The Emerging Church:

“If the church were to begin today, what would it look like?”

A. Characteristics:

1. Metaphor of a Conversation.2. Situational Beings3. Liberty from the constraints/Values of

Modernism4. Sensitivity towards the postmodern

critique.

B. Proponents.

C. Classroom Critique.

B. General Characteristics:# 1: “Metaphor of a conversation”

Movement that may expressed in terms of the metaphor of a “conversation.” It is an experiential dialogue where people might create, discuss, explore, express, reflect, and worship without theological dogmatism, legalism, authoritarianism, and over- generalizations.

It is a “free-form” conversation that embraces the “whole” individual, recognizing the uniqueness of every person and their giftedness/contribution to the community experience of “living” worship.

# 2: Situational Beings

• Experiential Christianity because human are “situated beings”. In terms of metaphysics, it is a pragmatism of sorts (transactional experience):

– Sensitivity to cultural context.

– Criticism towards Archimedean objectivity.

– Embrace of cultural accommodation in relating theological-religious expressions in a situational setting.

– Emphasis on “living community”

– Appeciation of theological diversity within Christianity.

# 3. Liberty from Modernism (whether secular or Christian):

• Liberty from the following:

1. Essentialistic, categorical language, authority, and meaning (e.g., “Seeker-Sensitive Movement”; Covenant Theology; Theological Systems). Rather, they embrace “collective narratives of belief.” They seek expression without definition.

2. Authoritarianism: whether it is church mores, polity, and theology (e.g., authoritarian pastors who claim to have “final answers”, who “see” things as they really are; or the authority of traditions… “We have always done it this way and so all other ways are wrong).

3. Ecclesiastical, experiential, theological, and worship stagnation (e.g., theology is developmental, never catechetical).

4. Individualism (e.g., you are not an isolated Christian; you need the community).

# 4. Sensitive to the postmodern critique:

• Skepticism towards epistemic certainty. To be sure, they are not radical postmodernists (who negate meaning). Rather, they redefine epistemological methodology , adopting a dualism of sorts that combines religious beliefs/values with a post-structural reaction in a situational context (transactional experience).

• Emphasis on De-centering.• Rejection of Archimedean Authority• Rejection of the isolated individual• Appreciation of diversity within a community of believers.• Emphasis on community and plurality of expression.

C. Proponents:Some of the major proponents (diverse cluster of people) include the following (this is list is not exhaustive):

Brian McClaren, A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poet, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist/ Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished Christian.

Tony Jones & Doug Pagitt, An Emergent Manifesto of Hope

Donald E. Miller, Searching for God Knows What

Leonard Sweet, Post-Modern Pilgrims; Ibid., Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives.

Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith.

C. Classroom Critique:

In an effort to become culturally relevant, is there the danger of biblical truth becoming irrelevant?

In what ways does the emerging church correlate with the liberalism of the 19th-20th centuries?

C. Classroom Critique:

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