Rating: 9
October 1, 2007
This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for a while, and on the prompting of a friend, I started reading it. It started slow: Part I felt done before and better by other authors. But each chapter got better and better, so by the end, I was cheering him on.
McLaren captures the message of the Kingdom, without being overly shocking or contrarian. He doesn’t let a fringe viewpoint get in the way of the central message, and writes one of his most welcoming and gracious books. His sensitivity to those who would already consider themselves followers of Jesus is to be commended, even when shattering past paradigms.
Like I said, the book built on previous chapters, building into something beautiful. I especially liked Chapter 18: the Borders of the Kingdom, and he makes a compelling case for a third way between hostile exclusion and naive inclusion. It has to be about purposeful inclusion:
“To be truly inclusive, the kingdom must exclude exclusive people; to be truly reconciling, the kingdom must not reconcile with those who refuse reconciliation; to achieve its purpose of gathering people, it must not gather those who scatter. The kingdom of God has a purpose, and that purpose isn’t everyone’s cup of tea” (169).
Sure, the book’s title promises too much. But if you get past that little point, then you’ll enjoy this book for what it is: a great primer about the Christian faith.
You can view its Amazon detail page by clicking the image above.
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