This is my favorite part of the article, here the author is describing how Emergent is a combination of people coming from the evangelical and mainline worlds:
This is why I read emergent blogs, why I hang around the edges of this movement (ah - the dreaded word! :) ). I don't want to be a part of any more "movements"... been there, done that...These affinities grew out of a common desire to get beyond “liberal” and “conservative” ways of thinking about scripture, mission and theology. “When you have a liberal way of being a Christian and a conservative way of being a Christian that are both modern, and modernity is over,” McLaren reasons, “you’ve got to find another way of being a Christian.”
Emergent evangelicals had bumped up against the limits of what George Lindbeck has called their “cognitive-propositional” approach to doctrine—faith as assent to propositional truths—but unlike earlier generations they no longer believed their only other option was to become traditionally “liberal.” Postliberalism, with its emphasis on culture and language, narrative and community, character and virtue, opened possibilities for being theologically serious and doctrinally orthodox while avoiding the restrictive biblicism of the evangelical world.
From the late 70's to the early 90's, my involvement in various Vineyards was central to my life. We were a part of what "God was doing", trailblazing, changing the world. So much of the language I read in emergent conversations are like word-for-word repeats of the conversations we had in the early 80's, things like "leaving behind the empty irrelevance of the mainline church's worship music". Only now a days, these conversations often seem to be from people about the same age we were 20 years ago, and they're referring to the music that came out of the same impulse 20 years earlier.
This seems natural to me, actually, no big deal. And I'm sure there are deeper differences that I'm wildly glossing over here, including the belief by many that we have entered a "postmodern" age, which is significantly different than the "modern" age. I respect this scholarship, but I still have no desire to jump into another adrenaline rush rapids of being a part of "the next new thing".
What is energizing my spiritual life now, though, is how this largely (for me) online conversation has exposed me to a faith story that honors both my heart and my brain, and that honors the diversity of faith traditions of those who call on the name of Jesus. I like this "post-" era; I am drawn, like a moth to the light, to the concept that there might be a way of believing that moves beyond old dichotomies and looks for the fingerprints of God at work in many different traditions.
1 comment:
Chris - You have put into words why I lurk around the emergent stuff, but rarely go in. I, too, was a part of the Vineyard in the mid '80's, before that my older siblings were part of the Jesus people movement, and my parents were part of the Charismatic movement of the Roman catholic church in the late 1960's-1970's. The paradigm shift for them had very much a postmodern texture and feel - the conversation wearies me though, and brings up the angst of living through my parents community falling apart, and then the Vineyard I was a part of falling apart too. I'm starting to realize that is part of why I attend Quaker meeting - I want the roots, and I want the freedom of a faith fellowship that has always believed in the priesthood and dignity of all peoples. Native American, African American, female....I'm just starting to understand and honor my journey in this area. Thanks for letting me know I am not alone.
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