A fairly short, fictional book about some evangelical students emerging from Bible college, who meet some surprising characters. They have to adjust their worldview somewhat, and gradually discover that traditional American evangelical viewpoints are not necessarily in line with what Jesus taught.

I didn't find anything dramatically new in this book, but liked the writing style very much and found it quite thought-provoking in places. I imagine it would be quite challenging to those who equate right-wing American evangelicals with Christianity - unfortunately, it's unlikely to be read by those who could most benefit from it; or, almost worse, it could be read and written off as liberal heresy.

I downloaded just the sample for my Kindle at first, and then enjoyed it so much that I paid the small amount for the full version. I would give it four and a half stars if I could.

Definitely recommended. ( )

Wendy was raised in an evangelical church tradition and attends an evangelical Christian college thinking she is being true to God's calling for her life. Then the Word of the Lord comes to her and suddenly everything is different. McLaren takes a hard look at modern Evangelical faith and the ways in which it is and is not being true to the Way of Jesus. Wendy is conflicted between she has always been taught and what God is telling her is wrong, "'All you care about is personal salvation. It puts me [God] in the category of all your other conveniences: personal computers, personal identification numbers, personal hygiene, personal space, personal Savior. Dios mismo.' That sounds liberal, Wendy 'thought. “I know what you are thinking,' Manuela [God] said. 'And that is another thing I am so sick of: how you Evangelicals always act like the liberals are the enemy, and that conservatives are the only good ones. Aaggh!'"

McLaren challenges Evangelicals to look again at the gospel message and at the way their politics intersect their faith, saying that Jesus is not the white middle-class Republican that they are trying to make him. He argues that there is room in God's Kingdom for all types of beliefs. McLaren writes a fictional story about a young woman who is striving to live out her Evangelical faith in the modern world and in the story he challenges his readers to think about what they think they know vs. what the gospel message truly says. He concludes that evangelicals are “someone who believes that Jesus’ Good News really is good news. For everybody. ... It’s that God cares—about everybody. It’s that with God, there are no outsiders. It’s that God is with us, with everyone, with all creation, working for good. It’s that God is at work in the world, restoring the value of things that people have devalued, and showing the emptiness of things that people have overvalued.”

It is a well written book that reads quickly with good character development and an interesting story to tell that brings home some dynamic questions about faith, church, and the Good News of Jesus Christ. An excellent follow up to "The Word of the Lord to Democrats." ( )