I am looking forward to getting together with the book club again. Now, what to read? There will never be a shortage of books for us to read, so below are a couple of suggestions that might provoke us to thought as well as to action. Please let me know if there is anything you would like for the group to consider for upcoming book clubs, and I'll post it to the site.
In EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE, McLaren provides his critics with even more ammunition, starting with the book's title. If "everything must change," then McLaren is saying that the Christian message must change, right?
Or perhaps it's the way we interpret the gospel and apply the "good news" to global crises that needs to change. For McLaren, that change begins by asking two questions that he describes as the shaping questions of his life: "What are the biggest problems in the world?" and "What does Jesus have to say about these global crises?"
What should Christians do when allegiances to the state clash with personal faith? How can and should Christians relate to presidents and kings, empire and government? In Jesus for President, Shaine Claiborne and Chris Haw, co-founders of a monastic community in Philadelphia, take the reader on an entertaining yet provocative tour of the Bible's social and economic order. They also provide a valuable political context for Christ's life, reminding readers that Jesus did not preach the need to put God back into government—he urged his followers to live by a different set of rules altogether, to hold themselves apart as peculiar people.
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About Corey Sharpe
Where do we get our beliefs?
Three theological perspectives have significantly shaped my Christian identity: Evangelicalism, the early Methodist tradition and liberation theology.
From my coming to faith in a Baptist church and throughout my education in a Baptist school and college, I was nurtured by convictions that emphasized a spiritual rebirth, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the centrality of the Bible. Even when I disagree with certain aspects of evangelicalism, it has deeply influenced my sense of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
My seminary studies spawned my interest in early Methodism, particularly its approach to spiritual formation. Its leaders were convinced that only a foundation of doctrine and discipline would lead to a meaningful transformation of the heart and mind. In other words, having the mind of Christ enables me to be more like Christ.
Life in a suburban culture obscures the increasing gap between the poor and rich, as well as the Bible’s close identification with the poor. My doctoral work in socio-cultural context exposed me to liberation theology, which helps me see redemptive history as a history of oppressed groups, written from the perspective of the powerless, about a God who is actively involved with the poor in their struggles.
I am now the pastor at Huntingtown United Methodist Church in Calvert County, Maryland. Together my wife and I are raising 4 young theologians.
The Other Six Days 