Converting Christianity/UPDATE

Here’s some information about my next book, scheduled for release September 2016:

Many people experience Christianity as a system of belief. It is focused on an exclusive Supreme Being who favors some and rejects others, and it is defended by a set of change-averse, self-protecting institutions. In Converting Christianity, Brian D. McLaren challenges this conventional understanding of Christianity, and invites forward-leaning Christians to participate in a movement of conversion. Drawing from his work as a pastor, speaker, public theologian, ecumenical networker, and activist, McLaren offers a plan for radical change that can shift the direction of Christian faith to be more in sync with its founder, more life-giving for individual Christians and congregations, and more of a just, generous, and joyful resource for the whole world.

Here’s updated information, including the new title:
… will be the title of Brian’s September 2016 release. Here’s a short summary:

Many people experience Christianity as a system of belief. This system of belief focuses on an exclusive and violent Supreme Being who favors some and rejects others, and it is defended by a set of self-protecting and change-averse institutions. In The Great Spiritual Migration, Brian D. McLaren challenges this conventional understanding and invites Christians to participate in a movement of conversion and transformation. Drawing from his work as a pastor, speaker, public theologian, ecumenical networker, and activist, McLaren offers a plan for deep change that can shift the direction of Christian faith to be more in sync with its founder, more life-giving for individual Christians and congregations, and more of a just, generous, and joyful resource for the whole world.

The book addresses three needed conversions:

1. From system of belief to loving way of life (a spiritual conversion)
2. From a violent supreme being to the life-giving Spirit embodied in Jesus (a theological conversion)
3. From Organized Religion to Religion Organizing for the common good (a missional conversion)

Here is a brief selection from the introduction:

For centuries, Christianity has presented itself as a system of beliefs. That system of beliefs has supported a wide range of unintended consequences – from colonialism to environmental destruction, from subordination of women to stigmatization of LGBT people, from antiSemitism to Islamaphobia, from clergy pedophilia to white privilege. What would it mean for Christians to rediscover their faith – not as a problematic system of beliefs, but as a just and generous way of life, rooted in contemplation and expressed in compassion, that makes amends for its mistakes, and is dedicated to beloved community for all? Could Christianity be converted from defining itself as a system of beliefs to a loving way of life? Could Christianity lose the bitter taste of colonialism, exclusion, judgment, hypocrisy, and oppression, and regain the sweet and nourishing taste of justice, joy, and peace again?
For centuries, Christianity has presented God as a Supreme Being who favors insiders with certain beliefs and proper institutional affiliation, while threatening outsiders with eternal conscious torment. Yet Jesus revealed God as one who “eats with sinners,” welcomes outsiders in, and keeps forgiving while being rejected, tortured, and killed. Jesus associated God with self-giving service rather than self-asserting domination. Jesus associated God more with parental tenderness rather than authoritarian toughness. What would it mean for Christians to let Jesus and his message convert them to a new vision of God? Could Christians be converted to understand God as the loving, healing, reconciling Spirit in whom all creatures live, move, and have their being? Could Christians experience a conversion in their deepest understanding of God?
For centuries, Christianity has understood itself as an “organized religion” – an institution or set of institutions that conserve a timeless set of beliefs that were given fully-formed in the past. Yet Christianity’s actual history is a story of change and adaptation in message, methods, and mission. What would happen if we understood the core Christian ethos as creative, transformative, and forward-leaning – as a constructive change agent rather than as the nostalgic curator of an aging tradition? Could Christianity be converted into an ever-evolving movement or “organizing religion” that challenges all institutions (including its own) to learn, grow, and mature toward a common and enduring vision?
Today, millions of us – Catholic, Evangelical, mainline Protestant, and Orthodox Christians, share something in common that we seldom verbalize: we believe our religious communities have lost their way and have become something very different from what Jesus would recognize as an expression of his heart and passion. The “brand” of Christianity has been so compromised that many of us are barely able to use the label any more. Whether we lean conservative, progressive, or moderate, whether we are pastors, priests, denominational leaders, or lay people, whether we’re teenagers, young adults, adults, or senior citizens, more and more of us are reaching a shared frustration that prepares the way for a profound conversion.
We all love Jesus. We all think he was right, and we all want to follow the way of life he modeled and taught. We all believe there are unique treasures in our Christian faith. But we are coming to realize that many sectors of our Christian faith need something more radical than renewal, revival, or even reform. We need a great spiritual migration.

Stay tuned for this release from Convergent Books.