Review: An Emergent Manifesto of Hope
By Dustin Bagby |
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| “The direction of a big act will warp history, but probably all acts do the same in their degree, down to a stone stepped over in the path or a breath caught at sight of a pretty girl or a fingernail nicked in the garden soil.” John Steinbeck from East of Eden
What kind of impact will the Emerging Church make in the long run? Is it a fad that will pass away and be remembered as a fringe group of protestors to the spirit of the modern age? Or is it a long term reform in the way we have been “doing” church and living out our role in culture as God’s agents?
Already in the last 10 years the seeds of an uprising within the church were planted-out of which Emergent Village (www.emergentvillage.com) bloomed in 2001. Consisting mainly but not solely of pastors and church leaders, there was a consensus of disillusionment with what appeared to be a contradiction between the values and methods of the contemporary church and what God, through Jesus has revealed as his dream for the world.
So in the last several years the Emerging Church has made a dent in the church world and the world at large through books, conferences, and new churches in the same spirit of the Protestant reformers. Along the way, this movement has drawn harsher criticism than Mormons and Moonies alike from evangelical leaders, from seminary professors who cringe, rant, and rave in the classroom, and conservative watchdogs who drool over the joy of labeling people heretics and false teachers.
What could be going on here to draw such vehemence and mean-spirited rebukes? Either Emergent is indeed full of heretics, or they are getting the same kind of reaction Jesus did when he started preaching about the Kingdom of God.
An Emergent Manifesto of Hope is the latest of books seeking to express the values and theology behind the practices of Emergent Village. The National Coordinator of E.V., Tony Jones says that these chapters “should be considered discussion starters. Like a coffee-table book, this book is meant to sit at the middle of a relationship, to provoke conversation, and consequently to deepen the friendship.”
A line like this will leave many who are looking for a definitive word from Emergent frustrated and viewing this opening line as a cop-out. And if that is not frustrating enough, what comes next I promise you will be taken out of context several times by critics.
“There are times, I’m sure, when the harmonies don’t match, when someone seems to be singing out of tune. But that’s really not the point for us. The point is that we’re singing and we’re singing together. You might think of Emergent Village in general, and this book in particular, as a choir with no conductor.”
Just to clarify, I asked Tony about this through an email which he quickly replied:
“I've looked back on that line and wondered if people will misread it. I meant no HUMAN conductor. I was trying to say that there's no one person at the top of this organization, calling the shots. Of course I think that God is the Master Conductor of us all.”
Now we can take a deep breath and not call in the heresy police although I’m sure some self-proclaimed officers will still be charging strong with a taser over this one. The point is Emergent has no plans on becoming a denomination or spitting out a doctrinal statement any time soon. It began as a conversation and it will continue as a conversation hence the conversational tone of this book written by many authors of various theological and social backgrounds.
But the question still begs to be asked: How will Emergent deal with heterodoxy (which I have just learned is a way to say heresy without all the mental pictures of burning people at the stake)? Will we say, “That’s alright, as long as we’re being heretics together?” Or do the Scriptures give us the authority to rightly call wrong belief what it is: wrong!
Jesus gave us a glorious picture of church unity, but is there not a time when we must call someone out or even go our separate ways because of matters of belief? I believe in the unity of the church and I do not believe it was Jesus’ idea for us to subscribe to a theological system or have hundreds of denominations or split over whether we should take communion in individual cups or one cup. The theological tradition I came from lived by the motto “In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity.” Now, while this tradition has long-since strayed from this ideal although still ascribing lip service to it, I believe in this motto. But this assumes that there are essentials. And I think this is the question that people are asking Emergent Village. What are the essentials and how will you respond when someone is teaching something false?
Like any book with various authors, ideas will be expressed that will excite and frustrate alike. Following is a quote from one of the chapters that is frustrating:
“Although we often think of God as self-satisfied, needing nothing, God does honor us by needing us. This need of God for us is symbolized in the Sabbath commandment that has no other purpose than creating a space in time when God can enjoy our full attention, when a lover can simply be with his beloved. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel explained once how the greatest human need is to become a need. God needs us to participate with him in healing the world.”
Not only is this poor theology, but such a low view of a God who needs us does nothing to further my confidence in Him. God chooses to use us in his Kingdom purposes, but I would hope for the future of redemptive history that He does not NEED us! That would be the world’s greatest tragedy. This is a stream of thought that seems to run deep within Emergent. We are guilty of placing too much importance on ourselves, while the modern church has been guilty of under-appreciating our role in the Kingdom. Can we not find our rightful place in the Kingdom? A Kingdom where God is powerful and competent enough to not need us, but still by His grace to use us as His agents in this world? While I have much hope as we desperately grasp for a holistic salvation and kingdom-living we still have work to do in understanding what it means to live as citizens.
Several engaging chapters wait to be read with passionate challenges for followers of Jesus, but that is coupled with chapters that you will forget by the time you get to the last page and other chapters that seem to come out of left field (maybe this goes back to the choir illustration again). But consistent themes are woven through the book. Kingdom, Story, Community. These words must have been used 1,000 times each. I do not say this as if it were a bad thing: I say it as a description of what is important to Emergent.
