Would You Want a ‘Generous’ Orthodontist?

Brian McLaren could comfortably wear the moniker Granddaddy of the Emergent Church, and not just because of his grey whiskers and genial disposition. His books are seminal, pioneering works, kinda like when Thomas Midgley (d. 1944) pioneered adding lead to gasoline and later, putting CFCs into all things aerosol. It was a generation before anyone realized that one man had bequeathed two of history’s most devastating contributions to environmental calamity, namely perforating our Ozone layer, and poisoning a civilization. Thanks Tom.

Similarly, Brian McLaren is deconstructing orthodoxy with all the vigor and verve of a punctured canister of bug-spray. McLaren’s bailiwick is ambiguity, which makes him a poster boy for all Postmodernist emergent types. The emergencia’s unorthodox angle on orthodoxy is “articulated,” as clearly as a slippery tongue can, in A Generous Orthodoxy. Here’s a tidbit of the movement’s signature obfuscation: “I have gone out of my way to be provocative, mischievous, and unclear, reflecting my belief that clarity is sometimes overrated, and that shock, obscurity, playfulness, and intrigue (carefully articulated) often stimulate more thought than clarity” (p. 27).   Keep Reading...