Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 5.5

CHAPTER 5.5

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BRIAN MCLAREN

 
Liberalism and Soteriology
       
Due to their misinterpretation of anthropology and harmitology, Emergent Soteriology falls short of the Reformed faith.  This new re-formation of Soteriology is primarily inclusive and present.  The Soteriology of modern liberalism in Machen’s day was no different.  In Christianity & Liberalism, Machen points out that modern liberals of his day were concerned with the narrowness of the Christian gospel.  Liberals were appalled at the notion that those ignorant of Jesus or of other faiths, who lived morally good lives, would be sent to hell.  The narrow mindedness of the gospel, then, had to be updated.  Thus, liberals adopted an inclusive gospel that stripped the cross of its offense.
       
This gospel, Machen argues, by “placing Jesus alongside other benefactors of mankind, is” therefore, “perfectly inoffensive in the modern world.  All men speak well of it.”[1]  Liberal Soteriology, then, was rooted in cultural accommodation and the culture demanded Christians strip the language of sin and hell from the gospel and replace it with an inclusive message.  But to Machen such a redefinition of the gospel was futile. In Liberalism, “the offence of the Cross is done away, but so is the glory and the power.”[2]
       
Emergents, likewise, are committing the same fallacy.  Although such categories as universalism and inclusivism have no merit in the Emergent conversation, they are committing the same fallacies of the past.  Like modern liberals, Emergent, postmodern liberals are redefining the gospel in order to fit the wants of the surrounding culture.  The culture, as do all cultures, reject the offensiveness of the cross.  Therefore, Brian McLaren and fellow Emergents strip the cross of its offense, and as a result, rob it of its glory and power.


[1]  Machen, Christianity & Liberalism, 123.
[2]  Ibid., 124.


Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accomodation to the Kindgom of God - Chapter 1
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 2.1
Thesis| Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 2.2
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 2.3
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 3.1
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 3.2
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 4.1a
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 4.2
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 5.1
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 5.2
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 5.3 
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 5.4  
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology:  From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 5.5


For more:
Theology - The Clarity of Ambiguity: The Erosion of the Perspicuity of Scripture in the Emergent Church - Part 1
Theology -  The Clarity of Ambiguity:  The Erosion of the Perspicuity of Scripture in the Emergent Church - Part 2
Theology - The Clarity of Ambiguity:  The Erosion of the Perspicuity of Scripture in the Emergent Church - Part 3
Theology - The Clarity of Ambiguity:  The Erosion of the Perspicuity of Scripture in the Emergent Church - Part 4
Theology -  The Clarity of Ambiguity:  The Erosion of the Perspicuity of Scripture in the emergent Church - Part 5
Theology/Reviews - "A New Kind of Christianity" - A 11 part review and critique of McLaren's book
Reviews - McLaren - A Generous Orthodoxy
Reviews - McLaren - A New Kind of Christian 
Reviews -McLaren - A Search For What Makes Sense: Finding Faith 
Reviews -McLaren - Adventures In Missing The Point 
Reviews - McLaren - Church On The Other Side 
Reviews -McLaren - Everything Must Change 
Reviews -McLaren - Finding Faith 
Reviews -McLaren - More Ready Than You Realize 
Reviews - McLaren - The Justice Project 
Reviews - McLaren - The Secret Message of Jesus 
Reviews -McLaren - The Voice of Luke  
Theology - Revelation and the Ambiguity of Justification: McLaren Adds to the Confusion 
Theology -  Does McLaren Reject Penal Substitution?: A Review of the Evidence
Blogizomai - Where is He Now?  McLaren on the Question of bin Laden's Final Destination  
Theology -   Hamilton: McLaren and Whole Foods Stores
Theology -   SBTS and McLaren: A Response to SBTS Panel Discussion
Theology -   The Evolving God: McKnight's Critique of McLaren
Theology -   The Future of the Emergent Church: McLaren Weighs In
Theology -   The Immutability of God: Its Truth and Relevancy - Introduction
Theology -   The Postmodern Social Gospel: Brian McLaren Proves My Point
Theology -   Where to Begin?: 10 Emergent Must Reads
Theology -   Who Isn't One?: Brian McLaren and Social Christians
Theology -  A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Narrative Question - Part 1
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Authority Question - Part 2 
Theology -  A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The God Question - Part 3 
Theology -  A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Jesus Question - Part 4
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Gospel Question - Part 5 
Theology -  A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Church Question - Part 6
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Sex Question - Part 7
Theology -  A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Future Question - Part 8 
Theology -  A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Pluralism Question - Part 9 
Theology -  A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: Where Do We Go From Here - Part 10
Theology -  A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: Some Final Thoughts - Part 11