This is the fourth in a series of posts on Brian McLaren's astonishing quest for "A New Kind of Christianity."
First, a word of appreciation for the alliterative title for Chapter 2, and its evocative linking of Quest with Question. Which made me curious about their origins.
According to the MSN Encarta online dictionary, both words come from the Latin past participle of quaerere "seek." Also, both words found their way into the English language via French. There is one remarkable difference: question arrived in the 13th century, and quest arrived in the 14th century.
So that, it would appear, quests begin with questions!
And that leads right into what I found to be one of Brian's most helpful insights:
". . . new statements (theses, propositions, answers) can inspire debate and bring us to a new state. But only new questions can inspire new conversations that can launch us on a new quest."
And so, Brian continues, "It's time for a new quest, launched by new questions, a quest across denominations around the world, a quest for new ways to believe and new ways to live and serve faithfully in the way of Jesus, a quest for a new kind of Christian faith" (p. 18).
Next time: an introduction to Brian's new questions.
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