Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned

by Brian D. McLaren

Sr. Ilia Delio dares us to believe, and I stand with her. She concludes her majestic book Making All Things New by offering us six challenges to seize this opportunity. We must know the earth and our own bodies, because we have become so obsessed with concepts that we have lost touch with our creatureliness. Second, we need to see our world religions as sources of energy that can mature and guide us forward. Third, we need to understand that thought is a physical reality: it exists as an emergent phenomenon in brains and can be replicated in other brains, and like any other evolving expression of life, it can lead us forward. Fourth, we need to fully embrace the idea that something big and beautiful and alive is evolving in the universe, something that includes individual humans but is bigger than the sum of its parts. Fifth, to thrive in this dynamic universe, we need to cultivate a zest for living and a spirit of adventure, to “wildly fling ourselves into the arms of divine Love.” And finally, we need to dare to trust in the process, the process of evolving life, the process of birth and growth of which we are a small part.4 Doing so will help us become “artisans of a new future,” a “new catholicity,” and a “new religion of the world,” grasping this moment as “the kiss of God.”