About 10 days ago I received a email out of the blue asking whether I would like a free review copy of Brian McLaren's new book: The Last Word and the Word After That to which I replied 'yes please'. (Please note: if anyone else would like to send me free books to review I am more than happy to oblige). Today it arrived.
I didn't plan to read it today, but started 2pm and 3 hours later have made my way through most of it. I read fast and skim to find the most important bits. What can I say? Firstly, this is the 1st book by McLaren that I've read. McLaren is someone I've heard a lot about over the last year and have been meaning to get hold of one of his books, but never seem to have got round to it. Secondly, I thought I wouldn't like the fiction style of the book - McLaren does his theology through the conversations of characters (think Sophie's World) - but actually found it refreshing and helped me grasp his arguments more clearly (as an aside, some writers always leave you wanting him or her to explain themselves a little more, McLaren writes with clarity and interest). Thirdly, this book as been described as very controversial, it's McLaren view on hell, but I didn't find a lot which I disagreed with. In the chapters on the New Testament you feel the recognise the influence of Tom Wright (which McLaren admits to heavily depending on). I think a lot of Christians are unhappy with the traditional evangelical doctrine of (heaven and) hell - it seems out-of-sink with other doctrines.
So what does McLaren say? Most importantly I think is the statement 'that hell itself isn't the point' (p.80). McLaren's book is a deconstructing of hell - a clearing away of the muddle and mess and a sensible look at the data. We've given hell too big a place in our theology. As McLaren points out, by quoting Wright, that although hell 'has been lavishly described by thousands of theologians, preachers and poets ... The New Testament, interestingly, doesn't have nearly as much to say about it ...' (Wright, For All the Saints?, 2003, 17, cited in McLaren, p.98). Talk of hell is surprisingly small - in the gospels, Matthew is the only gospel where it really features: John never mentions it, Mark very rarely and Luke is a toned-down version of Matthew (see p.114). McLaren's argument is we need to re-understand what Jesus was on about when he talked about hell, was he doing something different than what we think. He argues that the Pharisess used the idea of hell to motivate sinners to stop sinning (p.62), it was a tactic and an example of 'persuasive rhetoric'. When Jesus mentions it, its not sinners who are going to hell, but the Pharisees themselves: 'The Pharisees used hell to threaten sinners and other undesirables and mark them as the excluded out-group, hated by God ... Jesus turns their rhetoric upside down and inside out and used hell to threaten those who excluded sinners and other undesirables, showing that God's righteousness was compassionate and merciful ...' (74). Jesus uses the language or hell to 'point out what really matters to God,' (121), that is, the kingdom of God. Our doctrine of hell misses the point because we make it the point!
Conclusions: talk of hell in scripture is not as clear-cut as we are led to believe or like to think; Jesus uses talk of hell to make a different point than is often made today; "it's not up to us to say who's in and who's out" (Wright, 2003, 45); "the good news [is] that God is even better than we thought, that the gospel is even better than we realized. That [the exclusivist's] thoughts of God have been too small, too unworthy ... that the truly good news is bigger and better and more powerful than the conventional news they've been believing and preaching' (68). You come away from reading this book not with exact answers, but with a feeling that the wool's been lifted from your eyes, and that those unresolved feelings about the doctrine of hell were right. McLaren ends by saying that the reader should 'feel free to ignore whatever does not seem right to you and profit from whatever does' (199), which neatly sums up McLaren's attitude and belief that doctrines are not what should unite us.
There is much more I could say about this book, I've already found it very helpful, and will over the next weeks and months, revisit it's pages, especially the latter half, which explores more McLaren's new kind of Christianity. If you can get a copy.
A Blog Tour featuring Brian D. McLaren, author of "The Last Word and The Word After That" started today at the following blogs:
Tall Skinny Kiwi http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com
Prairie Fusion http://www.jordoncooper.com
Jen Lemen's Blog http://www.jenlemen.com
Dwight Friesen's Blog http://dwightfriesen.blog.com
sounds like a very good read.
Plato used "dialogue" as the outworking of his philosophies; often using Socrates as his main character.
Posted by: -ash | May 09, 2005 at 08:11 PM
glad to see you've got your hands on some McLaren! I'm about half way through at the moment but other pressures are meaning that I'm making slow progress.
The addition of a commentary at the back of this one adds a different edge. I think the issue of hell lends itself to the conversational writing style better than a lot of his previous topics.
I'll look forward to more of your thoughts on some of the ideas in the book.
Posted by: mark | May 10, 2005 at 03:53 PM
Scarey to think that we have misused the idea of hell to motivate others to think as we do or stop behaving in a certain way.
I seemed to be more intriged (spelling) by his use of salvation is grace, judgment is by works, as well as his mercy/judgment construct.
Either way one thinks about hell, if it doesn't help us love God and neighbor more, then it aint helpful. Good review.
Posted by: clark | May 10, 2005 at 05:46 PM