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Didn’t Like It “I'll let you know what I think when I'm done... I'm reading this book more for the reason of "being intrigued" than anything. I like to compare the Emergent Church Movement to sauerkraut...it has an interesting and intriguing taste, but nothing more; you can't make much of a meal from it.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“The biography of Tony Jones appears, at first glance, to be that of the mainstream American Christian ministry leader at the end of the twentieth century. His pedigree and education is upper crust, including Campus Crusade at Dartmouth College. His current studies at Princeton Theological Seminary would lead you to believe he is still pursuing that “mainstream.” Jossey-Bass, the publisher of this most recent of Jones’s books, “The New Christians,” is also highly reputed as a publisher for books related to leadership in religious, academic, as well as professional communities. A closer look reveals that Jones is not the conventional Christian leader. Jones is the national coordinator of the Emergent Village, a network of missional Christians seeking “a ‘third way’ of faith between religious conservatism and religious liberalism” at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
John H wrote this review Saturday, July 5 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The thesis of this book: Though many Christians may be alarmed by the rapid decline of Western Christendom, which has been aligned philosophically and institutionally with all the developments of Modernity, that period following the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, Jones offers hopeful “dispatches” about the “adventurous communities and practices of emergent Christians around the world” in a post-Modern era. Jones’ eloquent, conversational style leads the reader into the journey of the “emergent” community, touching on personal, historical, and philosophical sign-posts along the way. Jones reveals his own depth of study, while resisting what LeRon Shults describes as the temptation to “want to force the new wine of the Spirit’s powerful transformation of communities into old modernist wineskins.” While Jones does offer definitions and “dispatch” statements to assist the reader with useful understanding, he does not reduce the entirety of this contemporary movement of postmodern missional communities to the modern “representationalist” language or “statement of belief.” (234) This book reads like a memoir, reflecting on the important events and personal journey of the author, while also offering the hope represented by the emergence of this movement, pointing the way forward for a new way to be the Church in our post-modern culture.
The most hopeful dispatch Jones relays is that there is “no such thing as Gospelism,” no way to contain the gospel in one of our “crusted over layers of bureaucracy, institutionalism, and dogma.” (36-37) For those emergent Christians who want to do away with all theology to simply “love Jesus,” Jones argues that loving Jesus IS theology. He exemplifies the leadership of that movement, which is a community committed to rigorous study. The emerging churches are doing theology with the understanding that theology is “local, conversational, and temporary.” (112) Jones generously transmits the fresh and “squishy” (39) movement of the Spirit today, without the irreverent reviling characteristics of some postmoderns who contrast movements of the past. Jones gently outlines the transition from modern to postmodern, albeit with the “ad hoc” language of postmoderns.
The history of the emergent movement outlined in the book, including how noted leaders/pilgrims met, how they relate with each other, how they relate to contemporary, historical, and theological leaders, and how they navigate change, is very helpful to the late-comer to the movement and the conversation. Jones is honorable in the way he contrasts the stories of leaders of various emerging churches, their histories and their styles. Leaders from Augustine to Francis of Assisi, Barth to Schleiermacher, Descartes to Marx, Calvin to Grenz, and Moltmann to Lewis are referenced with respect, though with honest questions. I was particularly interested in Jones’ inferences to the writings of Murphy and Volf. Jones also refers to this movement’s relationship to the Gospel and Our Culture Network. As I have sought to find the seminal works and leaders of that movement, the name Hauerwas repeatedly turns up, as does Yoder. While I very much love the quote of John Howard Yoder on the wall at Jacob’s Well Church in Kansas City, MO, that “the visible church is not to be the bearer of Christ’s message, but to be the message.” (178), I am concerned that the GOCN and the emerging church movement may have been co-opted by the modern Anabaptist and pacifist theological position. I will continue to pay attention to the voices of this movement, especially those which counter-balance the valuable insights of Yoder and Hauerwas.
Reading “The New Christians” helped me see how much I already “swim” in this stream and how much I am already on the journey as an emergent. As a Youth With A Mission missionary, living within missional communities, working with and sharing life with the new Majority Church outside the West, and “feeding off the structures and theologies of traditional Christianity,” I have already moved into the “wilderness.” It is very likely that “attempts to redomesticate (me) will fail.” (220)”
0 of 1 members found this review helpful Hollywood Jesus wrote this review Monday, June 16 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“(06.14.08)”
Glenn wrote this review Saturday, June 14 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I'll let you know what I think when I'm done... I'm reading this book more for the reason of "being intrigued" than anything. I like to compare the Emergent Church Movement to sauerkraut...it has an interesting and intriguing taste, but nothing more; you can't make much of a meal from it.”
Mark S wrote this review Friday, March 7 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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