Brian McClaren’s book, A New Kind of Christian, has been around for a while. It is part of a trilogy of books that highlights some of the issues facing Christians and the church as it negotiates the transition from modernity to post-modernity (or whatever you want to call it). If you haven’t yet got your head round this change in our culture, haven’t noticed it, or haven’t a clue what that last sentence means, then this book will certainly help you visualise and sense the challenges that the church faces.
And I do mean visualise, because this book is like no other on the subject. It is written as a fictional account of a conversation between two Christians – a pastor and and a school teacher. Through their conversation and shared struggles with smug easy-answer, controlling brands of Christianity inherited from modernity, their story suggests it might be possible to live the Jesus way as a post-modern.
A refreshingly different kind of book, that has given me much to think about. I’m off to find the other two books in this trilogy.
