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Reviewed by: Gord Alton

This book’s title brought back memories of McLaren first book, “A New Kind of Christian,” a fictional story of a pastor wrestling with core questions of his Christian faith.  And while this is a nonfiction work, it does have a similar feel to it in that McLaren is clearly trying to rethink the foundation that defines authentic Christianity.  In this book, McLaren addresses ten key questions that the church struggles to answer due to our post-modern time. They include the following five foundational questions:   

• What is the overarching storyline of the Bible?
• How should the Bible be understood?
• Is God violent?
• Who is Jesus and why is he important?
• What is the gospel message?

Our answers to these five core questions then shape how we respond to five key practical questions facing the current church.  They include the following: 

• How must the church change?
• How do we address human sexuality?
• How must our picture of the future (eschatology) change?
• How should Jesus followers relate to people of other religions? 
• How can we implement the answers to the above nine questions into reality?

Of all of McLaren’s book, I see this is as his most progressive work to date, probably more cutting-edge then some would wish.  This book is ideal for pastors or leaders who sense something is wrong with our current expression of Christianity and are seeking to understand and live out a more meaningful Christian faith during our postmodern time.

Gord Alton

Meet the Reviewer:

Gord is the Associate Pastor at Erb Street Mennonite Church in Waterloo.  Gord is also a part of Mennonite Spiritual Directors.