In Scotty McLennan's bold call to reclaim ownership of Christianity, he advocates a sense of religion based not on doctrinal readings of scripture but on the humanity behind Christ's teachings. He addresses such topics as intelligent design, abortion, same sex marriage, war, torture and much, much more.
As he says in the Preface, "We liberal Christians know in our hearts that there is much more to life than seems to meet the rational eye of atheists; yet we find it hard to support supernatural claims about religion that fly in the face of scientific evidence."
The Rev. Scotty McLennan is the dean for religious life at Stanford University. He was the university Chaplain at Tufts University from 1984 to 2000, and senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School for ten of those years. McLennan received his B.A. from Yale University in 1970 as a Scholar of the House working in the area of computers and the mind.
He received his M.Div. and J.D. degrees from Harvard Divinity and Law Schools in 1975. In 1975, he was also ordained to the ministry (Unitarian Universalist) and admitted to the Massachusetts bar as an attorney. He is the author of Finding Your Religion and was the inspiration for Doonesbury's Rev. Scott Sloan.
Bio
Rev. Scotty McLennan
The Rev. Scotty McLennan is the dean for religious life at Stanford University. He was the university Chaplain at Tufts University from 1984 to 2000, and senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School for ten of those years.
McLennan received his B.A. from Yale University in 1970 as a Scholar of the House working in the area of computers and the mind. He received his M.Div. and J.D. degrees from Harvard Divinity and Law Schools in 1975. In 1975, he was also ordained to the ministry (Unitarian Universalist) and admitted to the Massachusetts bar as an attorney.
He is the author of Finding Your Religion.
In Christianity, the son of God and the second person of the Holy Trinity. Christian doctrine holds that by his crucifixion and resurrection he paid for the sins of all mankind. His life and ministry are recounted in the four Gospels of the New Testament. He was born a Jew in Bethlehem before the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, and he died while Pontius Pilate was Roman governor of Judaea (AD 28–30). His mother, Mary, was married to Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth (see St. Joseph). Of his childhood after the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke, nothing is known, except for one visit to Jerusalem with his parents. He began his ministry about age 30, becoming a preacher, teacher, and healer. He gathered disciples in the region of Galilee, including the 12 Apostles, and preached the imminent arrival of the Kingdom of God. His moral teachings, outlined in the Sermon on the Mount, and his reported miracles won him a growing number of followers, who believed that he was the promised messiah. On Passover he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, where he shared the Last Supper with his disciples and was betrayed to the Roman authorities by Judas Iscariot. Arrested and tried, he was condemned to death as a political agitator and was crucified and buried. Three days later visitors to his tomb found it empty. According to the Gospels, he appeared several times to his disciples before ascending into heaven.
British political party that emerged in the mid-19th century as the successor to the Whigs. It was the major party in opposition to the Conservative Party until 1918, after which it was supplanted by the Labour Party. It was initially supported by the middle class that was enfranchised by the Reform Bill of 1832. Earl Russell's administration in 1846 is sometimes regarded as the first Liberal government, but the first unequivocally Liberal government was formed in 1868 by William E. Gladstone. Under Gladstone, until 1894, the party's hallmark was reform; after 1884 it espoused Irish Home Rule. It championed individualism, private enterprise, human rights, and promotion of social justice; wary of imperial expansion, it was pacific and internationalist. During World War I it split into two camps, centred on H.H. Asquith and David Lloyd George. It continued as a minor party until 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the Liberal Democratic Party.
This sounds good to atheists and unbelievers. Without God and without faith, we are left to our selves and to our doubts. Nobody is sure. But, Christ introduced himself as God and is responsible for everything. He was blamed for all our sins and was executed in our behalf. Having paid for the debt of all men He intended to save, He will one day come again, no longer as Saviour but as Judge of all the rest who die in their sin.
BILLYHOYLE -- I'm not sure what your comment that says "Jesus was a free market capitalist" has to do with the content of this video of Rev. McLennan? Can you please explain the relevance?
Wait, didn't your god say 'Thou shalt not steal'? This would make him anything but a modern day liberal. After all, it is the liberal that feels it is their duty to STEAL from one and give to another, of course after taking a cut off the top.
Jesus was a free market capitalist, a truly, free market capitalist. Not one of those 'free market' capitalists we hear so much about today. These are anything but free markets.
Also, wasn't it the STATE that slayed this man? Why would he advocate such a large state, as the leftists want so bad?
"Beam me up Scotty"! As an atheist listening to your literalistic sermon that's the thought that kept crawling around in my mind when thinking about the majority of religious nut cases roaming about in America. I kept saying to myself if these crazies could rally towards your way of thinking and embrace your values. But then I wake up and realize no one is going to be beamed up because if there were more of such Scotties like McLennan this could mean the beginning of the end of religion as we know it now in America and other parts of the world and I am too old now to believe in Santa, this is one gift I will never find under the Xmas tree.
Scotty McLennan brings up a tremendously timely and important point about American's reclaiming the "L" word -- "Liberal" -- as a word that is honorable, necessary and deserving of respect by both opponents of liberal ideologies as well as by proponents. McLennan's new book, "Jesus Was A Liberal" should be on anyone's reading list who is interested in religion or politics who sees value in finding ways to live more harmoniously with those with whom they disagree.
member. 
