A Generous Orthodoxy, by Brian McClaren (guru of the emergent church movement).
I’m 50 pages into it, and incredibly bothered by his overly cutesy conversational tone ("quit the rambling and say something coherent!" I shout in my head, by which time he’s finally said something coherent and worth underlining). These first 50 pages could probably have been condensed into about 6 paragraphs. But McClaren loves the journey of faith (he seems less concerned with destinations than with the experience of journeying), and by nature journeys are not succinct (or at least, succinct journeys don’t make marketable books).
And what’s with the three pictures of him in/on this book – is that necessary?
Well, I’ll get over these things. I’m intrigued by his proposition of a Generous Orthodoxy – a sort of raw and from-the-gut commitment to big things Christian, and a simultaneous grace-filled comfort with imprecision, with crossing lines and with unapologetically claiming an inheritance to a diverse family of Christian traditions.
Let’s see where he takes me. I should get through the book in a few days.
The Lutheran Zephyr 