What’s the big picture? That basically sums up the first question that Brian McLaren asks, or to put it in more theological terms – what is the meta-narrative? By this he means that there is an overarching storyline that we live our lives within, that helps us make sense of the world and our faith. His assertion is that the meta-narrative the church has worked within since the fifth century has been faulty and has had more to do with Platonic philosophy than the Bible. And without changing this there is little point in changing anything else in church since so much of what we believe is dominated by the meta-narrative.

Platonism v Bible
To help us understand what the traditional meta-narrative is McLaren draws us a little diagram. The story begins with the perfect Eden and the fall of humanity. Human history is then lived in this state of fallen-ness until individuals are rescued from that state in order to enjoy an eternal heaven. Those who are not rescued suffer an eternal punishment in hell. This pretty much sums up the overarching story that Christians in most traditions have believed. But McLaren asks is this the meta-narrative we find in the Bible? Or is this a system that has been imposed on the Bible from without? His conclusion is that Greco-Roman culture based on the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle has more to do with this big picture than anything else and that we have been reading the Bible through this philosophy rather than through the Hebraic/Jewish worldview.

Very simply put a key belief in Platonism is that the essence of humanity is our spirit or soul – this is the ‘real’ us rather than our body. This spirit is perfect and eternal in character and in its perfect state will be one with god for eternity. But the corporeal part of us – our flesh and blood and feelings – is corrupted and will be destroyed. McLaren’s assertion is that the church has been interpreting the Bible through this system of philosophy.

Rescuing the soul from the body
In this interpretation of the biblical story salvation then becomes an act of rescuing humanity from its sinful and corrupt bodily state. The soul is rescued from the body – which is destroyed – and it spends the rest of eternity with god in heaven. And what happens to the souls that are not rescued in this way? Well because they have an eternal nature they cannot be destroyed along with their corrupt bodies. Rather they have to be put in a different place and have to suffer eternity in ‘hell’. In this way, claims McLaren, the biblical story is made to fit into the Platonic system and the church has been doing so for over 1,500 years.


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