Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture-Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel

by Brian D. McLaren, Tony Campolo

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Editorial Reviews
Product Description
There is a stirring among churchgoers. Many are looking at how the Christian faith is being played out, wondering if somehow we’re missing the point. What if there is more to our faith than just getting our souls into heaven? What if there is a power in the gospel that’s been kept under lock and key because of our culture-controlled church? If we placed our beliefs and their origins under the microscope, what would we see?

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 4 out of 5 stars

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

Give it a read!, 2008-07-09
If you were raised in the evangelical church with the Bible already mapped out and interpreted for you and then grew up and started coming to some different conclusions- then you're living out what this book talks about. If you find yourself ever thinking "wait a minute. That doesn't say what I was taught that it says!" then you'll want to read it! I loved this book. It described the transformation I'm going through and reassured me that I can still be a Christian and disagree with other Christians on the interpretation of the Bible. The Bible itself, of course, is infallible.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

The title speaks for itself, 2008-03-31
i believe this a powerful book that helps develop what you believe and why you believe it...to many of us Christians have honestly missed the point on what the sole purpose of Jesus' ministry was all about...i hope you get the opportunity to take out a few weeks to read this...its informative, and it will leave you questioning...not your faith, but why you believe the way you believe...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2 out of 5 stars

Largely Unimpressive, But Occasionally Insightful, 2008-03-04
I read McLaren's "A Generous Orthodoxy" not long ago and was glad I did, even if I found it to be a bit *too* generous here and there. So when I found this book on a clearance table I thought I'd give it a try. The set-up has a lot of potential, as the authors take turns writing essays on various topics and then responding to and challenging the ideas of the other.

Occasionally there are some good insights from both authors, but there's also entirely too much personal opinion put forth as scriptural mandate. Even before asking whether or not many of these stances are biblical (little is offered that would persuade that they are), any informed person could pretty easily question their accuracy. Campolo tosses several whoppers out there over the course of the book.

If you're looking to get stretched on these topics it's not likely going to happen here, but you'll learn a little about these authors if you're interested. A couple of the book's strengths are the transparent way in which they share about various personal experiences, and some of the points McLaren makes in his essay on "Truth".

McLaren in particular comes across as affectedly contrary, often for no good reason that I can discern. While I definitely agree with some of his criticisms of church culture, and I share some of his preferences, I wonder if he realizes that there are LOTS of people who simply do not like what he likes. I don't understand why people buy things at truck stop gift stores and then display them in their homes, and I don't understand (to save my life) why people buy Celine Dion albums. I personally can't believe people buy purple cars. But they do, and they want churches and music that speak to their tastes, not mine or Brian McLaren's.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1 out of 5 stars

Beware books that come with a money back guarantee , 2007-05-09
It is interesting to me that a book criticizing evangelicalism would fall into the same faults as the very groups it is criticizing. Much like any pop press publication you would find at your neighborhood Christian Book Store, this book lacks scholarship, style, and depth. This book makes many claims that may very well be valid, but no one would ever know since they use no citation to back up what few sources they do give. At one point they needlessly quote anonymous sources to make a point that many notable scholars have made better and who wouldn't need their identities hidden. The only explanation I can think of for this is that they did not research the subject enough to find better sources or they wanted to make this "controversial" issue seem more sordid than it is. Quite often the authors just make blanket statements with no support at all except maybe a flimsy metaphor.
McLaren and Campolo may have some good idea, but delivering them in such a format does nothing but harm their case. The concepts in this book come off looking half baked and rely too heavily on straw man arguments to be taken seriously.
What I found most discouraging about this book is that it is proof either that (a) McLaren and Campolo's abilities in no way warrant their following or (b) McLaren and Compolo seriously underestimate the intelligence of their readership. I would advice each of them to take note of authors such as Mark A. Noll whose book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind shows how a criticism of modern evangelicalism (from an Evangelical point of view none the less) can be poignant, honest, compassionate, and scholarly.
If you still feel compelled for some reason to purchase this book, I would suggest you keep the receipt.

4 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1 out of 5 stars

Missing the point is right..., 2007-03-03
These two guys are experts at missing the point of the gospel. They are more concerned with social issues than they are with saving souls and bringing people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

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