked his statement, "In my thinking, church doesn't exist for the benefit of its members. It exists to equip its members for the benefit of the world. To do that it is about three things: community, spirituality, and mission--a kind of triangle, where each point is connected to the other two." Where I disagreed with McLaren were in his treatment of faith and historical Christianity. A good book to get readers thinking about their own beliefs.

[ericbradley_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What a great story, about a burned out pastor and an unexpected spiritual mentor. I have not read the two following books, but have heard great reviews. While many evangelicals are in opposition to McLaren's emergent church thoughts, it is regardless a well pieced together work.

[jaygheiser · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hugely stimulating book that serves as a wakeup call for the emergent church

[ike5graul · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I just finished reading Brian McLaren's book A New Kind of Christian. It was a good book, I appreciate what I think McLaren is trying to do, though I don't think I'm probably his target audience. McLaren offers us a fictional narrative account of a series of conversations that happens between two middle-aged Christians. They explore facets of postmodernity; the inappropriate reaction of modern Christians to these facets, and imagine what an appropriate, postmodern-Christian response might be.I've mostly heard Postmodernism described (philosophically speaking) as a "turn for the worst" in world history. The spectrum of analysis spans from one presenter who kept repeating the phrase, "Postmodernism is not in and of itself a bad thing," (until we were all convinced he felt it was), to a description by a friend of my father, who basically summarized it as the most effective tool of Satan to date: "Postmodernism trades logic for emotion. No one want to work in a skyscraper built according to someones feelings."I don't beg...I just differ.Postmodernity is little more than the result of the collective realization that empirical foundationalism is unachievable in the human experiment. Further, that the sciences are necessary, yet insufficient to assign meaning to existence. It's not about building a skyscaper however you feel like; it is about admitting that a skyscraper, no matter how tall and safe, will never feed starving children in Africa. Science is not equipped as a discipline to provide answers to the world's basic problems of pride, greed and lust. Postmoderns are starting to look for those answers elsewhere.I imagine this book might be revolutionary for a middle-aged, evangelical Christian that has been sensing "a crack in the Matrix" for awhile. It describes with passion the direction of postmodern culture, and dreams of a "new kind of Christian" that can proclaim good news with love to this "new world." As an X, having grown up in the Pacific NW (in the most unchurched area of America) most of what is presented as revolutionary in the book is simply the familiar world in which I live. The conversations of the book reflect conversations I've been having with Christian peers for years: how to be true to ourselves/our generation/our culture in a church built during and for our parent/grandparent's generation.

[dannymorris · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It asks some excellent questions that any follower of Jesus would benefit from mulling over.

[jd234512 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book, like the others in the series are quite incredible. Although McLaren is not exactly the best fiction writer, there are so many rich moments in these books that bring up points which cause you to stop and think. This ability more than makes up for the story, which seems to lack in some points and drag on with parts that don't really seem necessary. Overall, I would say that there is much that can be learned from this series, and it is a shame that many refuse to read it and solely criticize him because he can be controversial at times.

[perrigoue · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Run from this author. Run fast. Run far. Keep running and don't look back. Heresy in the making...

[sueincyprus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Like Marmite, it appears, people either love this or hate it. Likewise with the author, a controversial figure in the Christian world.

This book is written in pseudo-fiction format. He calls it 'creative non-fiction' in a later work, although I prefer to think of it as 'fiction with an agenda' - and not in a negative sense. A fictional scenario is set up :Daniel, a tired pastor, thinking of resigning, becomes friends with Neo, a Jamaican high school teacher who is a graduate in history and philosophy, and talks to him - at length - about how the church, if it's going to stay relevant to 21st century people, needs to move from modernism into post-modernism. It includes some of the best nutshell-style explanations I have come across, explaining clearly what post-modernism is - and what it isn't.

Written over ten years ago, much of this was radical at the time, although now it feels almost mainstream; many people around the world seem to have become disillusioned with traditional churches (including those that consider themselves up-to-date), and have moved forward in what can seem like a scary way, forming new kind of communities and relationships, seeing God in a broader, vaster way that includes paradox. Yet the author manages to stay balanced and fair, not criticising those who remain in the modernist style, nor suggesting that it was better to be post-modern as a Christian.

The fictional style allow for discussion and disseminating of ideas without the author directly speaking to his readers, which could have been condescending - instead, Neo speaks to Dan at the stage he's reached, sometimes pushing him beyond the level he's prepared to go. It's cleverly done, although I felt that towards the end there was a style change that was too abrupt: the last chapter is written as a series of emails from Neo to a youth pastor who was also exploring the idea of a postmodern community of believers.

Anyone reading this may need to put aside preconceived ideas about God, whether reading from a theist or atheist perspective, or indeed that of an agnostic. Whatever the background, I would highly recommend it.

