Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications

Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications | D. A. Carson | This Book Accompoishes Its Goal, Which Is To Help One Be More Familiar With The Emergent Church Movement

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Becoming Conversan...

	Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications D. A. Carson Zondervan, 2005 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 47 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A perceptive evaluation of the new ?emerging church? movement showing how we must not only interact with a fast-changing culture but also have our vision and practice of ministry shaped by biblical theology with Scripture as the norm.

A Critical but Fair Evaluation of the Emerging Church

This is essential reading for anyone on the outside looking in that wants to know more about the "Emerging Church." Dr. Carson explains what the "Emerging Church" is and explains it's philosophical foundation, postmodernism. He then presents both the strengths and weaknesses of the movement in a fair way. This book made me think and helped make it clear why I have felt so uneasy about aspects of this movement.

To sum things up, the "Emerging Church" is very good at providing context, understanding culture, and reaching previously unreached segments of society. The movement however resists objective truth, which ensures that their treatment of the Gospel message is extremely problematic.

The only warning is that this book is very academic (I found myself reading this with a dictionary alongside). This is not your typical light Christian reading.

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This Book Accompoishes Its Goal, Which Is To Help One Be More Familiar With The Emergent Church Movement

Three months ago, I was at a Q&A session at Southern Theological Seminary, and the panel, which included Seminary President Dr. Albert Moehler, was asked about the Emerging Church Movement. Moehler commented that to some churches, replacing the piano and organ with a praise band is being emergent. Others claim that title because they are legitimately disillusioned with the traditional church. Still others latch on to this movement because of a heart of evangelism to today's society. He had no problem with these; his problem is when it affects doctrine. One of the other panelists recommended this book.

One thing I look for in reading a book is how broad a brush the writer uses. Does he put everyone in the same category, or does he identify the variations and praise the good as well as criticize what isn't? Dr. Carson succeeds at this, though one improvement would be to use this later in the book just as a reminder. He points out that the movement is so varied that neither his praises or his problems apply to every emergent church.

He has an orderly and logical progression to his book, moving from defining the movement, praising its strengths (which he points out that are not exclusive to the movement), and then moving to its criticisms, with a parenthetical introduction to post-moderninsm and its relation to this movement.

The bottom line is that this movement has a problem with truth. Every other shortcoming is tied in to this. Carson deals with the problems in the movement as a whole and in two representative books by perceived leaders of the group, before pointing out what Scripture has to say about it.

Is this the best book on the movement? Having read only one, I cannot answer the question. Do I recommend this book? Yes. It is a great introduction, though it requires you wear your thinking cap when reading it; it took me a while to work through some sections because of its depth.

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Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church

There are many in our society today who are dissatisfied with the traditional church; too dull, not enough excitement, want to feel good when I leave on Sunday. In an effort to try to understand what this new emerging church is and how or if they are true to scripture I selected this book. D. A. Carson has given a thoughtful and frank assessment of this new movement. Just learning what the terms emerging and or emergent are was quite insightful.

The answer lies in the middle

What I find interesting is that I was actually driven by watching the debate on this book to read McLaren's book "A Generous Orthodoxy" prior to reading this one as I thought the debate was a riveting one. Having read both books, I have to say that I feel McLaren has been much maligned in the characterization of that DA Carson makes of his work. That is not to say that some of his assertions are not valid in regards to areas of the emerging church.
Many of Dr. Carson assertions are quite valid. It has been my personal experience that many emergent churches (several I have visited or attended) do seem to struggle with a watering down of the Gospel through offering services about being a better you and other self help style sermons that can sometimes remove the focus on God. Many struggle with, as Carson put it, "a shallow" view of faith that often borders on a selfish pursuit by these christians of a "prosperity gospel" that portrays God as a cosmic slot machine for believing. Prayer goes in -- red corvette and wealth come out. There is truth to a tendency of these groups towards a "feel good" and "non offensive, political correct, and an all encompassing tolerance that rubberstamps all divergent beliefs&

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