Brian D. McLaren | |
|---|---|
 McLaren in 2012 | |
| Born | 1956 (age 67–68) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Maryland |
| Religion | Christianity |
Congregations served | Cedar Ridge Community Church, Spencerville, Maryland (1982–2006) |
Brian D. McLaren (born 1956) is an author, speaker, activist, public theologian and was a leading figure in the emerging church movement. McLaren is often associated with postmodern Christianity. [1]
Raised in Rockville, Maryland in the conservative Open Brethren, part of the Plymouth Brethren, McLaren became attracted to the countercultural Jesus Movement in the 1970s. [2] He is a faculty member and Dean of Faculty for the Centre for Action and Contemplation. [3]
McLaren attended the University of Maryland where he received both a B.A. (1978) and M.A. (1981) [4] [5] He holds an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Carey Theological Seminary, Vancouver. In 2010 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary (Episcopal).
From 1978-1986 McLaren taught college English. He helped form Cedar Ridge Community Church, a non-denominational church in Spencerville, Maryland, in 1982. [6] He was founding pastor and served in that capacity until 2006. The church eventually grew to include 500 members. [7]
In 2011, McLaren defended Rob Bell's controversial book Love Wins against critiques from figures such as Albert Mohler, who argued that Bell advocated universalism. [8]
In 2013, McLaren stated that he did not believe homosexual conduct to be sinful. [9]
In 2015, McLaren was recognized by Time magazine as one of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America. [10]
McLaren is married and has four children and five grandchildren. [5] [11] In September 2012, McLaren led a commitment ceremony for his son Trevor and partner Owen Ryan at the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase, Maryland. [12]
The Christian countercult movement or the Christian anti-cult movement is a social movement among certain Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist and other Christian ministries and individual activists who oppose religious sects that they consider cults.
The emerging church, sometimes wrongly equated with the "emergent movement" or "emergent conversation", is a Christian movement of the late 20th and early 21st century. Emerging churches can be found around the globe, predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa. Members come from a number of Christian traditions. Some attend local independent churches or house churches while others worship in traditional Christian denominations. The emerging church favors the use of simple story and narrative. Members of the movement often place a high value on good works or social activism, including missional living. Proponents of the movement believe it transcends labels such as "conservative" and "liberal"; it is sometimes called a "conversation" to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature, its range of standpoints, and commitment to dialogue. Participants seek to live their faith in what they believe to be a "postmodern" society. Disillusionment with the organized and institutional church has led participants to support the deconstruction of modern Christian worship and evangelism, and the nature of modern Christian community.
Edward Michael Bankes Green was a British theologian, Anglican priest, Christian apologist and author of more than 50 books.
Anthony Campolo is an American sociologist, Baptist pastor, author, public speaker and former spiritual advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton. Campolo is known as one of the most influential leaders in the evangelical left and has been a major proponent of progressive thought and reform within the evangelical community. He has also become a leader of the Red-Letter Christian movement, which aims to put emphasis on the teachings of Jesus. Campolo is a popular commentator on religious, political, and social issues, and has been a guest on programs such as The Colbert Report, The Charlie Rose Show, Larry King Live, Nightline, Crossfire, Politically Incorrect and The Hour.
Doug Pagitt is a progressive evangelical pastor and author associated with the emerging church movement.
Kenneth S. Kantzer was an American theologian and educator in the evangelical Christian tradition.
Walter Ralston Martin was an American Baptist Christian minister and author who founded the Christian Research Institute in 1960 as a parachurch ministry specializing as a clearing-house of information in both general Christian apologetics and in countercult apologetics. As the author of the influential The Kingdom of the Cults (1965), he has been dubbed by the conservative Christian columnist Michael J. McManus, the "godfather of the anti-cult movement".
