The Great Spiritual Migration

How the World's Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian

By: Brian McLaren

Narrated by: Brian McLaren

Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

With his trademark brilliance, generosity of spirit, and clear pastoral calling, Brian McLaren synthesizes an accessible and inviting understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.

©2016 Brian D. McLaren (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

A must-read for Christian thinkers

I loved every minute of it even though I was deeply challenged in some of my beliefs and specifically the history of what some people have done in the name of Christianity. I am a doctoral student and this book has been a lifesaver in helping me reconcile my faith with things that I know and agree with in science and history.

Christians May Finally Be Ready To Hear This

I am so grateful to McLaren for the long sojourn he has spent in the wilderness of evangelicalism, in order to think deeply and look carefully at what is been happening for decades. When I first read McLaren many years ago, I was one of those skeptical young pastors who thought that Christianity just needed some tweaks. I was more worried about protecting my job and taking care of my family back then. Now the evidence is undeniable. The way we do church just won’t work anymore, and what the Holy Spirit is doing not only among people on the fringes of Christian faith but in the multiplicity of faith traditions should lead us to realize that a brand new chapter of human understanding of God and one another is upon us. I am profoundly grateful to McLaren for articulating what many of us have been wondering, fearing, crying out for, and despairing that we would ever see. If you love Christianity and the church or are enraged by it right now, this is an important book for you.

Does Your Life and Faith Matter?

This is one of the most important books I have read in recent years!
Brian makes a compelling case for both the end of a consumptive belief driven Christian faith/religion that has long colluded in the destruction of our planet, AND a call toward a faith driven by values of love and justice for all. He lays out how this is a radical transformation of how faith is both lived and expressed. The proposal is nothing short of a complete social movement - a spiritual migration akin to the radical change brought on originally by Jesus himself.
This book is brilliantly articulated and profoundly practical. The reader is shown critical cultural and socio-political trends that have long shackled American Christianity, and given tools to rethink faith, church, community and personal calling. This book points the way toward a faith that is once again relevant, dynamic, liberating and a source of healing in our world.
If your heart has longed to experience faith as empowering and deeply authentic, there is no more important book to read than this!

Good Book...Except for the Politics

I basically agree with most of the positive reviews. This is where Christianity and the other world religions need to be headed. In my spiritual journey I've traveled many roads from Catholicism, to conservative evangelicism, to Zen Buddhism, and finally back to a contemplative form of Christianity. The one reason I subtracted a star was how the author talks about engaging in social activism with a penchant for left wing causes, as if they are the only correct causes. I wonder what it is that makes Christians of most stripes think they need to micro-manage people's activism. On the right, they tell you to join the pro-life movement and vote Republican. On the left they have their own version of this, which usually involves a certitude that they have the only way to work toward social justice. When the author suggested we get involved in activism to stop the ongoing "occupation of Palestine" uh... whoa there. That's quite a presumption that the moral high ground is held by that particular view! Please, focus on leading people to God, and let us make our political decisions ourselves. I was actually thinking that the new form of spirituality would involve leaders no longer affixing a spiritual seal of approval to specific political issues (so tired of this!) and trusting more in people and the diversity of views that naturally arise as we interact with God and the world. Otherwise, this is a great book for people who are interested in how spirituality needs to evolve as consciousness and society evolves.

Good Introduction

This book is a good introduction to progressive Christianity, but if you've been a progressive Christian for a while this won't be of much use to you.

The Great Migration to the Political Left

I loved McLaren's book Generous Orthodoxy, I suppose it was early in his spiritual migration. With the writing of this book, it seems he has migrated a good deal further left, for within the pages is anti-capitalism, pro-LBGTQ talk, identity politics, and global warming alarmism. It is definitely a book that Christians who are liberal democrats should enjoy.
I am a libertarian leaning conservative, so I was in disagreement with McLaren's political stance, with that said though, there is plenty I agree with him on, like the need for an emphasis on love instead of doctrine.

This is the book I've been hoping to read!!!

This book is a true testimony of love of God, the Christian faith, and all humanity can be. It looks carefully at our history and the path that lies ahead, should we accept the calling. I'm so happy that I read this book. I am better for having read it! Thank you so much to the author for this labor of love!

A hopeful look at Christianity going forward

Brian has a gift of making complex problems understood accompanied by practical helpful and hopeful responses. A much-needed book in a divided world. This book is specifically helpful for a pastor looking for a way to build a church community that responds to our own dysfunctional structures.

important work

I will read this book again and again.
Brian has said what I've been feeling and thinking for so long. I'm thankful for his words and effort to lead the way as we hopefully prayerfully migrate, transform, and renew Christian faith as we know it.

Gracious, challenging, and beautiful!

After reading and loving A Generous Orthodoxy, I read this book next because I saw that Brian McLaren regards it as one of his favorites. I now see why. Brian’s vision in this book definitely stretches our faith and dares us Christians to imagine a bigger, more loving, more inclusive God. How beautiful! Brian’s eloquent writing masterfully engages heart, mind and spirit, inviting us to embrace the way of Jesus with our whole being and leave our comfort zones behind. His message is provocative at times, and I understand why conservative evangelicals are uncomfortable with his message. But this book deserves a read even if you don’t agree. And I love that Brian reads it himself. What a pleasure! Bravo, Brian McLaren.