These books were formerly published as one volume in 1999 entitled Finding Faith. Now divided into these two for convenience of subject matter and reading they are written and ‘dedicated to all who are seeking faith, spirituality, hope and God.’ They are obviously written in what the author and many others regard as the postmodern milieu. That our world has changed dramatically in these last forty years or so, its ways of thought in particular is undeniably true, but I often wonder if what is called postmodernism is simply the latest way for mankind, and western mankind in particular to express its prideful ness and underlying rejection of God. On the cover of the first of these two books is the picture of a young boy with shorts on and a bare chest gazing upwards through a pair of binoculars. Of course, this is rather optimistic, are human beings genuine seekers after God? Are they like little innocent children on a great search for meaning? I note the fact that in the dedication the order of seeking places God last. Is man such a genuine seeker after all? Again the premise of this kind of book is that man is not so bad after all and the Romans chapter two verses about enquiry and search for eternal life are to the fore. However, the Romans one verses about man’s dreadful depravity are ignored and those in Romans three too where Paul reaches a conclusion that there is none that seeks after God, no not one are obvious not in view. Challenging to ponder these apparent contradictions and apply them to the reading of these books. I think that the author does a better job with the second of them. There is no doubt that he is accommodating in his approach, gracious, not wanting to really say anything too definitive, just help people along in their search. He does a good job from that perspective. Whether he is being faithful to God in the handling of things is another matter though. The foreword in both books is by the prominent UK Christian activist and author/speaker Steve Chalke. There is obviously a correspondence of thought and sympathy between him and McClaren. The idea that mankind is basically honest and with intellectual integrity can find God is a fallacy many men and women from down the centuries who knew God would say. From time to time the author has his subtle and not so subtle jibes at the church as it has been, its failures and so on. Steve Chalke cannot resist a thrust at ‘the followers of John Calvin’ in his foreword either. All that said there is value in these books, especially the second one. McClaren writes in an engaging way though I wonder if the God that is presented is rather manageable and man is very much in the driving seat though the author would hotly deny such an idea.
