The Postmodern Social Gospel: Brian McLaren Proves My Point

A while ago just when I was beginning to get into the Emerging Church movement and it's leaders like Brian McLaren, I wrote a 2 part series on how McLaren offers nothing more than the social gospel only with a postmodern spin (Part 1, Part 2). Now that I have done much more research on the Emerging Church and McLaren, I stand by what I have written and believe.

Perhaps the best illustration of this, in terms of published work, comes from Rob Bell's new book provocatively titled, "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" where he argues that Jesus did not come to save us from eternal hell and judgment, but to be liberators of the oppressed. "God needs a body," is a major, repeated theme in the book, and it means that God needs us to free the slaves, feed the poor, and clothe the naked. But instead of reading Bell, just read McLaren's answer to the question, "what is the gospel? What is the good news?"

I think this is where it gets interesting because one of the ways that what we do becomes colonization, when we’re going to represent a religion and trying to make converts to a religion… but the good news isn’t the good news of Christianity, it’s the good news of the Kingdom of God. And I think that Fatmire [Muslim peace activist also present at conference and sitting next to him on the panel] working for peace, is an agent for peace, and I’d much rather her be working for peace being who she is than… becoming a person in a church worrying about the list over there on that wall. [on “the list” are things non-essentials like speaking in tongues, etc.)

So, to me there’s something we really have to grapple with about whether the border of a religion is the border of the kingdom of God. And I think that’s a question we’d be wise to raise. I liked what you said about there not being despair when you’re among the extremely needy people. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we found out that God is present wherever there’s suffering because God is there bringing healing and God is really present wherever people are working against injustice because that’s the work of God, wherever people are working for peace. And then the we find that the place that God isn’t is where you have a bunch of affluent people who are self-absorbed… and that wouldn’t surprise me why they would get depressed, because, in some way, it’s not that God isn’t present but they’re snoring through the presence of God.”

The "good news of the kingdom of God," means a postmodern social gospel in McLaren theology. Notice that McLaren is careful not to convert people, but to bring peace, end poverty, and free the oppressed here on earth. I am all for helping others, but that is not the gospel. McLaren offers the same heresy of the past only more attractive for a postmodern crowd.