[mtbearded1_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

60 of 75 for 2015. Essentially a dialogue between a minister in an evangelical church who is questioning everything he believes and a high school teacher who belongs to an Episcopal parish in suburban D.C., A New Kind of Christian will have all open-minded believers wondering if there is a way to be Christian in today's world, and just what does it mean to be Christian. Dense with meaning, and thought provoking all the way through, the book grabbed my attention from the start. A glitch in my iPad's connection to the car stereo had me listen to the first hour of the narration twice, which I didn't mind at all. Highly recommended to those who care about the future of Christianity.

[highlander6022 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The author said nothing that convinced me his conclusions are correct or workable in today’s culture and faith community – he did have a few (very few) comments that made me think a bit. But he had a poor writing style and was scatter-brained in how he presented his material. Clearly he is coming from a very conservative Christian Evangelical perspective and I can only conclude that his faith experience has been hurtful to him. I think he does further damage to the Evangelical tradition - I am not of the that tradition, but I believe they are not mean-spirited at heart (which is how he portrays them in this book, without specifically naming them) - but their methods may give that impression if you never sit down and talk with folks from that tradition. We discussed this book in my men’s study small group, and even the most liberal member of the group had a hard time defending the author’s conclusions. Some of us had a difficult time not recommending we just stop the study and choose another book – but we continued because we wanted to be open-minded, see what he had to say, and see how he would draw everything together at the end with his “proposal” – he never did that. I wonder if he has ever stepped into ANY other Christian church, or looked anywhere outside his own faith experience. He certainly did not look at my church, where he would have found that so many of the conclusions he drew about today’s Christians would have been seen to be completely false. He would have seen a vibrant youth ministry that is keeping young folks around when they hit their twenties – obviously they have not bought into his ideas of how Christianity “must” change to be "post-modern". Yes, his comments that the Christian church must adapt to a changed culture are true - but that is not some new miracle conclusion. Of course we must adapt to how we present Christ's message in our current culture - but his ideas (where they were discernible) would result in being "of" the culture more than being "in" the culture - the exact opposite of what I think he was trying to say. I thought it was a waste of my money – if you want to read it, borrow it from a library or get it via Bookswap.

[ngood-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have heard a lot of bad things about this book, which caused me to be extremely surprised to find that I actually agree with him on many counts. There are a lot of problems that I have with Christianity as we know it, and what we've come to make our Christian culture, and he addresses many of these things in this book. There are some things that I definitely disagree with, and I have heard that since this time Brian has gone on to universalism and some other theological intricacies that I would disagree with, but I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who struggles to separate Christianity from the culture we find ourselves in and wonders how to reach out to a culture that is rapidly changing.

[revmare · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After hearing so much about emerging church et al, I finally decided I needed to read this book and found it very powerful. (Reading it on my Kindle, I discovered that I had exceeded the maximum highlight/clip limit about halfway through!) For years I have been frustrated at feeling that the church is missing what's really important for the sake of routines and rituals. As much as we claim the inspiration of the Bible, we fail to live it and instead have substituted what I have dubbed "Americanianity" - a mix of Sunday School maxims and Republican politics. McClaren's device of having a frustrated pastor discussing spiritual issues with a former pastor-turned-high school teacher allows the book to unfold much like a novel (a novel with a LOT of long conversations!). Because the emerging church requires an enormous paradigm shift for many Christians, this device allows the reader to work through the issues even as the main character is struggling to do the same. Great book!

