emergent christianity

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benidict

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Hi i have seen this several times in peoples denominational identifier. Emergent Pentacostal, Emergent Baptist. what does Emergent mean? is it some “new” fad within christianity, or a movement of some sort? someone please correct my ignorance. Peace 🙂
 
Emergent Pentecostal here. 👋

It’s not so much a movement as a conversation centered around… well, I think rather than describe it, it’s best just to read some of the authors associated with it: Brian D. McLaren, Rob Bell and Donald E. Miller would be good to start with. And one critic who used to be involved with it is worthwhile too, Mark Driscoll. I’m afraid most other critics just don’t get it.

Actually, to introduce a distinction that’s fairly important to some of us: “Emergent” refers specifically to a group called the Emergent Village, which on the whole is pretty theologically liberal… which is why Driscoll disassociated himself from it. “Emerging church” is a term describing many of us, including Driscoll and myself, who share many ideas with the Emergent Village, but are typically more conservative. If I’m trying to be precise, I’ll call myself an “emerging church” person rather than an Emergent. “Emergent Pentecostal” is a fun sort of oxymoron though, sort of like “Liberal Fundamentalist”. :rotfl:
 
Izdaari said:
Emergent Pentecostal here. 👋

It’s not so much a movement as a conversation centered around… well, I think rather than describe it, it’s best just to read some of the authors associated with it: Brian D. McLaren, Rob Bell and Donald E. Miller would be good to start with. And one critic who used to be involved with it is worthwhile too, Mark Driscoll. I’m afraid most other critics just don’t get it.

Actually, to introduce a distinction that’s fairly important to some of us: “Emergent” refers specifically to a group called the Emergent Village, which on the whole is pretty theologically liberal… which is why Driscoll disassociated himself from it. “Emerging church” is a term describing many of us, including Driscoll and myself, who share many ideas with the Emergent Village, but are typically more conservative. If I’m trying to be precise, I’ll call myself an “emerging church” person rather than an Emergent. “Emergent Pentecostal” is a fun sort of oxymoron though, sort of like “Liberal Fundamentalist”. :rotfl:
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:rotfl: that is pretty good my friend. so what is their aim. is it to get back to their earlier roots? or take the Church into a new and different direction. this is interesting. love the oxymoron. its kinda like MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. lol! peace 🙂
 
benidict said:
:rotfl: that is pretty good my friend. so what is their aim. is it to get back to their earlier roots? or take the Church into a new and different direction. this is interesting. love the oxymoron. its kinda like MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. lol! peace 🙂
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I’d say it’s more of a restoration movement than anything, to break out of ways of “doing church” that are just modern tradition, not ancient tradition. And to try to break out of being locked into the modernist conceptual framework, which has distinct cultural and philosophical biases that warp our understanding of Christianity. Catholicism has something of an advantage over Protestantism there, having more of an anchor in pre-modern thinking, though Catholics may need some help with the post-modern side.
 
benidict said:
Hi i have seen this several times in peoples denominational identifier. Emergent Pentacostal, Emergent Baptist. what does Emergent mean? is it some “new” fad within christianity, or a movement of some sort? someone please correct my ignorance. Peace 🙂
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To be “emergent” is to see Christianity as a story to be lived, rather than a set of doctrines to intellectually be certain about.
 
Izdaari said:
I’d say it’s more of a restoration movement than anything, to break out of ways of “doing church” that are just modern tradition, not ancient tradition. And to try to break out of being locked into the modernist conceptual framework, which has distinct cultural and philosophical biases that warp our understanding of Christianity. Catholicism has something of an advantage over Protestantism there, having more of an anchor in pre-modern thinking, though Catholics may need some help with the post-modern side.
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wow! you got my head spinning 😃 so let me see if i got this right. is the movement, attempting to get back to their roots, as well as move forward? sorry if this sounds weird.:o Peace 🙂
 
It almost sounds like a marketing term to attract more people.

“We’re not Baptists, we’re Emergent Baptists!”

I guess if you don’t have the real presence, you need marketing to get people to goto your church.
 
Nullix said:
It almost sounds like a marketing term to attract more people.

“We’re not Baptists, we’re Emergent Baptists!”

I guess if you don’t have the real presence, you need marketing to get people to goto your church.
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it seems a little deeper than that my friend. but i take it, you believe its just the latest fad? such as the Jesus Freak movement of the 60s? or what i would be more familiar with. the “lets get radical for Jesus” movement of the 80s? im finding this a little more complex than both of those. Peace 🙂
 
To order one’s life towards living a faith one must be certain intellectually of it’s doctrins. Someone said that this movement is about living the Christian faith rather than being intellectually certain about doctrin. I think that statement needs refined. If that definition is accurate then it would be a movement that is not just intellectually certain about what is believed but makes what they believe real by allowing it to govern every act of their will during their daily lives

If that’s what it means I might be an ‘Emerging Catholic’ 😃
 
Benidict- I’ve been wondering that myself.

Izdaari- So, is it like, trying to move foward in the modern walk with Christ while respecting the pasts teachings and practices so as not to get bogged down within modern traditions?
 
benidict said:
wow! you got my head spinning 😃 so let me see if i got this right. is the movement, attempting to get back to their roots, as well as move forward? sorry if this sounds weird.:o Peace 🙂
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Yeah, kinda both. Sorry if it’s confusing. 😉

Like I said, probably the best thing is just to pick up a book by one of the authors I named. Either A Generous Orthodoxy or A New Kind of Christian, both by Brian D. McLaren, would be a good place to start.

