The Logic of Intersubjectivity. Darren M. Slade

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СКАЧАТЬ developed a gentler temperament that is now more concerned with showing compassion, McLaren reflected on a number of experiences, both in adolescence and in ministry, which make him “cringe” at how many people he has hurt. He reflected on one incident in particular when one of McLaren’s best friends “came out” as gay his senior year of high school. McLaren eventually perceived a mismatch between the homophobic rhetoric preached in fundamentalism and his own relationship with homosexuals (cf. NKOCY §17, 177). There were enough of these discordant experiences to make him realize that conservatism clashed with the kind of Christianity he wanted, namely a faith that cared more about people than dogmas.139

Most notably for the study of McLaren’s religio-philosophy is his resultant Hegelian-dialectical temperament toward faith. Having had a short but penetrating period of doubt (SMJ §1, 5), McLaren’s early tension between his environment and his emerging self-identity resulted in a thought process that first manifests as a dichotomist mode of thinking (“Stage 1 dichotomy,” FFS §3, 88; cf. “dualist faith,” NS §3, 30). Here, McLaren initially believes there can be only two choices for a particular theological impasse (both choices of which McLaren loathes). Eventually, however, he realizes that the predicament is, in fact, a false dilemma, which propels him to find a third alternative (cf. AIFA, 286‒87). In this way, McLaren’s Hegelian thought process tries to learn the best parts of each option within Christian tradition so as to create a synthesis that also eliminates each of their shortcomings (§8.4.1.2).140

McLaren’s religious journey exemplifies this dichotomist pattern. He initially felt he had to decide either to deny his doubts and return to the Plymouth Brethren or embrace his doubts and deny his Christian faith. Eventually, a third option manifested when he encountered other believers who portrayed their religion as “an adventure they were on with God . . . an adventure with joy and reality and purpose” (FFR §9, 182‒83; ellipses in original). From these experiences, McLaren learned the necessity of creating communities focused on expressing love (GSM, 56). In essence, McLaren’s exposure to fundamentalist believers provided a type of pro-social “deviancy training,” whereby he learned how to dissent against the social norms of fundamentalism and to reorient himself toward the common good.141

What had captivated McLaren in his teenage years was the good news of Jesus Christ (GO §1, 48). His resultant temperament made him realize that the problem he experienced among fundamentalists was not because of Christianity or the Bible. The problem was what some fundamentalists had done with their religion (AMP §16, 245). By the end of high school, McLaren had read the philosophical and theological works of multiple intellectual Christians (e.g., C. S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer), who helped him to realize that it was possible to be a reflective thinker and still remain a believer.142 This exposure, coupled with several more powerful spiritual experiences, made it possible for McLaren to gain a better sense of a well-balanced approach to Christianity (FFS §3, 88‒89). Still, even with a newfound appreciation for critical thinking, there was one final temperamental result that proves essential to understanding McLaren’s philosophy of religion: his artistic personality.

      2.3.1 An Artistic Disposition

As a child, McLaren developed a passionate love for nature and always felt he could experience God’s presence through creation (GSM, xii‒xiii; cf. GO §11, 177‒78). For him, the artistic beauty of nature made doubting God’s existence an absurdity. Not surprisingly, then, McLaren produced poetry about finding God in creation, commenting that he wrote song lyrics well before writing prose (FFR §7, 145‒49). To this day, McLaren maintains a penchant for creativity, including an interest in art, songwriting, and music (NKOC §Author, 53).143 Even in high school, McLaren was infatuated with the art of literature and decided he wanted to become an English teacher (NKOCY §1, 3). Hence, McLaren’s starry night prayer to God emphasized a desire to see and experience beauty. “Obviously, ‘beautiful’ was an important word to this adolescent fledgling musician/hippie/spiritual seeker” (FFR §9, 184).

Readers and critics must not underemphasize McLaren’s artistic propensity. Much of what he declares throughout his line of reasoning and religio-philosophy all contain elements of an “artistic disposition,” defined here as a preference for unstructured and dynamic practices that accentuate self-expression, especially through artistic media. “What kept me on the religious path was not the fundamentalist God. . . .It was the holy and utterly loving presence I felt one night under a starry sky. . . .It was the creative spirit I felt when I composed music or poetry or opened myself to authentic art” (GI, 185). Thus, McLaren likely scores high on a psychological “openness” scale, meaning he is creative, inquisitive, imaginative, innovative, and open to new experiences. What is suggestive is that these artistic values developed early in life and are now what constitute his code of behavior as an adult. The experiential knowledge obtained during McLaren’s psychological development transformed into a heightened sense of “passion for ideas and ideals, passion for beauty, passion to create music and art.”144

      2.4 Conclusion

What McLaren’s biography reveals is that he has developed an iconoclastic approach to religion with a propensity for challenging the status quo of his particular strain of Christian tradition. Not only do the events in McLaren’s life explain the shaping of his personality and temperament, but his life experiences also explain the more idiosyncratic elements of his religiosity that would, otherwise, seem eccentric to conventional theologians. They reveal why McLaren cherishes interreligious dialogue (§5.3.1), an allegiance to Christ but not to any Christian denomination (§6.1), a rejection of ontotheology (§8.1), a love for the marginalized “other” (§8.4), and an emphasis on the intersubjective and existential aspects of religious faith (§8.2). Nonetheless, it is important to remember that McLaren’s perception of conservative Christians is a result of his personal upbringing. While it may not be everyone’s experience, his writings do reflect an honest appraisal of his many encounters with fundamentalists. Consequently, since no person is detachable from their experiential knowledge, McLaren’s biography explains why he would seek out an alternative Christian paradigm. In other words, McLaren naturally sought out an approach to faith that would cognitively, affectively, and socially align best with his experiential knowledge.145 In this way, McLaren’s sense of compassion and dialectical temperament forecasts his subsequent moral disillusionment with the Religious Right and their adoption of neoconservatism.

      94. McLaren, “Everything Old Is New Again,” 23.

      95. While a brief biography is standard in other studies, they seldom make an overt connection between McLaren’s life experiences and his theological inferences. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to present only those biographical details that directly contributed to McLaren’s religio-philosophy (cf. Christy, “Neoorthopraxy and Brian D. McLaren,” 3‒10 and Blackwell, “Return or Rereading,” 15‒19). For a detailed and comprehensive biographical sketch of McLaren and his career, see Burson, Brian McLaren in Focus, 10‒12, 31‒66.

      96. See Sperber, “Intuitive and Reflective Beliefs,” 67‒83; Kahneman, “A Perspective on Judgment and Choice,” 697‒720; and Stanovich and West, “Individual Differences in Reasoning,” 645‒65.

      97. Schwarz and Clore, “Mood, Misattribution, and Judgments of Well-Being,” 513‒23; “How Do I Feel About It?,” 44‒62; Clore and Gasper, “Feeling is Believing,” 24‒25.

      98. Frijda et al., “The Influence of Emotions on Beliefs,” 1‒9.

      99. Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Cf. Festinger et al., “When Prophecy Fails,” 258‒69.

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