The Emergent Paradox
What if Emergent Christianity is creating a paradox for people? What if those who see black recognize that white is the only thing that will work? Brian McLaren recently posted the following quote from a conversation he had with someone he recently met. And I can’t help but recognize the tension so many have with Emergence. “Ah, McLaren. I don’t …
Why Are You Emergent?
Don’t let anyone tell you Emergence isn’t growing, or that it’s dead. As of publishing, it’s the third largest Twibe in the religion section. And I realize this is anecdotal evidence but that number grew almost instantly. It suggests to me the conversation is growing, not dying. It’s still on people radar. It seems like just yesterday people were righting …
The Great Emergence Day 1
Today was day one in The Great Emergence conference. To a large extent it was a deeper summary of each part of the book, including some of the keys dates, pivotal moments and events that helped create what we’re experiencing now. She made a significant point about how this turn is deeply affecting the concept of Sola Scriptura. One of …
Change vs. Tradition
Does the soul of any movement lie in its traditions or its courage to change? And is the cost of change always tradition? I was watching the movie, The Queen, with Helen Mirren, a Miramax film about the battle between Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth during aftermath of the Princess Diana tragedy, and it reminded me of the struggle between …
Top 50 Possible Reasons Why You’re Not Emergent
In the spirit of the new book, Why We’re Not Emergent, the accompanying website, and this post, I thought I’d present the Top 50 Possible Reasons Why You’re Not Emergent. ———————————————————- 50. They’re all a bunch of false prophets. Really, that’s what they told me 49. My mother will disown me. 48. I just don’t like Doug Pagitt. He scares …
The Lesson From Mark Driscoll
When Mark Driscoll chose to pick a fight with the specific voices in the emerging church at the SBC conference, I really didn’t want to get involved. What would drive someone to do something like that when it wasn’t even what he was there to speak on? I did listen to his message for the sake of being informed and …
The Nature of Postmodern/Emerging Dialog
I was reading this post by Roger Saner at Future Church (Thanks Makeesha. You find the best stuff.) and it really got me thinking about the nature of postmodern dialog. One of the signature elements of the emerging church has been “the conversation”. It is the idea that we are in dialog with each other. Not a shouting match but …
The Conversation vs. Argument
Today I was looking at books at Borders and ran into An Emergent Manifesto of Hope. It’s a compilation of essays about the emergent church, edited by Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones. I didn’t get to delve into it much other than the introduction and some of the first chapter. But one thing that I noticed is both sections spoke …
