CONVERSANT WITH THE EMERGENT
If you are at all interested in reaching this generation for Jesus Christ you are probably familiar with the "emregent church" movement, and the writings of people like Brian McLaren. They attempt to analyse western culture today and provide suggestions for how the traditional evangelical churches should change to impact the changing culture, and I can agree with quite a bit of what they say.
However, on the plane yesterday on the way to another Middle-eastern country I was reading a superb book by respected Canadian author D A Carson, called "Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church", which offers what seems like a most balanced critique of the movement - noting its many good points but taking issue with many others, in particular, their assertion that western culture has changed so profoundly that an equally-tectonic shift must take place in the way we do church and practice evangelism.
"Granted that the emerging church movement is driven by its widespread perception of cultural changes, its own proposals for the way ahead must be assessed for their biblical fidelity. In other words, we must not only try to evaluate the accuracy of the emerging church's cultural analysis, but also the extent to which its proposals spring from, or can at least be squared with, the Scriptures. To put the matter differently: is there at least some danger that what is being advocated is not so much a new kind of Christian in a new emerging church, but a church that it so submerging itself in the culture that it risks hopeless compromise?"
Dr Carson does find some things to praise, such as the renewed emphasis on authenticity (although sometimes it sounds like what the emergent folks mean by authenticity is not so much to do with holiness as with "being real") and says that "when emerging church leaders foster the kind of authenticity that builds a contagious church, thoughtful Christians will be grateful with their unease with the superficial and their passion for what is real."
However, he's totally unconvinced by their premise.
"I see the analysis of modernism itself within the emerging church movement so stylized and reductionistic as to represent a major historical distortion."
Further, "the almost-universal condemnation of modernism, and of Christianity under modernism, is not only historically skewed and ethically ungrateful, but is frequently theologically shallow and intellectually incoherent."
He illustrates the last point by summarising what tolerance is - putting up with someone or something even though you fundamentally disagree with them or it. "But in our post-modern world, tolerance is increasingly understood to be the virtue that refuses to think that any opinion is bad or evil or stupid. One "tolerates" everything because nothing is beyond the pale - except the view that rejects this view of tolerance: for that, there is no tolerance at all."
Anybody got any opinions on the above? Have you read this book, and if so, what did you think?
I'll finish with another review of one of Brian McLaren's books, ("The Church on the other Side") quoted by D A Carson, as it says brilliantly what I sense many young people I know are saying on this subject. This was written by a guy called Greg Gilbert.
"I'm tired of being told that we've never seen anything like this; I'm tired of all these excitable authors trying to one-up each other with their cataclysmic descriptions of how much the world has changed. On top of it all, I'm tired of being told that the church is on the edge of extinction if it doesn't have a complete overhaul to deal with these "tectonic" changes. I just don't believe it. And that's not because I'm an old codger who can't bring himself to embrace this brave new world. I'm 24 years old; I live this brave new world. Change is not a problem for me; I love it! I look forward to moving to a new city, meeting new people, seeing new cultures, learning new things. I relish the thought of casting off into the world and ministering to people who are not firmly grounded in, or even convinced of, truth. In that, Brian McLaren and I are on the same page. I like his chutzpah. But unlike McLaren, I'm also convinced that ministering to postmoderns does not mean diving head-first into their ocean of uncertainty. I don't want to commiserate with them; I want to offer them something different - something like Truth!"
However, on the plane yesterday on the way to another Middle-eastern country I was reading a superb book by respected Canadian author D A Carson, called "Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church", which offers what seems like a most balanced critique of the movement - noting its many good points but taking issue with many others, in particular, their assertion that western culture has changed so profoundly that an equally-tectonic shift must take place in the way we do church and practice evangelism.
"Granted that the emerging church movement is driven by its widespread perception of cultural changes, its own proposals for the way ahead must be assessed for their biblical fidelity. In other words, we must not only try to evaluate the accuracy of the emerging church's cultural analysis, but also the extent to which its proposals spring from, or can at least be squared with, the Scriptures. To put the matter differently: is there at least some danger that what is being advocated is not so much a new kind of Christian in a new emerging church, but a church that it so submerging itself in the culture that it risks hopeless compromise?"
Dr Carson does find some things to praise, such as the renewed emphasis on authenticity (although sometimes it sounds like what the emergent folks mean by authenticity is not so much to do with holiness as with "being real") and says that "when emerging church leaders foster the kind of authenticity that builds a contagious church, thoughtful Christians will be grateful with their unease with the superficial and their passion for what is real."
However, he's totally unconvinced by their premise.
"I see the analysis of modernism itself within the emerging church movement so stylized and reductionistic as to represent a major historical distortion."
Further, "the almost-universal condemnation of modernism, and of Christianity under modernism, is not only historically skewed and ethically ungrateful, but is frequently theologically shallow and intellectually incoherent."
He illustrates the last point by summarising what tolerance is - putting up with someone or something even though you fundamentally disagree with them or it. "But in our post-modern world, tolerance is increasingly understood to be the virtue that refuses to think that any opinion is bad or evil or stupid. One "tolerates" everything because nothing is beyond the pale - except the view that rejects this view of tolerance: for that, there is no tolerance at all."
Anybody got any opinions on the above? Have you read this book, and if so, what did you think?
I'll finish with another review of one of Brian McLaren's books, ("The Church on the other Side") quoted by D A Carson, as it says brilliantly what I sense many young people I know are saying on this subject. This was written by a guy called Greg Gilbert.
"I'm tired of being told that we've never seen anything like this; I'm tired of all these excitable authors trying to one-up each other with their cataclysmic descriptions of how much the world has changed. On top of it all, I'm tired of being told that the church is on the edge of extinction if it doesn't have a complete overhaul to deal with these "tectonic" changes. I just don't believe it. And that's not because I'm an old codger who can't bring himself to embrace this brave new world. I'm 24 years old; I live this brave new world. Change is not a problem for me; I love it! I look forward to moving to a new city, meeting new people, seeing new cultures, learning new things. I relish the thought of casting off into the world and ministering to people who are not firmly grounded in, or even convinced of, truth. In that, Brian McLaren and I are on the same page. I like his chutzpah. But unlike McLaren, I'm also convinced that ministering to postmoderns does not mean diving head-first into their ocean of uncertainty. I don't want to commiserate with them; I want to offer them something different - something like Truth!"
posted by John Duncan @ 2:03 pm
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