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Title: Finding Faith by Brian D. McLaren ISBN: 0-310-22542-6 Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 March, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.99

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (14 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Light-years beyond Josh McDowell style apologetics
Comment: As a rather progressive postmodern recovering-Evangelical I found this book to be a breath of fresh-air. While this book does fall into the category of apologetics, it is most certainly not an "Evidence That Demands a Verdict" or "Many Infallible Proofs for Christianity" style book. It's entire approach is radically different and immensely relevant to today's postmodern culture. Rather than focusing merely on cognitive arguments that are supposed to rationally convince people of the "absolute" truth of Christian beliefs, "Finding Faith" takes an existential approach that deals with the real life hang ups that postmodern individuals will have about Christianity. In other words, McLaren recognizes that postmoderns don't care so much whether Christianity is true as whether it is good.

Of course, postmoderns aren't entirely unconcerned about truth. They're not going to buy into something that is just obviously false. But what is much more important to them is whether our beliefs are livable, workable, and worthwhile. They want to know not "Is Christianity true?" but rather, "Will buying into the Christian faith make me into a better person?" And McLaren is brutally honest about the fact that when most non-Christians look at what Christians are like, what they see tends to repulse them. Too often we Christians present our worst face to the world: our bigotry, our arrogance, our legalism, our lack of cultural and social sensitivity, our tacky art, kitsch merchandise, and bad music, our lack of philosophical depth or intellectual nuance, our sexual or financial scandals, our abortion clinic bombers, our homophobic preachers, our aggressive culture wars and paranoid right-wing conservativism, and worst of all, our lack of visible unity and our inability to even love one another as Christ commanded. To be honest, there are times when I even wonder why I put up with it all and still claim the name "Christian", and I've been a Christian all my life. Can you imagine how someone seeing all this from the outside must perceive us? Can you think of any good reason why a decent, thoughtful, non-Christian person would want to risk taking on all that ugly baggage and even begin exploring Christianity? Well, Brian McLaren recognizes this huge risk that spiritual seekers take when approaching Christianity, and he has aimed "Finding Faith" at providing them with reasons to give Christian faith a second chance.

Don't get me wrong, McLaren doesn't skimp on the intellectual side of things either. He has whole chapters analyzing atheism, agnosticism, pluralism, etc. However, even his approach to these is atypical. McLaren doesn't make grandiose promises about logically and conclusively proving his point of view. He recognizes that as finite and fallen creatures it is impossible and absurd to claim absolute certainty about any of our beliefs. Rather he is up front about the short-comings of his arguments, but open about his own reasons for nevertheless maintaining Christian faith despite his lack of airtight proofs. This kind of honest vulnerability is a winning trait of this book, and one that I think would be very appealing to a non-Christian reader.

For me the bottom line is that this is one of the very few seeker-oriented Christian books that I wouldn't be embarrassed to give to a non-Christian friend. In fact, I plan to.

Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent non-manipulative look at the issue of faith
Comment: I highly recommend this book. But, I warn you -- it'll torque the hell out of traditionalists.

Author Brian McLaren also wrote last year's "Reinventing Your Church" which was the best Christian book I've read since the early 80s.

"Finding Faith" is a very clear, intellectually honest, and non-manipulative book on how to approach the whole subject of faith. It respects serious thought, postmodernism, and doubt. Not once does he resort to traditional arguments, evangelical tricks, or dogma.

It is a very honest and probing book.

For the first few chapters, he really got under my skin (exposing my own traditionalism!). But,I stuck with it. By the time I got to Chapter 13 (a wonderful look at the Bible), I was a convert.

McLaren clearly knows what he's doing here. He has taken a bold leap to present Christ in the open market of ideas. He doesn't assume any kind of Christian consensus and he doesn't try to defend God.

The book is a refreshing, contemporary look at the Kingdom of God.

If you want something to give to non-Christian friends, this is the book. It is very respectful of non-believers; it gives them lots of room.

Rating: 5
Summary: Get this book & suggest that all your friends read it!
Comment: I certainly wish this was the first book I read when I began my spiritual quest (which eventually led me to become Christian). It would have made certain things a lot easier! To someone who is interested in "finding faith" but has no real experience with anything spiritual (the position I was in), I recommend this book. It covers a lot of issues that "beginners" are going to want to explore, and it does so in an open, patient and caring manner.

I would also like to respond to the review "SELF-motivated SPIRITUALITY". The reviewer complains that McLaren says: While this is clearly not the proper motivation for seeking God, it is often true that people begin their search for God for these reasons! Mr McLaren is not saying that this is the proper motivation; he points out only that it is common and must therefore be acknowledged. While I now know that this sort of initial selfishness is not right, it can very well lead a person to come to faith ... as it did for me!

In sum, I recommend this book wholeheartedly for all readers: atheists, agnostics, seekers and committed Christians. One of the few books I've read that deserves 5 stars!

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