While I chew on a book....

I will write....

What am I reading?  Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck.

My friend Joy mentioned it on her blog, as one of the books she wanted to read, and it caught my attention.  

I've read Brian McLaren and have heard him speak--he's a great speaker, a previous English professor, so I really enjoyed listening to him. I had a hard time though, with the fact that he never would give an answer to some of the hard questions that people asked at his lecture....He was wishy washy about the "hard stuff."  I've read Donald Miller (who doesn't claim to be emergent, but says a lot of the same things)...Again, I loved his writing style. I really enjoyed some of the things he said. Some of the things, though, bugged me.  I've read Rick McKinley--it was easy to agree with him because honestly, he didn't say a whole lot...I was not as impressed by his writing....I've read Rob Bell (who also doesn't claim to be emergent, but says a whole lot that sounds emergent), and I liked his writing, and I liked a lot of what he said, but after stepping back had several questions about what I'd read....

So that's why this book caught my attention. While I enjoyed, and even agreed with much of what I read in the way of emergent thinking, it left me with questions, curiosities, and yes, some concerns about the movement as a whole....

I wondered how the authors of this book would approach the topic. It's a tall order to critique a movement that brothers & sisters in Christ are a part of and to do so in a "Christian" manner.  So far (I am in Chapter 1, after 2 pretty detailed introductions), they're handling it respectfully....

They mention that the movement is hard to define, because there isn't anybody who will admit to being a spokesperson for the movement. I want to write another post about that, soon....But they give a fun one-sentence list in the intro, and I'd like to analyze my own beliefs based on that list.  From page 20:

You might be an Emergent Christian...

if you listen to U2, Moby, and Johnny Cash's Hurt (sometimes in church) 

nope. I think we have some U2 on our ipod, but it's Karry's, if we do. :)

use sermon illustrations from The Sopranos

is The Sopranos a book, movie or TV show? I have no clue.

drink lattes in the afternoon and Guinness in the evenings

nope. Tea, anyone?

always use a Mac

Always as in my whole life, or always as in this week and last? 

 

if your reading list consists primarily of Stanley Hauerwas, Henri Nouwen, N.T. Wright, Stan Grenz, Dallas Willard, Brennan Manning, Jim Wallis, Frederick Buechner, David Bosch, John Howard yoder, Wendell Berry, Nancy Murphy, John Franke, Walter Winks and Leslie Newbigin (not to mention McLaren, Pagitt, Bell, etc.)

I have only heard of some of those people, and I've read McLaren and Bell.

and your sparring partners include D.A. Carson, John Calvin, Martyin Lloyd-Jones, Wayne Grudem

I like John Calvin...I have heard many good things about Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. I think this would be a "no."

if your idea of quintessential Christian discipleship is Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelso Mandela, or Desmond Tutu

No--were they even believers?? We don't really hear about their faith, just what they did....Discipleship is teaching people about Jesus. Serving like He did is wonderful and great, but if no truth is shared, by definition, that is not discipleship.

if you don't like George W. Bush 

I don't like some of the things he did. He wasn't an amazing president, but he was better than the alternatives (I voted for him).

or institutions 

this depends on the definition of institutions...I don't mind rules, laws, etc....

or big business 

I prefer small, family owned businesses....I dislike politics that wipe out small, family-owned operations....because honestly, it's usually politics & higher taxes that put small businesses out, rather than big businesses (ask a small business owner)... 

or capitalism 

No. And honestly, I think if Michael Moore was really against capitalism, he would take Sean Hannity's challenge and give up 95% of his multi-million-dollar wealth to share with others.... :)

or Left Behind Christianity

I never read the books, but the movie was too incredibly cheeeeezzzzzyyyy.  The idea that the end is coming though? And believers who say "people have been saying that for centuries," yada, yada, yada....Well if there are signs that line up with Scripture, we ought to be paying attention to that, I think.....

if your political concerns are poverty, AIDS, imperialism, war-mongering, CEO salaries, consumerism, global warming, racism, and oppression and not so much abortion and gay marriage

Um...I think I definitely don't fit here....

if you are into bohemian, goth, rave or indie

Nope.

if you talk about the myth of redemptive violence and the myth of certainty

Nope.

if you lie awake at night having nightmares about all the ways modernism has ruined your life

Nope.

if you love the Bible as a beautiful, inspiring collection of works that lead us into the mystery of God but is not inherrant

Nope.

if you search for truth but aren't sure it can be found

Um, NO.

if you've ever been to a church with prayer labyrinths, candles, Play-Doh, chalk-drawings, couches or beanbags (your youth group doesn't count)

Sort of. Candles--drawings.

if you loath words like linear, propositional, rational, machine, and hierarch and use words like ancient-future, jazz, mosaic, matrix, missional, vintage, and dance

No. But I don't think the word missional is bad. And vintage--I like vintage, I just don't really use it when I talk about my faith. :)

if you grew up in a very conservative Christian home that in retrospect seems legalistic, naive and rigid

Nope.

if you support women in all levels of ministry

Absolutely not. This is one of my "issues" w/the movement...

prioritize urban over suburban

Nope.

like your theology narrative instead of systematic

I like narrative, but I really need meat. I've listened to emergent-style sermons online, also...This, to me, is what was missing--meat. There was a lot of narrative, a lot of stuff that all sounds good...but nothing to chew on when you leave...The message is generally summed up in "love everybody," which is all well and fine--but the how is usually missing...And isn't there more to the Bible than that??

if you disbelieve in any sacred-secular divide

No. I think this is why Jesus calls us to be in the world but not "of it."

if you want to be the church and not just go to church

For sure.

if you long for a community that is relational, tribal, and primal like a river or garden

The first part yes--the second part sounds weird. :)

if you believe doctrine gets in the way of an interactive relationship with Jesus

I believe doctrine is important, and relationship is important. How's that for an answer?

if you believe who goes to hell is no one's business and no one may be there anyway

First part--we don't know. Second part--um, no. There is a hell, and people will go there.

if you believe salvation has little to do with atoning for guilt and a lot to do with bringing the whole creation back into shalom with its Maker

I think it's about both.

if you believe following Jesus is not believing the right things but living the right way

I think if you believe the right things you WILL live the right way.

if it really bugs you when people talk about going to heaven instead of heaving coming to us

No.

if you disdain monological, didactic preaching

No.

if you use the word "story" in all your propositions about postmodernism

No.

if most of this tortuously long sentence describes you, then you might be an emergent Christian....

While there are some things I agree with and some places I do fit, I think I'm pretty much not emergent.  I think I knew that. 

I will keep writing as I read....I have a lot of thoughts going on. :)