Over at his blog, Brian McLaren wrote about 2 new publishing projects on his horizon. One of them is tentatively titled “A New Kind of Christianity: 10 Questions that are Transforming the Faith”.

What are the 10 questions?

Glad you asked…

1. What is the shape of the biblical narrative?
2. What is the Bible and what is it for?
3. Why does God seem so genocidal in some biblical passages?
4. What does it mean to say Jesus is the way?
5. What is the gospel?
6. What future does the church have?
7. Why are Christians so preoccupied with sexuality?
8. How should we relate to people of other religions?
9. How should we view the future?
10. Where do we go from here?

What do you think? Do we need a new Christianity? Do you think Brian nailed it with these 10 questions? Which ones do you agree with / disagree with as being pivotal to the Christian faith?

Oh and in case you were wondering, here’s what I believe were probably questions 11-20, which barely missed the cut:

• 11. Bread or Crackers, Wine or Juice – What makes the perfect communion menu?
• 12. Should pastors be allowed to say “pissed off” from the pulpit?
• 13.  Can I dislike Chris Tomlin’s music and still be a Christian?
• 14. “First Peter” or “One Peter” – What’s the holiest way to say it?
• 15. Will God recognize altar calls via texting as legitimate?
• 16. Will the church reimburse new converts for altar call texts?
• 17. Have malicious church server crashes replaced old school vandalization?
• 18. Will a church be accountable before God for the coffee they serve in the cafe?
• 19. Do messages from pastors wearing un-tucked shirts resonate deeper with their audience?
• 20. Facebook – divine code or curse from the devil?

I had two very interesting breakfasts this week.

The picture above is from the first one. You don’t know the guy in the foreground holding the bagel, and you probably don’t know the guy in the background with the weird look on his face either. But the guy dressed in black? Chances are you’ve read something he’s written before, or at the very least you’ve heard of him.

There were 6 of us strangers who met with him for coffee and conversation. The coffee was good. The conversation was good too, though at times it felt more like smart people trying to sound smart. In the end, it was worth the 2-hour drive down to Fulton, MD, if only to connect with Brian afterward and introduce myself as the guy who interviewed him for Prayers For Blowouts. He had nice things to say about the site, and even gave me a contact to look into for future writing consideration, so that was nice of him.

The other breakfast I had was with a good friend I’ve known for almost 10 years. You probably don’t know who he is, but this breakfast was closer to home and featured two dumb guys not pretending to be smart. I liked that a lot better.

At one point we were talking about something that could potentially shape the path of my life in a completely different direction than it is currently heading. Hm…lots to think about…