Book Review: A Generous Orthodoxy Part 16 of ??
Fundamentalist
McLaren writes on Fundamentalism and Calvinism in one chapter (there is significant overlap), but I'll deal with them in separate blog entries. The term fundamentalist can have many different meanings, but historically speaking, it refers to a movement among conservative groups in North America in the early 20th century. This movement, consisting of conservatives from many denominations, reaffirmed what they saw as fundamentals of the Christian faith that were becoming increasingly questioned by some liberal groups.
The five fundamental points defended were: the virgin birth of Christ, the inerrancy of the Bible, substitutionary atonement, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and the imminent return of Christ. McLaren makes the insightful observation that two of these points (substitutionary atonement and the inerrancy of the Bible) were not found in the creeds of the early church; two points were (the bodily resurrection of Christ and the virgin birth of Christ); and one mostly was (the imminent return of Christ), except that the term imminent wasn't used.
McLaren suggests then that those five points were fundamental, not to the practice of the Christian faith in general, but rather were fundamental to resisting modern, liberal Christianity. He hopes that since modern liberalism has shrunk to a "mini-me" of it's original size, that Fundamentalists can now reexamine what is truly essential for the practice of the Christian faith. McLaren writes that the two true fundamentals of Christian faith are as Jesus gave them: to love God and to love our neighbors.
Despite his "Why I am … " formula, McLaren doesn't seem to say much in this chapter as to why he is a Fundamentalist. He notes that sometimes Fundamentalists have been characterized and/or caricatured as " fightin' fundies." McLaren thinks that some of this "fightin' fundy" spirit is needed, albeit in "carefully defined and measured" doses.
McLaren writes on Fundamentalism and Calvinism in one chapter (there is significant overlap), but I'll deal with them in separate blog entries. The term fundamentalist can have many different meanings, but historically speaking, it refers to a movement among conservative groups in North America in the early 20th century. This movement, consisting of conservatives from many denominations, reaffirmed what they saw as fundamentals of the Christian faith that were becoming increasingly questioned by some liberal groups.
The five fundamental points defended were: the virgin birth of Christ, the inerrancy of the Bible, substitutionary atonement, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and the imminent return of Christ. McLaren makes the insightful observation that two of these points (substitutionary atonement and the inerrancy of the Bible) were not found in the creeds of the early church; two points were (the bodily resurrection of Christ and the virgin birth of Christ); and one mostly was (the imminent return of Christ), except that the term imminent wasn't used.
McLaren suggests then that those five points were fundamental, not to the practice of the Christian faith in general, but rather were fundamental to resisting modern, liberal Christianity. He hopes that since modern liberalism has shrunk to a "mini-me" of it's original size, that Fundamentalists can now reexamine what is truly essential for the practice of the Christian faith. McLaren writes that the two true fundamentals of Christian faith are as Jesus gave them: to love God and to love our neighbors.
Despite his "Why I am … " formula, McLaren doesn't seem to say much in this chapter as to why he is a Fundamentalist. He notes that sometimes Fundamentalists have been characterized and/or caricatured as " fightin' fundies." McLaren thinks that some of this "fightin' fundy" spirit is needed, albeit in "carefully defined and measured" doses.
posted by Freethinker at 12:20:00 PM
5 Comments:
I have heard the comment before that although he seems to embrace areas of many different traditions he comes out with an Arminian Anabaptist view of things that makes up his orthodoxy. Your entry would seem to lend credance to this.
Bryan
SDG
It seems a little unfair to for McLaren to say the "two true fundamentals of Christian faith are as Jesus gave them: to love God and to love our neighbors." I'd characterize those two things as the two true commandments of the Christian faith, not two true points of doctrinal orthodoxy as this chapter of his book is about. In other words, he is talking about how one acts, not what one believes, when he refers to the two greatest commandments.
Well, he's not a Calvinist (which will be clear when I write the next part of this review), but you can disagree with Calvinist theology and not really be an Arminian. He does seem to like the Anabaptists (which I'll get to eventually).
I would say that he's Orthodox in doctrine (meaning he hold to the creeds of the first 5 centuries), and he probably places less importance on the rest of theology in favor of focusing on Christian practice.
Whoops, I took so long to respond that Thainamu jumped in front of me.
You make a valid point, but I think McLaren sees doctrine (belief) as a subset of practice (acting) instead of practice (acting)as a subset of doctrine (belief). Or something like that.
Nice!
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