Brian D. McLaren is a best-selling author, speaker, activist and networker among innovative faith leaders. A former pastor, he has written 15 books, including The Great Spiritual Migration. He is an Auburn Senior Fellow, living in Florida.
Posts By This Author
Peace Week
This week will be a full one for me and for many of us in the Washington, DC, area. Friday and Saturday, I'll be leading the Everything Must Change gathering in Vienna, Virginia, but first, I'll be part of the
Well Done, President Bush
In recent weeks, we've been watching Senator Obama and Senator Clinton try to disagree honestly without being too nasty in the process. This week, we saw Senator McCain come to the defense of Senator Obama when a warm-up speaker stooped to some low political rhetoric. Maybe the stale air of partisanship and "gotcha" politics can be replaced by some clean, fresh cooperative air ... for a while at least?
In that spirit, I think we all - Democrats, Republicans, and others - should [...]My Thoughts on "Souled Out"
It's true: the religious radio/TV waves are still pretty crowded with 24/7 programming that proclaims a less-than-integral understanding of the Christian gospel and its social implications. But on the bookshelves, thankfully, it's a different story.
Another recent treasure is E.J. Dionne's Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after the Religious Right. I recently participated in an online discussion of the [...]
Dialogue at Davos
In late January I had the great honor of being a participant in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. I was invited to participate in dialogue among Muslim, Jewish, and Christian leaders about "improving the state of the world." I imagine I was invited because of my previous work in interreligious understanding, and because of my new book Everything Must Change, which deals with global crises, including the [...]
Crazy Evangelicals
On this Super Tuesday, there will no doubt be a lot of discussion (again) about the role of religion
The Next Chapter
In two weeks, you will have your first chance to read Jim Wallis' latest book, The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America. You'll soon hear about the upcoming book tour, a new website featuring the book and a slate of other activities planned around the launch.
I had the chance to read the manuscript a few months ago, and I feel real excitement about what this book can mean to our personal lives as sojourners, to our faith [...]
A Dialogue Too Friendly for Focus on the Family
On January 3, Focus on the Family's CitizenLink sent an email by associate editor Stephen Adams called, "Evangelical Leaders Pledge Common Cause with Islam." Their target once again was the National Association of Evangelicals, echoing an attempt last year to oust Richard Cizik for having common cause with the birds of [...]
In Search of a Label?
A lot of us are people without a label these days.
Media folks want to call us the "Religious Left," since they can tell we're not the Religious Right. But that bipolar terminology brings a lot of baggage we neither want nor believe in. There's "Progressive Christians"
Starting the Year with Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan mural in downtown Minneapolis. Image via popturf.com/Flickr.com
I've had an old 1989 tune by Bob Dylan running through my head for the last couple weeks. Unlike some other things that get stuck in my mind
Mourning Benazir Bhutto
The vicious assassination of Benazir Bhutto means many things for our world. Already pundits are rushing to consider what it means for our presidential elections here in the U.S. Who will it help most - Giuliani? Clinton? Biden? Obama? Of course there's a place for this kind of analysis, but I believe at least four other kinds of reflection should not be rushed over in the process.
First, we should pause to consider what this means for Pakistanis. There's something about hearing people express [...]
What Evangelicals Need to Know: More Thoughts on the Beliefnet Roundtable
It was my friend, Tony Jones, who alerted me recently to the Beliefnet roundtable on evangelicals in power that I discussed in yesterday's post. He basically ruined my schedule that day because I couldn't help but read the whole thread.
A major voice in [...]
Left Behind's Jenkins and Others Shatter Evangelical Stereotypes
In light of Pat Robertson's and Bob Jones III's recent presidential endorsements
Hospitality for 'Ugly Enemies'
Several weeks ago, Larry and Andrea - Christian friends who live and work among Muslims in the Middle East - sent me their reflections on the recent U.S. visit of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which outraged so many. My friends were bothered by what transpired too, but for different reasons. I think their [...]
The Stories We Tell Ourselves
Our 'framing' stories aren't serving us well. But there is an alternative: the good news of Jesus.
Holy Spirit Sustainability
According to the World Wildlife Fund, each of us needs about 2.5 acres of arable land to be sustained with needed food. Then we need to add another two acres or so - enough land to sustain the plants [...]
'Devils and Dust': How We Learned to Torture
In The New York Times story about the administration's secret
authorization of torture, one sentence is particularly chilling: "With
virtually no experience in interrogations, the CIA had constructed
its program in a few harried months by consulting Egyptian and Saudi
intelligence officials and copying Soviet [...]
Who Has Betrayed Us?
I remember about eight years ago when then presidential candidate George W. Bush repeatedly claimed that he would restore honor to the presidency, soiled as it had been by our previous president's infamous affair. I remember hoping he would succeed. But a new kind of shame has come to the office and to our nation as reports surface about our government's secret authorization of torture. We all share [...]
Words, Not War, With Iran
'Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.' - Isaiah 2:4