The Last Word and the Word after That: A Tale of Faith, Doubt, and a New Kind of Christianity

The Last Word and the Word After That

Book Three in The New Kind of Christian Trilogy

In the final installment of The New Kind of Christian Trilogy, Pastor Dan Poole and his friends face and survive their questions, doubts, and dark nights of the soul. They begin to imagine a new vision of God and a new way of life that is more truly biblical and faithful, more inspiring and challenging, more intellectually satisfying and emotionally healing than conventional religious life. Those seeking more authentic ways to hold and practice Christian faith will find needed hope and insight in this intense and human fictional tale.

"With the passion of a Reformation broadside, Brian McLaren′s The Last Word and the Word After That goes for popular Christianity′s theological jugular: hell and damnation. McLaren′s fictional Pastor Dan deconstructs dangerous understandings of eternal life and points toward the joy–filled possibility of Christian community shaped by a radical biblical vision of God′s love and justice."
Diana Butler Bass, author, Strength for the Journey and Christianity for the Rest of Us

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

book one The Last Word.

1. Something Serious.

2. Flare–Up.

3. Poet in a Trench Coat.

4. Party in the Living Room, Torture in the Basement.

5. Playing Hardball.

6. I Don t Know.

7. The Architecture of the Bible.

8. The First Two Threads.

9. The Third and Fourth Threads.

10. The Scapegoat Factor.

11. Better Than We Realized.

12. Something like a Straight Answer.

13. End in Embrace?

14. Piano Lessons and Lumpy Hands.

15. You Have a Tough Job.

16. All over the Map.

17. Deconstructing Hell.

18. Proposal, Plan, Implementation.

19. Homework Assignment.

book two The Word After That.

20. How Can I Hurt Him?

21. Nice Walleye Fishing Charters.

22. Wolves in Lawyers Tuxedos.

23. Up Toward the Stars.

24. A Colorful Breakfast.

25. A New Kind of Christianity.

26. Second Thoughts.

27. To God, All Are Alive.

28. A Part of Me at the Core of My Mind.

29. The Last, Best Word.

Commentary.

The Author.

Brian D. McLaren is a speaker, author, activist, and networker exploring the intersection of Christian faith and contemporary life. He has written or co–written over a dozen books, including A Generous Orthodoxy, The Secret Message of Jesus, and Everything Must Change. For twenty–four years he served as the founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in the Washington–Baltimore area. He was named by Time magazine as one of America′s twenty–five most influential Evangelicals. He is a founding member of emergentvillage.com. See www.brianmclaren.net.

About the Leadership Network

The mission of Leadership Network is to identify and connect innovative church leaders and provide them with resources in the form of new ideas, people, and tools. Contact Leadership Network at www.leadnet.org.