Some highlights:
Brian Mclaren composes a “non-response-response” to those such as D.A. Carson who might have wished now to have done a little more research and not connected “hard” postmodernism with emerging churches. Mclaren states:
“I am not too concerned whether or not a person is a philosophical foundationalist, whether or not he or she agrees with (or understands) the correspondence theory of truth, or how enlightened he or she is about the Enlightenment, Descartes, Derrida, Reid, or Rorty. (Instead, I’m more concerned whether the person is doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.)”
Sally Morgenthaler writes a feisty (can’t think of a more appropriate word) critique of modern leadership structures where she pens,
“Super-sized ecclesia is as much about power as it is about God. With luxurious facilities bordering on the obscene, organizational hierarchies designed to feed pastoral ego, and constituencies of the robotically religious, it’s not hard to figure out that one’s story, creativity, and opinions aren’t welcome.”
Mark Scandrette’s chapter alone makes this book worth reading, by discussing our hopeful future as the church and what shape that may take. This is a helpful introductory chapter for what Emergent values and sets the stage for the rest of the book.
Tim Condor writes with conviction about the existing church learning from the Emergent conversation and our engagement with culture.
“When I hear of churches raffling away cars and motorcycles as a part of worship services to attract “outsiders,” it seems obvious that our cultural myths of personal accumulation and entitlement have found a comfortable home within the church.”
I hate to mention the more well-known authors as highlights and did not intend to, they were just the chapters that seemed to rise above the rest in coherence, challenge, and relevance to the conversation. One of the most enjoyable qualities of this book was that there were unique issues raised such as what it means to be an “emergent” parent (Carla Barnhill), emerging ministry inside a prison drug program (Thomas Malcolm Olson), a look inside Catholic Emergent (Brian Mitchell), and our responsibility as the church to Native Americans (Randy Woodley).
I wanted to give you a taste of the best of this book because while some of the chapters fail to go anywhere (which ones those are you can decide for yourself... after all, some of these authors read Next Wave!), overall, this manifesto does have wisdom to offer from those intimately at work within the kingdom of God in the cultures they reside.
An Emergent Manifesto of Hope gives a good introduction to the ethos and values that pervade and drive this conversation and is a good primer for those not familiar with the conversation. You will be sparked with excitement and passion for seeing God’s work on earth. For others who are hoping to get a definitive word on Emergent you will experience anger and frustration at vague language and for much left unspoken.
And for those who are already familiar with this conversation, Mark Scandrette gave some of the best advice in the book:
“Stop reading so many books and blogs. Start your own conversations, and be a caring friend. The most important conversations happen between people who have the potential to live out their story together.”
 Dustin Bagby lives in Portland, OR, blogs at www.dustball.blogspot.com, is married to his beautiful wife Kelli, is a huge Chicago Bears and Cubs fan, is a participant at The Evergreen Community, and is currently an MDiv student at Western Seminary. |
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I appreciate how you have brought the notion of 'essentials' to the foreground. I agree that Emergent can't describe any and all people or practices, so it is important to look at what the hallmarks are of those who identify with and develop emergent drifts/ directions/ conversations/etc. I think the idea of God needing us, continues to be a much debated issue, or perhaps one of the difficult questions that we move on from after a time, unable to find a satisfactory answer. My response to the comment below regarding God needing us was that it was perhaps too quickly dismissive: "Not only is this poor theology, but such a low view of a God who needs us does nothing to further my confidence in Him." We read of the self-emptying of Jesus in Phil. 2, and I don't think there is one definitive description of what this self-emptying exactly entails, although I will assume some agreement regarding this emptying and the resulting limits upon Jesus. It seems that many times God (the Father) also chooses to limit himself and his response to humanity, perhaps by 'choosing' to be in a position where he needs or uses us (by choosing to use us, perhaps he has committed himself to 'needing' us). I'm not sure this kind of notion diminishes his greatness or all-powerful nature since He seems committed to somehow work with us and through us, in our weakness, yet continues to usher in his present/future Kingdom. I'm not trying to get a lengthy theological discussion going, which space would not allow here anyway. I suppose I just want to suggest that various emergent voices probably have widespread opinions on the matter of God needing us, and the theology of a self-limiting God does not necessarily entail a de facto 'poor theology.' This would depend I suppose on one's theological sensibilities and traditions. Btw, thanks for the review and the choice sampling of quotes from the book.
Dustin, Thanks for this insightful review. I also blogged on the book, but more specifically on Mark's chapter which, I think, in agreement with you, is one of the highlights of the book.
I found a recurring theme in many of the essays- that of, becoming. While this is important for the Christian life, it seems to me that it must be rooted in being - being in community with God. This gives direction and a destiny that becoming is all about.
Please greet Sarah at Evergreen. She has spent some time here and I lived in the Portland area many years ago.
A quick remark on Jeremy's comment. I don't see how self limitations on God's part, or on the part of Jesus, would entail God's needing us. Perhaps, God's willingness to work with humanity is a grace, not a need, at least not in any sense of being an impoverishment on God's part.
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I found a recurring theme in many of the essays- that of, becoming. While this is important for the Christian life, it seems to me that it must be rooted in being - being in community with God. This gives direction and a destiny that becoming is all about.
Please greet Sarah at Evergreen. She has spent some time here and I lived in the Portland area many years ago.
A quick remark on Jeremy's comment. I don't see how self limitations on God's part, or on the part of Jesus, would entail God's needing us. Perhaps, God's willingness to work with humanity is a grace, not a need, at least not in any sense of being an impoverishment on God's part.