And no, it’s not just a new way of marketing church. Most of us involved in the emergent conversation don’t have a church to market. Membership numbers don’t mean a thing to me, and actually I prefer a smaller church.
 
lilred5 said:
Benidict- I’ve been wondering that myself.

Izdaari- So, is it like, trying to move foward in the modern walk with Christ while respecting the pasts teachings and practices so as not to get bogged down within modern traditions?
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Yeah, that’s the general idea. Bearing in mind that the theology of those involved ranges all over the map, McLaren being almost a Jesus Seminar kind of liberal and Driscoll definitely conservative, Calvinist, and mildly charismatic. And it’s more about putting our beliefs into practical application than it is about doctrine.
 
Benadam said:
To order one’s life towards living a faith one must be certain intellectually of it’s doctrins. Someone said that this movement is about living the Christian faith rather than being intellectually certain about doctrin. I think that statement needs refined. If that definition is accurate then it would be a movement that is not just intellectually certain about what is believed but makes what they believe real by allowing it to govern every act of their will during their daily lives

If that’s what it means I might be an ‘Emerging Catholic’ 😃
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Actually, I think there are probably a lot of those. Catholicism does pretty well at walking the walk. 👍
 
Emergent Village …

It sounds like a sort of uber-ecumenical movement. There’s lots of indefinite language. It’s very inclusive, in the liberal political sense. It doesn’t say anything about supporting things like gay marriage, but the way it sounds, they might could find a niche for it.

I have Webster’s Unabridged, and it says “emergent” means:
  1. coming into view or notice; issuing.
  2. emerging; rising from a liquid or other surrounding medium.
  3. coming into existence, esp. with political independence: the emergent nations of Africa.
  4. arising casually or unexpectedly.
  5. calling for immediate action; urgent.
  6. Evolution. displaying emergence.
    –n.
  7. Ecol. an aquatic plant having its stem, leaves, etc., extending above the surface of the water.
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The only thing about me being Catholic that’s emergent is #5: I want to stay out of Hell! (Although you could add #4: I never expected to become a Catholic, and #2: I rose from the “surrounding medium” of generic Christianity.)

God bless all of us,

Ruthie

I am a blood bought, spirit taught, Bible totin’, scripture quotin’, Christ followin’, Christ swallowin’, born again, Catholic Christian believer!

Tiber Swim Team '06
HLS Club
 
benidict said:
Hi i have seen this several times in peoples denominational identifier. Emergent Pentacostal, Emergent Baptist. what does Emergent mean? is it some “new” fad within christianity, or a movement of some sort? someone please correct my ignorance. Peace 🙂
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To further confuse things, there seems to be a divide between people who call themselves “emergent” and “emerging”.

I have been to an “emergent church” service, also described by my friends as an “Acts 29” church. From my Catholic perspective, it appeared to be very like the non-denominational services I have seen, adding in liturgical dance, poetry, and Catholic “trappings” without the theology to ground them. …ie, communion went out of its way to look Catholic, but it was clear that no one there believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

I spoke with my friends later about how this disturbed me…that it appeared to be a movement that had unhinged tradition from meaning, and how it seemed to me that each person who declared “amen” on receiving the bread and wine was affirming a lie. Personally, I’m glad that my friends have moved on to another church. (partly because a woman was chosen as pastor soon after)

All that said, its my understanding that this is a rather loose movement, and not all emergent groups are the same in belief or practice.
 
I think I uderstand this movement’s thinking. Christian lives are not distinguishable from other lives because the practice of faith is internalized and limited to an intellectual ascent to doctrin. This is an invisiible faith. If the faith stressed acting on what is believed as the true meaning of the faith then the faith would become a visible reality and would be ‘emerging’ . As it is just believing is good eneough for most church goers.
 
benidict said:
Hi i have seen this several times in peoples denominational identifier. Emergent Pentacostal, Emergent Baptist. what does Emergent mean? is it some “new” fad within christianity, or a movement of some sort? someone please correct my ignorance. Peace 🙂
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I was wondering the very same thing…
 
Izdaari said:
I’d say it’s more of a restoration movement than anything, to break out of ways of “doing church” that are just modern tradition, not ancient tradition. And to try to break out of being locked into the modernist conceptual framework, which has distinct cultural and philosophical biases that warp our understanding of Christianity. Catholicism has something of an advantage over Protestantism there, having more of an anchor in pre-modern thinking, though Catholics may need some help with the post-modern side.
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Gaaak.

Look…I’m an English major, with degrees and teaching credentials, and can spout academese with the best of 'em. In terms of literature I can get as polysyllabic as the densest of them…but when I read the above paragraph, I wanted to go all Calvin and Hobbs on you. What the…???

Would you mind, please, explaining precisely what ‘emergent Christianity’ is? Use words of no more than three syllables, if possible?

You can begin by defining what ‘modernist’ thinking is in terms of Christianity, so that when you speak of pre-modern and post-modern philosophy, I’ll have some sort of gauge to measure such concepts by?

I’d appreciate it.

Diana…
 
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