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Is Emergent emerging only in style?The relentless onslaught of work abated a bit this weekend and I finally got around to reading the Christian Century article, "The Emergent matrix." The author asks a great question:"As younger generations of evangelicals find themselves dissatisfied with the dominant expressions of "contemporary" church, will they simply engage in a new style, seeking relevance for a new generation, or will they engage in a change of substance including a more radical rethinking of the evangelical project?" This is a helpful question. One of my profs said in class today, "You can tell when a pastor graduated from seminary by the books s/he has on the shelf." In other words, ministers engage in intellectual/theological/ministerial exploration while they are forced to by their professors and, upon leaving the luxuries of academic life, they desist. If this is true, there is no need to wonder why so many people are leaving the Church in droves. People need to be engaged as whole persons, not disembodied souls. I have noticed what is on the shelves of some pastors who are coming from an evangelical perspective and I must say, it's no wonder that people are disappointed with the depth of their pastor's thought. When all one reads are the overly simplistic books on Lifeway shelves, depth of insight is a commodity difficultly attained. Yet,when I listen to my friends, some of whom have been out a seminary for years, talk about the theology that is undergirding some of what emergent is doing, I hear them quote thinkers like Moltmann, Gadamer, and Abelard. In this I am encouraged. Maybe one way that Emergent will be different from our evangelical predecessors is that we will offer a change in both style and theology. If all that may be said about the depth of Emergent, is that "emerging worship looks like a Christian version of Starbucks" we are in serious trouble. Any thoughts? posted by Jake at 12/04/2004 04:43:00 PM  
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One could say...
"He who marries the spirit of the age will soon become a widower."
Or...
"She who marries the spirit of the age will soon become a widow."
Either one makes the case.
Amen, brother!
NAME THIS QUOTE!
"The Church is not in any sense to be understood as the divine institution for the satisfaction of needs related to this fulfilment [fulfilment of personal aims], or the provision and employment of the means necessary and available for it. It is true, of course, that all this is also the experience, reality, gift and task of the community. We may and must say that election to life in the Church includes this as well. But on a closer examination all this will be seen to be subordinate. The Church has its true meaning, and therefore the man elected to life in the Church has his true personal determination, in the fact that, equipped and empowered by these benefits, instructed by this admonition and comfort, he is made serviceable to the Lord of the Church, and therefore, in the omnipotent loving-kindness of God realised and revealed in Him, to the rest of the world. That is to say, the Church as such, and every individual in the Church in his [/her] own place and manner, becomes a bearer and proclaimer of this name and this fact."
I don't know if or how this comes to bear on the emergent conversation (and I am re-reading the CT article and reading the CH article in hopes of a coming post) but this quote represents the essence of my ecclesiology. Who said it? ;-)
Off the top of my head...I would guess either Moltmann or Barth. I'm leaning towards the former.