Bryan McLaren relates a scary story, not ripped from the headlines of any Trump presidency, but years before in 2004. He was invited to a presentation to evangelical leaders on climate change. One speaker, Sir John Houghton, was a brilliant climate scientist and an evangelical Christian. McLaren describes his presentation as majestic with irrefutable evidence. And still, the leading Southern Baptist at the conference said he could not accept that evidence, not because of theology, but because it required big government and economic solutions to which his denomination was opposed.
McLaren writes further: “Watching how religious institutions have behaved in the years since, I’ve come to see the degree to which the religious industrial complex is a wholly owned subsidiary of the global capitalist economy. I now believe our spiritual or religious identities take shape within an even deeper frame, our economic identity.”
McLaren’s book Life After Doom could be described as pessimistic as it explores the many areas of environmental and social destruction human beings are choosing to wreak upon our world. But perhaps the most pessimistic aspect of the book is not his collection of scientific and social evidence of “doom,” but his relevant and sadly open-eyed assessment of how Christians (and other spiritual and religious bodies, yes, but primarily Christians) are at the heart of the problem and are absolutely determined to drag the whole world down with them rather than admit they are wrong. His paraphrase of fundamentalist doctrine states, “At all costs, as a matter of identity, belonging, and survival, we must be right. If it takes the destruction of everything and everyone everywhere to prove us right, then bring it on!”
These early chapters are purposely meant to plunge us into the depths so that we can be truly awake to the “doom” that faces us in a world where we let this corrupted form of fundamentalist Christianity define reality. The rest of the book brings us back up, first by letting us rest at the bottom and then by encouraging us to take action.
For me, chapter 6 on hope was most inspirational, as McLaren addressed the pitfalls of hope. We can allow hope to paralyze us from action. This apathetic view of hope – it can be both good and bad – brings us back around to a focus on love, not hope, as the key value to bring us to a place where we can live through the doom-filled scenarios, even If we cannot stop them.
Chapters 8 and 9 do a remarkable job of reclaiming scripture as “the collective diary of an indigenous people who saw what the colonizer mindset was doing to humanity, to the Earth, and to her creatures.” The redefinition of money as the dominating currency to God’s emphasis through Jesus on love as the ultimate currency may not save us from the “doom” that earlier chapters outline, but it does offer a way to both live through the dark days and, if at all possible, reshape the future: “a new arrangement, a post-colonial and ecological society, a new beloved community that learns what the old arrangement wouldn’t or couldn’t escape.”
As McLaren continues through wise ways to live in current times without falling into irresponsible hope or despair, he maintains a beautiful storytelling style that is present in all of his books. As we read, we find that we get to know him better.
In this book, like so many others, he is talking directly with readers. But also in this book, he makes it explicit with a “dear reader” section in each chapter designed to help readers journal or discuss the feelings that come up as they read. This would make it an excellent book for a group study, as both the comfort of others and the call to action as a group are part of Life After Doom.
Rev. Mary Beene is a pastor at Windsor Presbyterian Church in Windsor, CA and Spiritual Director with Openings: Let the Spirit In.
No comments:
Post a Comment