good interview with “the door”

See what McLaren has to say to Becky Garrison for the Wittenburg Door

DOOR: How come so many liberal clergy never talk about Jesus? It’s like they’re afraid to say His name.

MCLAREN: I think a lot of them are reacting to fundamentalism and the Religious Right. Enough angry folks have hurled the word “Jesus” around like an insult that other folks don’t want to say His name at all. It almost feels to them like a racist or a hate crime statement sometimes because “Jesus” is used to legitimize all kinds of fear and intimidation. Another reason goes back farther in history of liberalism where I think people were seeking to speak in more theistic, deistic, universal, non-particular, nonspecific ways. They had reasons for this in the 17th and 18th centuries, with all the religious wars in Europe, but I think that tide is going to change because of the work of people like N. T. Wright and Steve Chalke, who are helping us get a new vision of what the message of Jesus is. I think if we could get that back, people are going to be very excited to talk about Jesus again.

Read all of it here

Thanks to Mike Todd for the recommendation.

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2007

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