Quote:
Originally Posted by servantofmosthigh  John Eldridge's Wild At Heart.
While the wider Reformed and Conservative audience deride and lampoon Eldridge's book, what the wider Reformed and Conservative audience do not know are the seminary scholars and theologians who were the ones laying the bad doctrinal seeds. In many cases, bad doctrine doesn't start with the author or pastor, but starts with the seminary professor. And in Eldridge's case, and in the case for Wild At Heart, this would be a former GGBTS and Fuller Seminary professor, James William McClendon. His 3-volume Systematic Theology, in my opinion, is a must-read for pastors, scholars, and serious laymen who want to understand the premise and arguments from "the other side."
James William McClendon is also the doctrinal founder to shape and influence Brian McLaren. McClendon's work also shaped Grenz to change his theology. (Any work by Stanley Grenz prior to 1993 are solid works. But starting in 1993, Grenz's theology started following McClendon's line of thought). |
I should also further note that McClendon is the prelude to the Emergent Movement. Even Justin Taylor mentions in
Reclaiming The Center that McClendon is the theologian while McLaren is the pastor of the Emergent Movement.
This is why I mentioned
in another post that bad doctrine is never isolated. If you trace it back by 20 years, what you may discover is that there is a common founding link that McLaren, Grenz, Emerging Movement, Eldridge, Risk-Taking God, Nancey Murphy, etc. all birthed from - and that fatherly link is McClendon.