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Jesus Creed

Issue #5: Over-reactions in the Emergent movement The over-reactionary nature of some of its claims, especially about (a) modernism and postmodernism and (b) what modernist Christianity really believes. The reason this is a problem is because it resorts to false dichotomies and to simplistic comparisons. DA Carson’s book will help with this and I do…

Issue #4: The Subject’s grasp of the Object leads to chastened truth-claims Also, I don’t think DA Carson deals with the inevitable entailment of truth-claiming, namely, that even if we think the Scripture is Truth and Jesus Christ is Truth, we are still in need of dealing with our “articulation” of that Truth, and that…

Issue #6: Self-analysis or even self-deconstruction Is the Emergent movement largely white? largely post-Evangelical? If so, it needs to spread its wings and embrace the whole world. This is evidently an issue for some; DA Carson does not bring this up except in his stuff about it being reactionary.

Issue #8: Particularism One of the most exciting issues is also a potential problem; I have heard many speak of the “particularism” of the Emergent movement and by that mean that the gospel will manifest itself differently in each location – and I couldn’t agree more with Andrew Jones knowing that the Emergent movement in…

Issue #7: A strength with a weakness: permeable walls abounding I find the “permeable walls” (they are not strong, solid, or thick) of the Emergent movement a breath of fresh air. It reminds of Jesus’ table fellowship where people could be with him, could be near him, could sit down right next to him, and…

Issue #9: Great Traditions I like the Emergent focus on the Great Traditions, but robbing and stealing from them without taking into consideration contexts is no more than ornament. You can’t have Icons if you don’t have a theology of nature and revelation the way the Eastern Orthodox do; and you can’t have candles without…

Issue #10: Cultural usurpation My big problem ought to be obvious: the problem with Emergent alliance with postmodernism smacks of theological liberalism where the reigning ideology and idealisms of the day came to roost in the Church and eventually overwhelmed the Church and its gospel. There is always a danger of cultural usurpation when one…

Issue #12: Brian, what do you mean by this? Generous Orthodoxy, 35: “Beyond all these warnings, you should know that I am horribly unfair in this book, lacking all scholarly objectivity and evenhandedness. My own upbringing was way out on the end of one of the most conservative twigs of one of the most conservative…

Issue #11: What are we really preaching? What we preach is Jesus Christ, crucified, raised and the one who sent the Spirit. We don’t preach the spirit of the age; we preach to the spirit of the age from within and from without.

An Appreciation to Andrew Jones, the Tall Skinny Kiwi who opened the envelope for me I continue to learn from and support the many efforts of the Emergents because I think they have recognized the chastened humility that our humble efforts at theologizing ought to exhibit. They have learned this from the spirit of the…
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