Book Review:
The Last Word and The Word After That:
A Tale of Faith, Doubt, and a New Kind of Christianity
by Brian D. McLaren
Published by Jossey-Bass, An Imprint of Wiley
I was prepared to not like this book. At the same time, I was very curious - how was McLaren (or rather, his characters) going to deal with the subject of Hell? I had really enjoyed his first book, in which a disillusioned pastor finds his "second wind" by discovering that God might be bigger than his theology allowed, through a series of conversations with a postmodern former pastor, turned science teacher. His second book in the series, The Story We Find Ourselves In, raised my hackles a few times, and I wasn't that impressed with the characters' logic (although I intend to read the book again). Surprisingly, I really enjoyed The Last Word ..., reading it perhaps a bit too fast (when a book "hooks" me, I tend to swallow it whole rather than taking the time to savor every little morsel).
The Last Word ... is, according to the cover, the "conclusion to [the] A New Kind of Christian trilogy." In this book, Pastor Dan Poole deals with his daughter's inability to accept the traditional view of Hell, and so goes on a quest to find the answers. At the same time, he is dealing with an ultra-conservative element in his church who's trying to force him out. Neo (now called by his given name Neil in this book) takes a back seat to many of the discussions as he introduces Dan to a group of friends who expand the conversations.
I didn't find the book nearly as controversial as the 2nd book, however this might be because hell has never been a very "hot topic" (pun intended) for me. The information presented in the the book is very interesting, especially as backed up and explained by McLaren's notes at the conclusion of the book. I am now motivated to further study the whole issue of hell and judgment, so in that regard, the book has served at least one of its purposes.
The Last Word... is not really a book about hell, although it is a primary topic of discussion. It is, rather, about the meaning and purpose of the Christian life on Earth. Here, however, I thought the book fell a bit short. I think McLaren took on a bit too much to cover in one rather short book and often the conversations seem too severely edited, making Dan Poole a bit too agreeable to accept new ideas (while I can identify with his thinking on hell, not that I necessarily agree with everything, I found it difficult to identify with his reactions and thought processes toward the end of the book). I would have liked to have seen this expanded into two books (but then, of course, it wouldn't have qualified as a trilogy).
It should be pointed out that no character in the book necessarily represents McLaren's own opinions, which to me is very refreshing, but could be confusing for people who are used to having their opinions spoon fed to them (which, unfortunately, is too large a percentage of the church). In fact, in reading through his Commentary at the back of the book, you find that the information presented by the characters is not always accurate, and he takes great care in pointing these things out. Again, from a literary standpoint, I am impressed that McLaren has kept his characters - for lack of a better word - imperfect. It should be required that anyone who reads the book also read and study through the Commentary.
For those of you who will never read through the Commentary (because I know you are out there), read this with your eyes wide open and all of your critical thinking skills in operation. The logic used by various characters is often flawed, sometimes based on false presuppositions or with enough gaps so that the conclusions jumped to are not necessarily correct. There's a tendency for some of the characters (no, I'm not going to tell you who) to argue theology from a "what makes sense to me" standpoint, and Biblical passages are interpreted without adequate support. Again, read the commentary.
The A New Kind of Christian series is great, if you are up to having what you believe challenged and are willing to do the study necessary to work through the issues.
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