In the book, DeYoung gives a long list of things that might make you emergent. He says a little later, "Don't assume we dislike all things emergent. The longer sentence (which I'm going to quote) describes us in some ways too." So I thought it would be fun to see how emergent we are. I'm going to type in the long quote first. Then I will add a comment by copying the quote and highlighting the things I have read, like, etc. Then each of you do that too, when you have time.
So here is the sentences:
"You might be an emergent Christian: if you listen to U2, Moby, and Johnny Cash's Hurt (sometimes in church), use sermon illustrations from The Sopranos, drink lattes in the afternoon and Guinness in the evenings, and always use a Mac; if your reading list consists primarily of Stanley Hauerwas, Henri Nouwen, N.T. Wright, Stan Grenz, Dallas Willard, Brenning Manning, Jim Wallis, Frederick Buechner, David Bosch, John Howard Yoder, Wendell Berry, Nancy Murphy, John Franke, Walkter Winks and Lesslie Newbigin (not to mention McLaren, Paggis, Bell, etc.) and your sparring partners include D.A. Carson, John Calvin, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Wayne Grudem; if your idea of quintessential Christian discipleship is Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, or Desmond Tutu; if you don't like George W. Bush or institutions or big business or capitalism or Left Behind Christianity; 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; if you are into bohemian, goth, rave, or indie; if you talk about the myth of redemptive violence and the myth of certainty; if you lie awake at night having nightmares about all the ways modernism has ruined your life; if you love the Bible as a beautiful, inspiring collection of works that lead us into the mystery of God but is not inerrant; if you search for truth but aren't sure it can be found; 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); if you loathe words like, linear, propositonal, rational, machine, and hierarchy and use words like ancient-future, jazz, mosaic, matrix, missional, vintage, and dance; if you grew up in a very conservative Christian home that in retrospect seems legalistic, naive, and rigid; if you support women in all levels of ministry, prioritize urban over suburban, and like your theology narrative instead of systematic; if you disbelieve in any sacred-secular divide; if you want to be the church and not just go to church; if you long for a community that is relational, tribal, and primal like a river or a garden; if you believe doctrine gets in the way of an interactive relationship with Jesus; if you believe who goes to hell is no one's business and no one may be there anyway; if you believe salvation has a little to do with atoning for guilt and a lot to do with bringing the whole creation back in shalom with its Maker; if you believe following Jesus is not believing the right things but living the right way; if it really bugs you when people talk about going to heaven instead of heaven coming to us; if you disdain monological, didactic preaching; if you use the word "story" in all your propositions about postmodernism - if all or most of this tortuously long sentence describes you, then you might be an emergent Christian."
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4 comments:
Well, so much for my idea, because I don't know how to highlight or use HTML. But actually there wouldn't be much I would highlight. I have read Henri Nouwen, Frederick Buechner, Brennan Manning, and Dallas WIllard (I'm very surprised he is in here - I thought he was very Reformed). I highly respect Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela. I like George W. Bush. I don't like a lot of things about big business or capitalism. I don't think I'd like Left Behind Christianity, but I've never read the books or seen the movies. My concerns are poverty, racism and oppression, but very concerned about abortion. The rest of the things don't apply to me.
But shouldn't you read a book about Why We Are Emergent, too?
And also, from my understanding a lot of emergent people randomly like Reformed theology?
I plan to read some emergent books. But remember the Rob Bell video. He's an emergent leader and I liked most of his videos. I, like the authors of the book, think the emergent leaders are very CHristian, love people and love the Bible. However, they are pretty loosey goosey with some of the parts of the Bible they don't like. The danger will be in the next generation.
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