Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road?
Christians and Muslims together make up about 57% of the world’s population today, and by the end of the century they will constitute about 66% of the world’s population. More than any other single factor, the wellbeing of our children and grandchildren may depend on how well Christians learn to relate to Muslims – and Hindus, the next largest faith, not to mention Buddhists, Jews, people of indigenous faiths, and the nonreligious. We know how to have a strong Christian identity that is intolerant of or belligerent towards other faiths, and we know how to have a weak Christian identity that is tolerant and benevolent. But is there a third alternative? How do we discover, live, teach, and practise a Christian identity that is both strong and benevolent towards other faiths?In this provocative and inspiring book, author Brian McLaren tackles some of the hardest questions around the issue of interfaith relations, and shares a hopeful vision of the reconciliation that Jesus offers to our multi-faith world.
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Reviews
The thing I love about Brian is that he's kind and intelligent and funny and easy to talk to and in no time you're deep into conversation until it hits you: this man has a very, very radical message. He actually believes that Jesus and his followers can change the world. This book is no exception - he starts with a joke but quickly you realize just how serious he is about doing what Jesus teaches us to do. Helpful, timely, and really, really inspiring.
An extraordinary book: a thought-provoking introduction to one of the biggest challenges confronting the church in our globalised world, and a profoundly biblical and brave beginning to a Christ-centred cultural revolution.
Brian McLaren is a genius in provoking - in a constructive way. You won't see relations among religions in the same way after you read this book.
I think Brian McLaren is a spiritual genius! Not only does he have the courage to say what must and can be said, but he says it with a deep knowledge of both Scriptures and Tradition, and then says it very well besides - in ways that both the ordinary layperson and the scholar can respect and understand. You can't get any better than that, which is why I call him a genius!
In its relationship to those who believe differently, Christian formation all too often takes shape with hostile reaction, or collapses into some washed out common denominator. Brian helps us recover, and explore a vital and exciting alternative. Of how learning from "others" of all persuasions, is possible and intrinsic to vibrant Christian identity.