Craig L. Blomberg is an American New Testament scholar. He is currently the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the New Testament at Denver Seminary in Colorado where he has been since 1986. His area of academic expertise is the New Testament,including subjects relating to parables, miracles, the historical Jesus, Luke-Acts, John, 1 Corinthians, James, the historical trustworthiness of Scripture, financial stewardship, gender roles, the Latter Day Saint movement, hermeneutics, New Testament theology, and exegetical methods. Blomberg has written and edited multiple books.
Donald Arthur Carson is an evangelical biblical scholar. He is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and president and co-founder of the Gospel Coalition. He has written or edited about sixty books and served as president of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2022.
Robert Tillman Kendall is a Christian writer, speaker, and teacher who was pastor at Westminster Chapel for 25 years. He is author of more than 50 books, including Total Forgiveness. Kendall was part of the Word, Spirit, Power team, a non-denominational charismatic ministry.
Robert Holmes Bell Jr. is an American author, speaker, playwright, musician and former pastor. Bell founded Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, and pastored it until 2012. Under his leadership, Mars Hill was one of the fastest-growing churches in America.
Dan Kimball is an author and was a leading voice in the beginning years of the Emerging Church movement in the United States.
Kevin Jon Vanhoozer is an American theologian and current research professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Deerfield, Illinois. Much of Vanhoozer's work focuses on systematic theology, hermeneutics, and postmodernism.
Roger Eugene Olson is an American Baptist theologian and Professor of Christian Theology of Ethics at the Baylor University.
Scot McKnight is an American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, theologian, and author who has written widely on the historical Jesus, early Christianity and Christian living. He is currently the Julius R. Mantey Chair of New Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lisle, Illinois, but announced in January 2024 that he would leave the faculty by the end of the academic year, due to allegations of mismanagement in Northern.
Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr. was an American Christian counselor, author, Bible teacher, spiritual director, and seminar speaker. Crabb wrote several best-selling books and was the founder and director of New Way Ministries and co-founder of his legacy ministry, Larger Story. He served as a Spiritual Director for the American Association of Christian Counselors and taught at several different Christian colleges, including Colorado Christian University.
Edward Musgrave Blaiklock was chair of classics at the University of Auckland from 1947 to 1968, and champion of Christian apologetic literature in New Zealand from the 1950s until his death in 1983.
Robert Passantino, was an American author and journalist who wrote on subjects related to Christian apologetics, philosophy, and the Christian countercult movement.
Harold L. Busséll is a pastor and author. He has a M.A. in Psychology from Santa Clara University and a Doctorate of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological Seminary. Between 1968 and 1970 he served with Teen Challenge Paris, a Christian outreach program that works with drug addicts in Paris, France. His book Unholy Devotion – Why Cults Lure Christians, talks about his experiences while in Europe. Busséll has written, "my wife and I were involved with an Evangelical youth mission based in Switzerland. We were with the group only six weeks, but it was almost seven years before I had overcome the psychological damage caused by their cult-like control and spiritualization... Questioning a leader was considered an act of rebellion against God and His chain of command." Busséll went on to become a pastor in Saratoga, California. He also served as one of the Deans at Gordon College. Serving as Senior Pastor from 1984 to 1996 at the First Congregational Church in Hamilton, Massachusetts, a mainline church affiliated with the United Church of Christ. The New York Times recognizes Busséll as an author who has written books about mind control and religious groups. Christianity Today noted Busséll as a pastor who has "experienced spiritual warfare." Paul R. Martin has noted Busséll's opinion on recovery from what they refer to as cults, that "a clear understanding of the gospel is the single most important issue in a cultist's recovery and future immunity from further cultic involvement."
Willem A. VanGemeren is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of a number of books, including Interpreting the Prophetic Word (Zondervan) and a commentary on Psalms in the Expositor's Bible Commentary series (Zondervan). He was a senior editor of the five-volume work The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis in which ten essays have been compiled to thoroughly explain proper hermeneutics and Biblical interpretation. He is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Evangelical Theological Society, and the Institute for Biblical Research.
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