The Last Word and the Word after That: A Tale of Faith, Doubt,...

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 336 pages
• Published by: Jossey-Bass; Pk. Ed edition April 18, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0470248424
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0470248423
• Book Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 12 ounces

From Publishers Weekly
Pastor Dan Poole returns with another personal and theological crisis in this final installment of McLaren's A New Kind of Christian trilogy, which again features fictional characters engaged in nonfictionish theological dialogue. This time around, Poole has been granted an extended leave of absence from his conservative church as it investigates what it believes to be his liberal theological leanings, especially regarding the doctrine of hell and salvation. In rather predictable fashion, Poole finds himself questioning his own beliefs about hell and God's goodness, and just as predictably, Poole's friend Neo gently shepherds Poole away from the traditional doctrine of hell by pointing out that salvation is not just an individual matter but a communal one as well. Once Poole reaches some personal level of understanding about these doctrines through his reading, the church committee miraculously clears him of all charges and, after some emotional meetings, asks him to return to the pulpit. In the end, Poole finds comfort God's goodness and love, but by then readers may have been disappointed by the book's flimsy characters and simplistic insights. Although McLaren has justly earned a reputation for provocative postmodern theological observations, this doesn't live up to his standard. (Apr.) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Review
Pastor Dan Poole returns with another personal and theological crisis in this final installment of McLaren’s A New Kind of Christian trilogy, which again features fictional characters engaged in nonfictionish theological dialogue. This time around, Poole has been granted an extended leave of absence from his conservative church as it investigates what it believes to be his liberal theological leanings, especially regarding the doctrine of hell and salvation. In rather predictable fashion, Poole finds himself questioning his own beliefs about hell and God’s goodness, and just as predictably, Poole’s friend Neo gently shepherds Poole away from the traditional doctrine of hell by pointing out that salvation is not just an individual matter but a communal one as well. Once Poole reaches some personal level of understanding about these doctrines through his reading, the church committee miraculously clears him of all charges and, after some emotional meetings, asks him to return to the pulpit. In the end, Poole finds comfort God’s goodness and love, but by then readers may have been disappointed by the book’s flimsy characters and simplistic insights. Although McLaren has justly earned a reputation for provocative postmodern theological observations, this doesn’t live up to his standard. (Apr.) (Publishers Weekly, March 28, 2005) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: The Last Word and the Word after That: A Tale of Faith, Doubt, and a New Kind of Christianity (Hardcover) This is the third book in McLaren's trilogy of narratives involving Pastor Dan and "Neo," here called by his given name Neil. Thankfully, this book drops the near-worship of Neo that was so irritating in the previous volumes. Although not a scholarly work per se, I do appreciate the research behind it, just as I appreciate a sermon that shows solid research and is not just a bunch of half-baked ideas based on unrelated scriptures taken out of context and strung together. There is a simplified synopsis of the possible origins of the belief in hell. There is the interesting idea that Jesus was using the Pharisee's doctrine of hell and turning it on its head. There is a helpful table on scriptures from the Gospel that indicate either hell or some type of judgment that people have often contrued as hell, and boils them down to the actual point. If you think that Christianity needs the threat of hell to win converts, this might be considered a dangerous book. Even more dangerous are the hints that evangelical and reformed Christianity might have it wrong, and that the book of Romans has been misinterpreted over the years to support a concept of cheap grace while devaluing works. If there is a fourth volume to this "trilogy" (I know that's an oxymoron), that may be a fleshing out of the concept, as one character put it, that salvation is by grace but judgment is by works. However you come down on the issue of hell (and if you read this as the narrative that it purports itself to be, you'll notice that not all characters agree, particularly the pastor's wife), it's important not to miss the main point: that the preoccupation with heaven, hell and the afterlife has resulted in an unfortunate de-emphasis of the quest for justice and God's righteousness here on earth. A serious reading of the teaching of Jesus will lead to the inescapable conclusion that his main concern was the Kingdom of God breaking in to the here and now, and not just the sweet by-and-by. Although I consider this by far the strongest book of the trilogy, it is not perfect. There is a superfluous character named Pat early in the narrative who must have been borrowed from Julia Sweeney's character on Saturday Night Live, except Sweeney's Pat didn't write awful poetry. The issue of homosexuality in the church is not the point of this book and could be dealt with better in some of McLaren's other writings. The narrative itself has an almost unbelievably happy, sappy ending. And most irritating of all is in the chapter where McLaren quotes scholarly works on the doctrine of hell. He actually INVENTS phony sources for some of the quotes. I was scrambling trying to find the original quotation, only to read in the ending commentary that he made these up. That borders on dishonest, and is almost insulting to the serious reader. I must add this, also. I am very distressed to notice that the watchdogs of fundamentalism are on constant alert, giving helpful votes to reviews that just give a scripture passage and don't review the book at all, and giving non-helpful votes to thoughtful, serious reviews, all based on the star rating (and actually that pretty much go unread, I suspect.) Remember that the votes are for "helpful" and "not helpful," not "I agree" or "I disagree." Keep that in mind, Einsteins.