Everything must change by Brian D. McLaren - Book Review
With all that is going on in the world today with the COVID19 pandemic, most people would agree that everything must change, but would most people know why, how and to what end? Back in 2007, Brian McLaren in his book, everything must change, was able to give the right diagnosis of our world today and to suggest a way forward for individuals, communities, states and the global community.
Brain takes time to explore two major questions including: Q#1. What are the biggest problems in the world? Q#2. What does Jesus have to say about the global problems?
The author identifies four deep dysfunctions that could explain the plethora of critical global crisis. 1) The environmental breakdown caused by our unsustainable global economy – the prosperity crisis; 2) The growing gap between the ultra-rich and the extremely poor – the equity crisis; 3) The danger of cataclysmic war arising from intensifying resentment and fear among various groups – the security crisis; and 4) The failure of the world’s religions, to provide a framing story capable of healing or reducing the three previous crisis – the spiritual crisis.
Brian argues that many of our world’s worst atrocities are the result of overconfidence. This feeling and belief that we are special and more important than other individual, animals and nature leads to abuse, exploitation and extermination of the lesser being.
He further points out that any particular society or civilization at any given time lives by a dominant framing story and that that story evolves and adapts over time. Whenever we belong to a group, we are under the influence of that group’s framing story. The story tells us where we come from, what’s going on, where we are situated in the story’s spot-line, where we are going, how we should act and what we are here for. Who is the friend and who is the enemy.
Brian suggests a very provocative idea: That the system of this world is so corrupt and that Jesus has the right message for it. But he further says that for Jesus to save the system, we must first, in a sense, save Jesus – by reframing him outside the confines of our dominant and largely unquestioned assumptions. If we quote Jesus without determining what he meant in his original context, we run the risk of misquoting Jesus even when we quote his words.
Pointing to what he calls the four spiritual laws of Theo-Capitalism, Brian exposes the understudying beliefs, operating systems running the world today: 1. I believe in one god, Progress, maker of all that is, through rapid growth; 2. I believe in happiness through owning and using more; 3. By win-lose competition alone you been saved; 4. I believe in one, holy catholic and apostolic economy and in the communion of unaccountable corporations. To which he opposes respectively the law of good deeds, the law of satisfaction, the law of salvation through justice and the law of freedom by building better communities.
Through all discussions, the author shows that overcoming extreme poverty requires converted action in seven basic categories: trade, aid, debt, limits, wages, justice and community.
There is a systemic injustice in this world. And there is one great step we can take to dismantle what the author calls the suicide machine and the framing stories that legitimize it: To stop believing in it, and to believe, in its place, a different story, the story of the kingdom of God.
Extracts from the book:
1. “You are right to acknowledge the violent streak in human society. The fact is, human beings have evolved as fighters. But if you do not redirect this primal drive, you will destroy yourselves and your world. So acknowledging that you are natural fighters, it is time to rethink what kind of fighting you must do….. You need to choose another type of fighting: instead of fighting against each other, you must fight with each other against injustice, for the good of each other”
2. “It is encouraging to note that increasing numbers of business leaders – including the leaders of many multinational corporations – are embracing this ethic, using terms like sustainability and triple bottom line. They are defecting from the undercover religion of theo-capitalism and embracing a creed of economic, ecological and social sustainability. In so doing, whether they realize it or not, they are aligning themselves with concerns central to the message of Jesus, the kingdom of God.”
3. “Communism specialized in distribution but failed to produce. As a result, it ended up doing a greater job of distributing poverty evenly. Capitalism was excellent at production but weak at distribution, As a result ended up rewarding the wealthy with obscene amounts of wealth while the poor suffered on in horrible degradation and indignity.”
4. “A revolution of hope makes radical demands of us. It requires us to learn new skills and habits and capacities: the skill of a new way of seeing, the habit of a new way of thinking, the capacities of a new way of living”
Brain takes time to explore two major questions including: Q#1. What are the biggest problems in the world? Q#2. What does Jesus have to say about the global problems?
The author identifies four deep dysfunctions that could explain the plethora of critical global crisis. 1) The environmental breakdown caused by our unsustainable global economy – the prosperity crisis; 2) The growing gap between the ultra-rich and the extremely poor – the equity crisis; 3) The danger of cataclysmic war arising from intensifying resentment and fear among various groups – the security crisis; and 4) The failure of the world’s religions, to provide a framing story capable of healing or reducing the three previous crisis – the spiritual crisis.
Brian argues that many of our world’s worst atrocities are the result of overconfidence. This feeling and belief that we are special and more important than other individual, animals and nature leads to abuse, exploitation and extermination of the lesser being.
He further points out that any particular society or civilization at any given time lives by a dominant framing story and that that story evolves and adapts over time. Whenever we belong to a group, we are under the influence of that group’s framing story. The story tells us where we come from, what’s going on, where we are situated in the story’s spot-line, where we are going, how we should act and what we are here for. Who is the friend and who is the enemy.
Brian suggests a very provocative idea: That the system of this world is so corrupt and that Jesus has the right message for it. But he further says that for Jesus to save the system, we must first, in a sense, save Jesus – by reframing him outside the confines of our dominant and largely unquestioned assumptions. If we quote Jesus without determining what he meant in his original context, we run the risk of misquoting Jesus even when we quote his words.
Pointing to what he calls the four spiritual laws of Theo-Capitalism, Brian exposes the understudying beliefs, operating systems running the world today: 1. I believe in one god, Progress, maker of all that is, through rapid growth; 2. I believe in happiness through owning and using more; 3. By win-lose competition alone you been saved; 4. I believe in one, holy catholic and apostolic economy and in the communion of unaccountable corporations. To which he opposes respectively the law of good deeds, the law of satisfaction, the law of salvation through justice and the law of freedom by building better communities.
Through all discussions, the author shows that overcoming extreme poverty requires converted action in seven basic categories: trade, aid, debt, limits, wages, justice and community.
There is a systemic injustice in this world. And there is one great step we can take to dismantle what the author calls the suicide machine and the framing stories that legitimize it: To stop believing in it, and to believe, in its place, a different story, the story of the kingdom of God.
Extracts from the book:
1. “You are right to acknowledge the violent streak in human society. The fact is, human beings have evolved as fighters. But if you do not redirect this primal drive, you will destroy yourselves and your world. So acknowledging that you are natural fighters, it is time to rethink what kind of fighting you must do….. You need to choose another type of fighting: instead of fighting against each other, you must fight with each other against injustice, for the good of each other”
2. “It is encouraging to note that increasing numbers of business leaders – including the leaders of many multinational corporations – are embracing this ethic, using terms like sustainability and triple bottom line. They are defecting from the undercover religion of theo-capitalism and embracing a creed of economic, ecological and social sustainability. In so doing, whether they realize it or not, they are aligning themselves with concerns central to the message of Jesus, the kingdom of God.”
3. “Communism specialized in distribution but failed to produce. As a result, it ended up doing a greater job of distributing poverty evenly. Capitalism was excellent at production but weak at distribution, As a result ended up rewarding the wealthy with obscene amounts of wealth while the poor suffered on in horrible degradation and indignity.”
4. “A revolution of hope makes radical demands of us. It requires us to learn new skills and habits and capacities: the skill of a new way of seeing, the habit of a new way of thinking, the capacities of a new way of living”
Muhindo Malunga Lusukiro
Reflections on life, humanity, development and leadership
muhindoml@gmail.com | +243 993 401 064
Skype: Muhindo Malunga Lusukiro (muhindoml) | Twitter: @muhindoml
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