Life After Doom
Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart
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- €10.99
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- €10.99
Publisher Description
What does faith look like when cynicism seems more plausible?
What does hope look like when hope seems irrational?
What does love look like when hate becomes more popular?
In recent years, author and activist Brian McLaren has sensed a widespread emotional shift among growing numbers of people. More and more friends, colleagues, students, and readers confess their sense of futility, their feelings of frustration bordering on despair. They feel that human civilization has passed certain tipping points and that a tide of doom is inexorably rising. This feeling creates a deep inner divide, a tension between a sincere and hopeful commitment to action for the common good on the one hand, and on the other, a feeling that no actions can prevent the arrival of an undesirable or even dystopian future.
Life After Doom is a sober analysis of how things stand in relation to climate breakdown, and a deeply insightful exploration of the challenge of living well, maintaining resilience and growing in wisdom and love in the face of nations, ecosystems, economies, religions, and other institutions in disarray. Brian McLaren is the author of Faith After Doubt and Do I Stay Christian? and is a leading and authoritative voice at the intersection of religious faith and contemporary culture.
'A book of rare wisdom, genuinely profound in depth and scope'
DIANA BUTLER BASS
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this bracing study, theologian McLaren (Faith After Doubt) challenges readers to recognize "the dangerous future into which we are presently plunging ourselves, our descendants, and our fellow creatures." He casts aside capitalism and "socially disengaged and anti-ecological" Christian theology as tools for tackling climate collapse in favor of a "creative path of resistance" that prioritizes sacrifice, courage, kindness, and wisdom gleaned from "indigenous leaders" and the Bible. (In McLaren's telling, Jesus is as an Indigenous prophet who challenged the "supremacy" of the day's dominant civilizations with values of love.) While the emphasis isn't on action items (suggestions include connecting with neighbors and friends over shared fears, as well as reading a list of books by Indigenous authors), McLaren motivates without resorting to panic and provides insight on why it's hard to come to grips with an existential threat as one's brain ricochets between immediate, primal survival instincts, higher-order risk assessment, and concerns about friends and family. It's a valuable resource for believers concerned about climate change.
