Rev. Dr. McLelland writes in his usual entertaining yet provocative style. As usual, he is writing about the current leading edge of theology. In today’s world, that edge is of course inter-faith dialogue. McLelland calls us to recognize with humility that we as Christians may not be the apple of God’s eye, but rather that we recognize that other faiths could be circling around God with their varieties of faith and truth just like us.
Well, I for one am very proud to say that I am in favour of humility and dialogue too for that matter. The problem is that the Apostle John also lived in a multi-faith world where many groups devoted to a pantheon of beliefs were circling around Mount Olympus hoping to catch the gods’ favours, preferably those higher up on the Mount who were obviously better off and more important – sort of like Westmount on Mount Royal. John, however, did not hesitate to state that the very Word of God, who was present even at the onset of the world with all of its knowledge, was very God of God. John goes on to add that this Word became One of us. The Apostle did not say that He became SOME of us, unless Dr. McLelland wishes us to re-write the first verse of John’s Gospel so that it reads like the bible of the Jehovah’s Witnesses “and the Word was a God”. I don’t think so!
