The%20Emerging%20Church:

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The Emerging Church

• If the church were to begin today, what would it
  look like?

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• Characteristics
• 1. Metaphor of a Conversation.
• 2. Situational Beings
• 3. Liberty from the constraints/Values of
  Modernism
• 4. Sensitivity towards the postmodern
  critique.
• Proponents.
• Classroom Critique.

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B. General Characteristics 1 Metaphor of a
conversation

• Movement that may expressed in terms of the
  metaphor of a conversation. It is an
  experiential dialogue where people might create,
  discuss, explore, express, reflect, and worship
  without theological dogmatism, legalism,
  authoritarianism, and over- generalizations.
• It is a free-form conversation that embraces
  the whole individual, recognizing the
  uniqueness of every person and their
  giftedness/contribution to the community
  experience of living worship.

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2 Situational Beings

• Experiential Christianity because human are
  situated beings. In terms of metaphysics, it
  is a pragmatism of sorts (transactional
  experience)
• Sensitivity to cultural context.
• Criticism towards Archimedean objectivity.
• Embrace of cultural accommodation in relating
  theological-religious expressions in a
  situational setting.
• Emphasis on living community
• Appeciation of theological diversity within
  Christianity.

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3. Liberty from Modernism (whether secular or
Christian)

• Liberty from the following
• 1. Essentialistic, categorical language,
  authority, and meaning (e.g., Seeker-Sensitive
  Movement Covenant Theology Theological
  Systems). Rather, they embrace collective
  narratives of belief. They seek expression
  without definition.
• 2. Authoritarianism whether it is church
  mores, polity, and theology (e.g., authoritarian
  pastors who claim to have final answers, who
  see things as they really are or the
  authority of traditions We have always done it
  this way and so all other ways are wrong).
• 3. Ecclesiastical, experiential, theological,
  and worship stagnation (e.g., theology is
  developmental, never catechetical).
• 4. Individualism (e.g., you are not an isolated
  Christian you need the community).

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4. Sensitive to the postmodern critique

• Skepticism towards epistemic certainty. To be
  sure, they are not radical postmodernists (who
  negate meaning). Rather, they redefine
  epistemological methodology , adopting a dualism
  of sorts that combines religious beliefs/values
  with a post-structural reaction in a situational
  context (transactional experience).
• Emphasis on De-centering.
• Rejection of Archimedean Authority
• Rejection of the isolated individual
• Appreciation of diversity within a community of
  believers.
• Emphasis on community and plurality of expression.

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C. Proponents

• Some of the major proponents (diverse cluster of
  people) include the following (this is list is
  not exhaustive)
• Brian McClaren, A Generous Orthodoxy Why I am
  a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant,
  Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poet, Biblical,
  Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvini
  st/ Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic,
  Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful,
  Emergent, Unfinished Christian.
• Tony Jones Doug Pagitt, An Emergent Manifesto
  of Hope
• Donald E. Miller, Searching for God Knows What
• Leonard Sweet, Post-Modern Pilgrims Ibid.,
  Church in Emerging Culture Five Perspectives.
• Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis Repainting the
  Christian Faith.

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C. Classroom Critique

• In an effort to become culturally relevant, is
  there the danger of biblical truth becoming
  irrelevant?
• In what ways does the emerging church correlate
  with the liberalism of the 19th-20th centuries?

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C. Classroom Critique

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