A Pastoral Perspective on the Emergent Church
For a helpful, balanced, and historical perspective on the Emergent Church, see the article by Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, called "A Pastoral Perspective on the Emergent Church." It can be found at http://www.criswelljournal.com/. Thanks again to Justin Taylor: http://theologica.blogspot.com/.
3 comments:
Nick, I personally feel Driscoll misses the boat entirely on the emergent church. He views it through a modern lens and passes judgment based on his own preferential boxes: 3 neat categories (all beginning with an R!), assigning people to certain camps i.e.'theologically liberal'and his insistence on being 'God's answer man' on various doctrines that can only be answered on the other side of eternity. I personally have found the Emergement movement to be anything but the shrink-wrapped religion he makes it out to be.
Rick (Canyon Creek),
You will have to clarify yourself a little better. There is a lot of loaded language. What do you mean by "shrink-wrapped"? Where does he do this? How does assigning certain beliefs to certain theological camps make some one "God's answer man"? Are there not some general camps that theologians fall into, that they would not even deny? Defining terms or using categories is not being "modern," it is just be a clear communicator. The issue is not whether one is defining terms or using categories, it is whether these categories are wrong or not. I would not be so quick to condemn a man like Driscoll, who helped start Emergent in its early stages, who knows the leaders personally, who is generous and gracious in his critique of Emergent, who is passionate about reaching the Emerging generation, and who is doing a quite an amazing job at it. We will also have to have a discussion on what exactly "modernism" is so we are not missing each other in our discussion. I look forward to our discussion and to your answers to my above questions. Thanks for your response, Nick
Rick (Canyon Creek),
Another question: what do you think are the "various doctrines that can only be answered on the other side of eternity"? Are these in the article itself? Thanks,
Nick
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