Book Review of Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart

Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart, by Brian McLaren

St. Martin’s Essentials, 2024. 290 pp.

Over a period of about three weeks, I recently read two books with “Doom” in the title. This was not intentional; rather, it was the simple luck of the library queue in my audiobook apps during a very long couple of car rides. Both would make terrific books for groups to discuss (though in very different settings), but I’ll only briefly summarize the first for the purposes of framing the second.

I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom, by Jason Pargin, is both fun and thought-provoking, filled with sharp social commentary. A young woman named “Ether” enlists the help of Abbott, a socially awkward young man who lives at home and spends much of his time gaming. Ether wants Abbott to drive her immediately across the country in his car to deliver a large, black box, assuring him he’ll be well-paid for the job. However, she says she won’t talk about the contents of the box, who it’s going to, why she’s delivering it, or much else related to it for that matter…plus he can’t bring anything like a cell phone along that’s trackable. Despite his significant, reasonable reservations, he agrees. This being the age when we share everything, though, Abbott secretly posts a message for his gaming friends. Soon, multiple conspiracy theories develop, a country-wide chase ensues, deep conversations about subjects like gender roles and social media take place, and chaos and confusion reign as everyone heads toward possible (or inevitable?) doom. It’s a wild ride, filled with the best and worst in humanity along with a sharp look at some really serious issues that shape our worldviews.

Conversely, McLaren’s Book, Life After Doom, has no car chases or mysterious characters with shady intentions. However, practically every page will likely cause you to pause and reflect on the most serious “doom” we all face: climate collapse, and how we can and must live in the midst of the many changes ahead of us. It’s not an easy subject, to be sure, and McLaren is deeply honest about the possibilities ahead of us. A gentle yet deeply honest guide to better ways of being, McLaren blends wisdom and empathy with practical and spiritual actions that can help us maintain our humanity in the midst of the chaos. The pages aren’t filled with many laughs and jokes, but don’t let that keep you from reading what is a truly important text.

Rating Summary

I wish this book had been available a long, long time ago. It’s definitely among the best books I’ve read on our climate crisis and how we can live, whatever comes our way. Read it and discuss it with others.

While the text itself is not overly difficult to read, the heaviness of the subject matter and the length of the book may make getting it through the entire book a challenge for some. McLaren acknowledges this himself at times, encouraging readers to skip chapters or put the book down if they need to. I listened to the audiobook, which is read by McLaren. It’s excellent, but I look forward to re-reading my hardcover version and throughly marking it up with my notes.

Because the content of the book frequently focuses on the importance of community, I highly recommend reading and discussing it with others. Journaling / discussion questions are provided after each chapter, and additional suggestions for groups are provided in the free online appendices. The only reason I rated it a 9 is that the length of the book could make it a challenge for some groups. Every chapter stands on its own fairly well, though, so even someone who joins a group late or hasn’t done the reading will still benefit from the discussions. 

McLaren, a former pastor of a Christian church, is better than most at writing in an interfaith way. He uses quotes from a diverse group of writers, makes a good effort to use biblical quotes as examples of broader themes, and respects the reader’s unique background. 

This is definitely a book intended to help you reflect deeply and live differently. There are both specific and general action steps suggested throughout the book, and they generally don’t require special skills, abilities, or financial resources. Much of the book focuses on how we think, feel about and process difficult information, so there’s a lot of heart, soul and relational “work” for readers to engage with.

Book Summary

At its core, Life After Doom acknowledges the unavoidable truth that climate collapse is not just likely, it is already unfolding before us. Yet McLaren doesn’t leave the reader in despair. He encourages us to answer a deeper question with courage and character: “How will we respond?” That means the book is not simply a survival guide or a doom-filled science book. It’s a roadmap to living fully and authentically amidst the uncertainty. McLaren argues that even in the face of global-scale suffering, we have choices—as individuals and as communities of faith—in order to embody hope, wisdom, and resilience.

For McLaren, the life we can have in the midst of and after doom is one rooted in community, which is a source of unimaginable power. Alone, the problems we face can feel insurmountable. Together, equipped with faith and collective action, we have a chance to cultivate a responsive life rooted in love, justice, and mercy.

Because he was a pastor for many years, McLaren sees church communities as vital leaders who can create moral clarity and courage in times of uncertainty. For faith-driven readers, Life After Doom doesn’t ask us to abandon our spiritual grounding; rather, the book asks us to deepen it. McLaren challenges all of us to see creation as sacred and worth protecting–not just out of obligation, but as an act of shared gratitude and purpose.

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of Life After Doom is the way it helps to reader to engage with and process the many emotions that go along with knowing our climate is collapsing. We all hold guilt, shame, fear, worry, grief, and other emotions about what we’ve done to this planet and what we are passing on to future generations. McLaren makes space for all of that, reminding you as a reader that your response is what defines this chapter in history. Faith, action, and community can rise even in the face of despair, and we are not alone in feeling whatever it is that floods through us.

I also loved the wealth of quotes and ideas from philosophers, scientists, theologians, poets, and others which appear throughout the book. Chapter 4 is devoted to the importance of listening to what poets, artists and other creatives are saying about our changing world, because their words resonate in our lives and souls in a way that scientific papers cannot. A later chapter focuses on listening to indigenous voices, as those communities have been through incredibly difficult times before and can point us to a better way forward. He follows that with one of my favorite chapters, expanding on this theme as he explores the Bible as an indigenous text that can guide us to different ways of understanding God’s creation and our role in it.

Life After Doom is an invitation to a better way of living as individuals and as a people. Thankfully, we may not each have a literal “black box of doom” to transport across the country, but like Ether, we can have companions on our journey who will make our trip a lot more enjoyable and meaningful. Like Abbott, we may not be at all clear about everything that lies ahead of us, but the road ahead can be one which fills our lives with wisdom and courage. Like McClaren, you just may come away from the book feeling like you are living in the greatest time in history rather than the most doom-filled one.

Explore More & Take Action

• This podcast from the BTS Center features McLaren, which explores his book and the power of ritual and story.
• Download the appendices for the book (PDF).