The Last Word and the Word after
That: A Tale of Faith, Doubt, and a
New Kind of Christianity (J-B
Leadership Network Series) by Brian
D. McLaren
Couldn't Put It Down
For all those seeking more authentic ways to hold and practice Christian
faith, Brian McLaren has been an inspiring, compassionate—and
provocative—voice. Starting with the award-winning A New Kind of
Christian, McLaren offered a lively, wide-ranging fictional conversation
between Pastor Dan Poole and his friend Neil Oliver as they reflected
about faith, doubt, reason, mission, leadership, and spiritual practice in the
emerging postmodern world. That conversation widened to include several
intriguing new characters in the sequel, The Story We Find Ourselves In,
as Dan and friends continued to explore faith-stretching themes from

evolution to evangelism, from death to the meaning of life. Now, in this
third installment of their adventures, Dan and his widening circle of friends
grapple with conventional Christian teachings about hell and judgment and
what they mean for our relationship with God and each other. Is there an
alternative to the usual polar views of a just God short on mercy or a
merciful God short on justice? Could our conflicted views of hell be
symptoms of a deeper set of problems – misunderstandings about what
God’s justice and mercy are about, misconceptions about God’s purpose
in creating the world, deep misgivings about what kind of character God is
and what the Christian gospel is for?
Personal Review: The Last Word and the Word after That: A
Tale of Faith, Doubt, and a New Kind of Christianity (J-B
Leadership Network Series) by Brian D. McLaren
When I was still an atheist, searching for A God, ANY God, it was C.S.
Lewis who gave me the God revealed in Jesus, in a credible, simple and
beautiful way. As I grew, Lewis writings, articulated things I was feeling
and thinking, named the issues, exposed the lies, revealed the truth and
gave me a God to love.
Many years later, I started reading the Bible and listening to what people,
mainly Protestants, mostly Evangelicals, often Calvinists say about the
Bible. The topic of Hell was not often mentioned, but it was the underlying
theme, driving mission, motivating our belief, the Bottom Line of
Christianity: we've got to get ourselves out of hell and into heaven.
It was N.T. Wright who named this evil for me. It's "gnostic dualism" he
says when we think a secret knowledge saves us from this wicked world
and gives us true, blissful existence in a spiritual paradise.
But it was you, Brian, who loosed a heavy load from my heart in allowing
me NOT to reject the existence of Hell and become a universalist (which I
may have been in secret) but to simply recategorise Hell, name it,
relativise it within the Good News Jesus brought and allow it to move into
the background. Jesus did not show up preaching hellfire but Good News
for the nations.
Thanks to Wright I know what the Gospel is (Jesus is Lord) and I know my
calling (to reflect God's nature and work into the world). Thanks to Brian's
book, The Last Word, hell is dethroned Jesus' message is enthroned in my
mind and this has set me free to love and bless all nations regardless of
whether they too choose to become followers or not.
Too often we Christians are depressed because we think we have good
news but it's actually not that good and we can't admit it. The irony is that
"I'm going to heaven and most of you are going to hell" is just not happy
news to anyone but an utter egoist. Brian, I think you're really going to free
some spirits in bondage with this work.

I had not read the first two books in the series, indeed this was my first
McLaren book, but I had heard Brian speak. I've also listened to Carson
critique the whole Emergent thing and, like Russell's "Why I am Not a
Christian", the whole thing back-fired and made what was being critiqued
more credible and attractive. I think we're looking at a new kind of
Reformation in the next few decades and it's books like this which are the
flagships, not nailed to a door in Wittenburg but available from fine book
stores everywhere.
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