[kimbdinz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“You can’t judge a book by its cover.” This phrase quickly comes to mind as I reflect on A New Kind of Christian by Brian D. McLaren. The front jacket reads A TALE OF TWO FRIENDS ON A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY. I proceed to translate TALE as a sweet little story. I see the image of TWO FRIENDS as a couple of nice Christian guys. I resonate with SPIRITUAL JOURNEY, thinking “Great! That is what I am on.” I see the Christianity Today Award of Merit seal, and presume that must mean something special and so, determine this will be a good book.In a guide to Writing Book Reviews, a suggestion is to read the table of contents, noticing the way the chapter headings mesh. McLaren gave me nothing. Besides a couple of biblical references, I could not interpret anything in the chapter titles that connected one to the next or that revealed how this TALE would unfold. The place in which I did find telling insights before reading the actual chapters, came from the Notes. I found it interesting to see the books he referenced and whom McLaren thanked and why. The Notes hinted that this book was going to be more than a simple sweet little story. I was way off, this book is deeper and more intense than I had set my expectations up for.McLaren used the method of this TALE to introduce the concept of a post-modern world and the relationship the church has to it. He rationalized that the church must match this change in the culture or get left behind and die. His theories have been applauded by some and called heresy by others, which Neo accepts and initially Dan fears.My first reaction to the story was mind blowing. I resonated with so much of what Neo was trying so hard to communicate to Dan. I had many of the same thoughts and questions, but I would often say a prayer similar to Dan’s “God, help me, because I’m not sure where this thinking leads.” (page 23) I am still saying that prayer.I connected to his interpretation of the cross and dream catcher. I have often felt that Christianity is “isolated from creation, narrow and fragmented rather than holistic and rigidly rational rather than open to the mystical.” (page 26) I remember hearing and agreeing with Erwin McManus when he talked about how he could not help but see the stories in the Bible as mystical. Just consider the talking bush, the talking donkey and talking angels, just to name a few. Seems that fundamental Christians label mystical as bad and saved for the “wrong” religions.Neo questioned how if 150 years ago Christians allowed and supported slavery, based on scripture, what might Christians be allowing and supporting now, based on scripture, that we may later discover is wrong. This is a great question and one I hadn’t thought about, nor have I ever heard addressed, but asking that question makes so much sense to me. Would I dare ask the pastors in my church? Is there a clear, concise, evident answer that I may be missing?“Our interpretations reveal less about God or the Bible than they do about ourselves. They reveal what we want to defend, what we want to attack, what we want to ignore, what we’re unwilling to question.” And what a revelation it is! I believe that it makes sense to use scripture to support our views and what we are teaching, that seems obvious. However, to limit God because of our agenda, wants or claim of ignorance…that seems like heresy. One important reason that I am emotionally attached to this dialogue and the weight of its reality, is because I am married to a man who has asked many of the questions and made many of the comments in the book. I agree with Neo and “think what people really mean when they say they are against organized religion is that they’re against hypocritical religion, misguided religion, blind or unthinking religion, religion of rules and laws rather than love…whether it’s in Hindu garb or Buddhist or Christian.” In fact that is the exact position that my father held and it is the very belief that my husband has. One of my husband’s biggest hang-ups is the “Christianeese” language of “born-again” and “saved.” He has seen people walk the aisle, say the “prayer” and then never witnessed the transformation that I believe Christ calls us to make in our lives. While attending a fundamental evangelical church nearly every Sunday for three years, he felt people were trying to convert him, not have a relationship with him. If that was “people being Christ” to him, he didn’t want any part of it? He would see people repenting so they can stay out of hell and then never see them reaching out to others. In an article from Christianity Today, McLaren suggests instead of asking, “If you were to die tonight, do you know for certain that you would spend eternity with God in heaven” (we would hear this every Sunday) replace it with “How can we live life to the full so God’s will is done on earth as it is in Heaven?” My husband might connect with that question. Other questions I share with McLaren include, “why are so few of our good Christian people good Christians? Why are the most biblically knowledgeable so often so mean spirited?” I can just hear the fundamental response, “we are all sinners.” And I ask, yes, but where is the transformation? The effort?I am heavily vested in this issue. The desire of my heart is for my husband to have a relationship with Christ, for my children to have a “new kind of Christian” father. I’ve had such a hard time imagining him being like most “churched” men I know. To imagine him as a new kind of Christian gives me hope again.My questions are vast. I feel like I am on some sort of pilgrimage to an unknown, uncharted land. Why has God allowed me to experience and witness my father and now my husband having such disdain for “organized religion”? When they hear messages about shame and shortfalls, not grace and good news, why would they want anything to do with this? And what am I to do? As a submissive Christian wife and daughter, I will follow the direction of Timothy and not nag or preach. I will let my quiet spirit be a testimony. Does the responsibility to obey Christ and follow him lay only on my husband? Is the church responsible for ministering to him in a way he will respond? Is it all up to God to draw him near and change his heart?Besides the questions around my husband, I wonder what my role is in the church. I wonder why in this town? Why has God placed me in such a conservative church where I am scared half to death to mention the word emergent or post-modern? Am I to be an agent of change for Christ? Am I here to learn what not to do in the next church? Could the younger leaders and pastors possibly be heading in the direction of the emergent church, preparing to reach out to the post-modern world? Is God putting me in place for such a time as that? Should I look for an emergent church? Does one even exist in here? There is so much more… To briefly touch on my concerns with the book, I must say there were ideas and implications Neo made about scripture that caused me to fell a bit nervous. Maybe it is a hopeful nervous. Perhaps a doubtful nervous. The beliefs and paradigms planted in me run deep. Yet apparently not so deep, as I do find myself open to many of these new thoughts, but then those seem to be the thoughts and questions that have been on my heart all along.Some days I would much rather stick my head in the sand and pretend there is no issue here. I would like to resist anything that feels like conflict, debate or argument. I want everyone to get along and agree. This path is showing me, challenging me to look at issues that may have eternal ramifications. My prayer is that God will show me what is next, what to do with these discoveries, how to best serve him with this knowledge and what to do about the lack of it. I have a feeling many more questions will come before the answers start showing up.