A New Kind of Christian
Earlier this week I read the Brian McLaren book A New Kind of Christian (henceforth ANKC). I was extremely impressed. It is written in the form of a novel and even though McLaren would not be considered a master stylist I found the format very helpful in humanizing and contextualizng conversations which are important but often esoteric. McLaren's primary concern is with helping the church navigate the modern/post-modern transition.
One of the things that struck me was one of the characters assertion that churches that never became enamored with modernity are the ones most likely to be most vibrant. This reminded me of Mark Jurgensmeyer's assertion that the late Pope John Paul II was "a thoroughly unmodern man". In his later years this unmodern man became beloved by young people both inside and outside the church. I think one of the reasons is that pre/anti modern institutions/communities (catholic, orthodox, mennonite) never had a chance to fail today's young the way the american dream or the evangelical culture has.
It seems to me that it is importan to pursue post-modern varieties of the church but what might be most important now is not A New Kind of Christian but a very old kind of Christian alien abroad in this wilderness.