The Logic of Intersubjectivity. Darren M. Slade
plunder, greed, oppression, and corruption.
It is increasingly hard to deny that the old-time religion and theology in which both Dr. Slade and I were raised greased our civilizational slide into this existential predicament. I shudder to think that its worst days and deeds may still be in the future.
Some of us dare to hope that a creative new theological vision could help us find a path through and out of the mess we’re in, especially with the help of a new generation of clear-thinking scholars and insightful writers like Darren Slade.
It is to them that I especially commend this book, along with a call (echoing Bob Dylan) to stay “forever young.”
Brian D. McLaren
Marco Island, FL
Abbreviations
AIFA Sweet, Leonard, Brian D. McLaren, and Jerry Haselmayer. A is for Abductive: The Language of the Emerging Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.
AMP McLaren, Brian D., and Tony Campolo. Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture-Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel. Pbk. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.
BMF Burson, Scott R. Brian McLaren in Focus: A New Kind of Apologetics. Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 2016.
CIEC McLaren, Brian D. “The Method, the Message, and the Ongoing Story.” In The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives, edited by Leonard Sweet, 191‒230. Grand Rapids, MI: emergentYS Books, 2003.
COOS1 McLaren, Brian D. The Church on the Other Side: Doing Ministry in the Postmodern Matrix. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000.
COOS2 McLaren, Brian D. The Church on the Other Side: Exploring the Radical Future of the Local Congregation. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006.
CPA McLaren, Brian D. “The Cross as Prophetic Action.” In Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross: Contemporary Images of the Atonement, edited by Mark D. Baker, 110‒21. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.
CSS McLaren, Brian D., and Gareth Higgins. Cory and the Seventh Story. N.p.: 2018.
CT McLaren, Brian D. “Presence Means Everything.” In Cancer and Theology, edited by Jake Bouma and Erik Ullestad, 19‒22. Des Moines, IA: Elbow Co., 2013.
EMC McLaren, Brian D. Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2007.
FFR McLaren, Brian D. Finding Faith: A Search for What Is Real. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007.
FFS McLaren, Brian D. Finding Faith: A Search for What Makes Sense. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007.
FOWA McLaren, Brian D. Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices. The Ancient Practices Series. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2008.
GDT McLaren, Brian D. The Girl with the Dove Tattoo. Brentwood, TN: Creative Trust Digital, 2012. Kindle.
GI McLaren, Brian D. The Galápagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2019.
GO McLaren, Brian D. A Generous Orthodoxy. Grand Rapids, MI: Youth Specialties, 2004.
GSM McLaren, Brian D. The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian. New York: Convergent Books, 2016.
JMBM McLaren, Brian D. Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World. Pbk. ed. New York: Jericho Books, 2012.
JP McLaren, Brian D., Elisa Padilla, and Ashley Bunting Seeber, eds. The Justice Project. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2009.
LWWAT McLaren, Brian D. The Last Word and the Word After That: A Tale of Faith, Doubt, and a New Kind of Christianity. Book 3. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2005.
MRTYR McLaren, Brian D. More Ready Than You Realize: Evangelism as Dance in the Postmodern Matrix. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002.
NKOC McLaren, Brian D. A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey. Pbk. ed. Book 1. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2001.
NKOCY McLaren, Brian D. A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith. Pbk. ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2011.
NS McLaren, Brian D. Naked Spirituality: A Life with God in 12 Simple Words. New York: HarperOne, 2011.
PTP McLaren, Brian D. “Preaching to Postmoderns.” In Preaching with Power: Dynamic Insights from Twenty Top Communicators, edited by Michael Duduit, 115‒30. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006.
RYC McLaren, Brian D. Reinventing Your Church. Softcover ed. Grand Rapids, MI: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1998.
SA McLaren, Brian D. Seeking Aliveness: Daily Reflections on a New Way to Experience and Practice the Christian Faith. New York: Faith Words, 2017.
SMJ McLaren, Brian D. The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2006.
SWFOI McLaren, Brian D. The Story We Find Ourselves In: Further Adventures of a New Kind of Christian. Pbk. ed. Book 2. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2003.
TSS McLaren, Brian D., and Gareth Higgins. The Seventh Story: Us, Them, and the End of Violence. N.p.: 2018.
TWLD McLaren, Brian D. The Word of the Lord to Democrats. Brentwood, TN: Creative Trust Digital, 2012. Kindle.
TWLE McLaren, Brian D. The Word of the Lord to Evangelicals. Brentwood, TN: Creative Trust Digital, 2012. Kindle.
TWLR McLaren, Brian D. The Word of the Lord to Republicans: A Tale for an Election Year. Brentwood, TN: Creative Trust Digital, 2012. Kindle.
VA McLaren, Brian D. (The Voice of Acts) The Dust Off Their Feet: Lessons from the First Church. The Voice: A Scripture Project to Rediscover the Story of the Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2006.
VL McLaren, Brian D. The Voice of Luke: Not Even Sandals. The Voice: A Scripture Project to Rediscover the Story of the Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2007.
WMRBW McLaren, Brian D. We Make the Road by Walking: A Year-Long Quest for Spiritual Formation, Reorientation, and Activation. New York: Jericho Books, 2014.
WP McLaren, Brian D. “Walker Percy: The Point of View for His Work as an Author.” Master’s thesis, University of Maryland, 1980.
1
Introduction
1.0 Thesis
To survey harsh criticisms against Brian Douglas McLaren (1956‒), readers gain the inaccurate impression that he is a heretical relativist who denies objective truth and logic.1 While McLaren’s inflammatory and provocative writing style is partly to blame, this study also suspects that his critics base much of their analyses on only small portions of his overall corpus. The result becomes a caricature of McLaren’s actual philosophy of religion. The thesis of this book is simple: McLaren is, in fact, a rationalist and empiricist, who utilizes irony, humor, generalization, and ridicule to disturb those expressions of faith common to mainstream, Western institutional Christianity (i.e., “conventional Christian paradigms”). The difference is that McLaren is an abductive rationalist and a phenomenological empiricist, who objects to the Enlightenment’s over emphasis on analytical rationalism because it overlooks ethereal elements such as intuition, mysticism, and personal experience. This “analytic” approach to religion has since created “notional” Christians who focus almost entirely on cerebral and abstract elements of faith while ignoring its real-world impact on daily living (cf. GO §13, 205; SMJ §4, 34). This study will show that what appear to be the musings of an unlearned and unnuanced writer are actually the tactics of a skilled rhetorician trying to expose the limitations (and even impropriety) of an overly analytic approach to faith. Indeed, McLaren’s goal is to establish a robust paradigm through which believers can acquire more than just knowledge; they can live in solidarity with creation