The Logic of Intersubjectivity. Darren M. Slade
MacArthur, “Perspicuity of Scripture,” 143‒44; King, “Emerging Issues for the Emerging Church,” 34; and Sinitiere, “Embracing the Early Church,” 27.
8. Carson, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church, 28, 157. See also, Mayhue, “The Emerging Church,” 191.
9. Webber, The Younger Evangelicals, 92; Crouch, “The Emergent Mystique,” 38; Taylor, “An Introduction to Postconservative Evangelicalism,” 22‒24.
10. McKnight, “McLaren Emerging,” 62. R. Scott Smith concurs, “I also would love to see McLaren discuss the philosophical views that inform his own views. I think he owes his readers a candid discussion of them, as well as an assessment of where they might lead for the faith” (Smith, “Some Suggestions for Brian McLaren,” 85). These annoyances are also echoed by Reed, “Emerging Treason?,” 76‒77 and, ironically, McLaren himself in McLaren, foreword to The Holy No, ix‒x.
11. Allison, “Jesus was an Apocalyptic Prophet,” 19.
12. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions; cf. NKOCY §2, 14‒19; SWFOI §31, 229‒30.
13. See Tickle, The Great Emergence, esp. 13‒40. For McLaren, these negative reactions are reminiscent of the Catholic Church’s rejection of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) or Protestantism’s resistance against the abolition movement. For him, Christians are still following their predecessors by staunchly defending outdated paradigms (FOWA §14, 133).
14. Smith, “The Work of the Holy Spirit,” 20‒31. See also, Jenkins, The Next Christendom, esp. 79‒105 and McLaren, “Brian McLaren on How to Build the NSP,” 67‒68.
15. Howard, “The Religion Singularity,” 77‒93. McLaren appears to recognize this same trend, “The existence of thousands of denominations today is in part the fruit of this Protestant dividing frenzy” (GO §7, 125). See also, Smith, Christian America?, 88 and McLaren, “Interview: Brian McLaren on Anglicans.”
16. Brow, “Evangelical Megashift,” 12‒14; Neff, “Has God Been Held Hostage by Philosophy?,” 30‒34; Streett, “An Interview with Brian McLaren,” 10; Tomlinson, The Post Evangelical, 69‒84; Stewart, In Search of Ancient Roots, 12‒13.
17. The State of the Church 2016 (Barna Group).
18. Religion (Gallup, 2018). Cf. Kohut et al., Some Social Conservative Disillusionment, 35. As one 2009 Newsweek article explained, the percentage of people who believe religion benefits humanity is at an historic low of just under half the population (Meacham and Gray, “The End of Christian America,” 34‒38).
19. See Bass, Christianity After Religion, esp. 11‒99. For McLaren’s perspective on this disdain, see McLaren, “Beyond Business-as-Usual Christianity.”
20. McLaren, “Brian McLaren on Outreach,” 122‒23; “Church Emerging,” 149.
21. Fowler, Stages of Faith, 117‒213. As Kathleen Berger explains, “If Fowler is correct, faith, like other aspects of cognition, progresses from a simple, self-centered, one-sided perspective to a more complex, altruistic (unselfish), and many-sided view” (Berger, The Developing Person, 531).
22. McLaren details some of this maturation process, “First they lose faith in the 6-day creationist god, then in the bible-dictation god, then in the male-supremacy god, then in the European-supremacy/western-civilization/colonialist god, then in the anti-gay god, then in the pro-war god, then in the American-exceptionalism/manifest-destiny god . . .” (McLaren, “Ask Brian McLaren. . .”).
23. McLaren explains further, “Questioning widely held assumptions about God can be a dangerous venture indeed. But if our assumptions aren’t sometimes questioned, belief in God becomes less and less plausible” (WMRBW, 29). Ron Sider concludes something similar: “Born-again Christians divorce at about the same rate as everyone else. Self-centered materialism is seducing evangelicals and rapidly destroying our earlier, slightly more generous giving. Only 6 percent of born-again Christians tithe. Born-again Christians justify and engage in sexual promiscuity (both premarital sex and adultery) at astonishing rates. Racism and perhaps physical abuse of wives seem to be worse in evangelical circles than elsewhere. This is scandalous behavior for people who claim to be born-again by the Holy Spirit” (Sider, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience, 27‒28).
24. McLaren, “Q and R: Hints of Kierkegaard.”
25. McLaren, “Brian McLaren Reflects on ‘Seizing An Alternative’ Conference,” 01:12‒02:00. After all, McLaren asserts, this rethinking of old paradigms is the essence of Jesus’ command to “repent” (WMRBW, 88).
26. See Jones and Cox, America’s Changing Religious Identity. As McLaren explains, droves of Christians are leaving the church in order to improve their spiritual lives (McLaren, foreword to The Way of Jesus, xi).
27. Religion (Gallup, 2018). As McLaren comments, “For a variety of reasons, organized religion, including Christianity, seemed to have lost its power to satisfy us in the late old world. It seemed ingrown, tired, petty, crotchety, and out of touch” (COOS1 §Intro, 14). In fact, McLaren is writing for those “who love God or want to love God or are seeking for a God to love but have been repulsed by ugly, unworthy images of a cruel, capricious, merciless, tyrannical deity” (LWWAT §Dedication, vii).
28. See Lipka and Gecewicz, More Americans Now Say They’re Spiritual; Wright, Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites, 43; and Luntz, What Americans Really Want, 158.
29. According to McLaren, being “spiritual” is just another way for people to say they are “seeking aliveness” (WMRBW, xv). See also, McLaren, “Brian McLaren Rebuilds Spirituality” and his foreword to The Emerging Church, 9‒10.
30. Jerry Falwell Jr.’s call for Liberty University students to shoot and “end those Muslims” who come on campus is a case in point. McLaren writes to Falwell, “How would you feel if you saw the president, faculty, and students in a radicalized Muslim university somewhere applauding and laughing about killing Christians and ‘teaching them a lesson?’ Do you see how you are helping your students become the mirror image of such a scene?” (McLaren, “An Open Letter to Jerry Falwell”).
31. McLaren, “Q and R: Belief VERSUS Practice.”
32.