The story we find ourselves in (by Brian McLaren)

(Amazon UK link)

I very much enjoyed re-reading Brian McLaren’s book ‘A new kind of Christian’ in the first couple of weeks of this month. So I decided to follow that with the sequel, ‘The story we find ourselves in’. I first read it about twelve years ago, and had entirely forgotten what it was about.

As with the first book, the style is that of ‘creative non-fiction’. In other words, the fictional story part is a device for explaining the author’s viewpoint - and asking many questions - on topics where he feels strongly. It was written for Christians at the start of this century, so there’s a sense in which it already feels a bit dated. That’s partly because I think there has now been a move to embrace different styles of being a Christian, in part due to the recent pandemic. 

The fictional aspect of this book involves a pastor called Dan, his wife Carol, and their teenage daughter Jess. They have younger twin sons too, but they don’t have so much of a part in the story. The book also reintroduces Neo, the Jamaican-American high school teacher who was once a pastor. At the end of the first book, Neo left town in a hurry after his father died, and stayed to look after his mother who was suffering with Alzheimer’s disease. 

In this book, Neo and Dan have some email conversation, mostly about administrative issues - finding papers in his house, dealing with utility companies and so on. Neo is too taken up with his mother to have much of a conversation. And then his mother dies, and he lets Dan know that he’s going to travel… and then the discussion dries up. Dan has renewed enthusiasm for his work, and his preaching undergoes a change as he enlarges on some of Neo’s ideas. But not everyone in his church is happy about this.

Then, a year later, there’s a sudden message from Neo, asking Dan and Carol if they would look after a friend of his called Kerry. Kerry is terminally ill, and is coming to their town for some new treatment, as a last hope of some form of cure. 

Through Kerry, Dan and Carol (and the readers…) learn what Neo has been doing. He has mainly been working as a volunteer guide on the Galapagos - islands I knew almost nothing about. They’re off the coast of Ecuador, and are the location of some rare turtles and other wildlife. Apparently there are research labs there, too.  So question arise from the locals - in particular Kerry - about whether belief in God is compatible with the idea of evolution.  

In the first book, Neo explained, mostly gently, how important it was for the 21st century church to embrace postmodernism, while not losing sight of the gospel message. In this book, his discussions focus more on how God set in motion a world that changes and adapts. Most people understand and believe in the form of evolution within a species - survival of the fittest, adapting to surroundings, and so on. Neo only touches on the more controversial idea of everything evolving from simpler forms; he’s more focused on the idea that we’re all part of God’s story, needing to look forward rather than feel pushed from the past. 

Many of his theories are difficult for fundamentalists to accept, and even twenty-five years ago, a lot of evangelicals veered towards fundamentalism, while also adopting modernist principles. Neo is a scientist as well as a trained minister, and the way he embraces science and faith is, in my view, quite inspiring.

As a novel this falls short of the ideal. The characters are distinct, but not well-developed, and I didn’t empathise much with any of them. But as a vehicle for explaining the author’s viewpoints, the story sections work very well. The conversations don’t come across as preachy or condescending, as Neo (and sometimes Dan) explain theories and ideas to people asking questions. They don’t insist that their views are correct, but encourage people to think for themselves, and to see God as bigger than their previous concepts.

I found some of the details about the turtles and other animals a bit dull, and skimmed those parts, but overall I thought this well worth reading. Some difficult issues come up as part of the story - in particular related to Kerry - but I thought they were well handled.

‘The story we find ourselves in’ stands alone, but in my view is best read after ‘A new kind of Christian’.  And since there’s a bit of a cliffhanger (albeit not a scary one) at the end of this book, I will next re-read the third book in the trilogy. 

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