Meet Trucker Frank: Part 4
Here’s the fourth video of Tony Jones talking to Trucker Frank (and others along the way):
Watch the third installment of Tony Jones and Trucker Frank
Watch the second installment of Tony Jones and Trucker Frank
Weekly Emerging Women Round-up - 5/9/2008
By Julie Clawson, cross-posted from the Emerging Women blog:
So this is turning into a bi-weekly round-up … But there are some great posts out there right now from (and about) Emerging Women. Check them out, join the conversations, and enjoy!
Jan examines our willingness to share the indiscretions of our past (and how that relates to gender) in her post The Secret Life of Moms.
Sally shares her thoughts as she prepares for Mothering Sunday.
Lisa explores the different forms of justice.
Heather questions what it means to take ones faith to the next level.
Anne looks at the nature of disenfranchised grief.
I (Julie) reflect on if Christians should apologize for our communal sins.
And this has been an interesting week for bloggers to examine issues related to gender and women in ministry. A few conversations to check out –
Jenell Paris has created a (so-far) seven part series on the topic. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Eugene Cho addresses the Biblical defense of women in ministry.
and Rose Madrid-Swetman writes on the need to change power structures in the church to give women more access to leadership.
The Emerging Conversation ... In Judaism
The January 16-17, 2006, gathering of Synagogue 3000 was captured on video, and that video has now been posted online:
Emergent Christian participants were Ryan Bolger, Troy Bronsink, Dwight Friesen, Tony Jones, Tim Keel, Doug Pagitt, and Dieter Zander—some of whom appear in this edited video.
The “blog facilitator” at Out of Ur writes, “The presence of ‘Emergents’ in two major world religions, and the cooperation of the two groups together, elicits a few questions in my mind:
- For the critics of the Emergent movement: does the development of the Jewish Emergent movement indicate that the Christian Emergents are on to something? That is, does an analogous response from adherents of another religion validate the emergent impulse? If the emergent movement is not a strictly religious phenomenon, but is a cultural one with religious implications, what can traditional churches do to keep up with the times?
- For proponents of the Emergent movement: what is implied by the fact that Emergent conversation leaders seem more willing to work cooperatively with ‘emergent’ adherents of other religions than traditionalist or ‘Reformed’ Christians? Is the emergent label of greater concern to them than the Christian one?
- If Jewish Emergents can operate within the institution, why can’t Christian Emergents? Can institutional churches and emergent ones benefit from a collegial relationship with one another?”
Previously: Shawn Landres on “Emergent” and “Emerging”
Emerging Down Under
Two interesting book items from “down under” this week:
Duncan Macleod at Postkiwi.com (from New Zealand, now living in Australia) has an excellent review of Doug Pagitt’s forthcoming book A Christianity Worth Believing (due out June 2): “Doug takes us on a journey with him as he reimagines what Christianity might be about. He introduces us to contextualisation through the Celtic adoption of the wild goose when talking about the Holy Spirit (rather than the traditional dove). He traces the modern obsession with uniformity back to the Greco-Roman adoption of Christianity in the time of Constantine. Today, he says, we’re still interpreting the story of Jesus through the lenses developed for a world dominated by Greek dualism and gods that needed to be appeased. ...
“As much as Doug’s book is about belief, I get the sense that he’s presenting us with a Christianity worth living and worth sharing.”
AusJenny alerted me to Tony Campolo’s latest Red Letter Christians: A Citizen’s Guide to Faith and Politics.
Related: These aren’t from this week, but here’s a few more items of interest …
A new book came out recently entitled Emerging Downunder by Ray Simpson and Brent Lyons Lee (ATF Press), which explores “worldwide conversations about ‘emerging church’ and ‘new monasticism’ and applied it to a ‘downunder’ context.” The foreword by Tim Costello and the introduction are available as a PDF download. According to Amazon, the book won’t be out in the U.S. until September. (HT: Matt Stone)
Nick Fiedler is a USAmerican living in Brisbane, Australia, and he wrote recently about “What Can Emerging Communities Learn from Abroad?”
In response to Tony Jones’ post on “emerging/Emergent,” emergent kiwi Steve Taylor offers his response, as well as three interesting constructive ideas (see the comments section). Anyone willing/able to take on the EmergentTrainManifesto idea? The domain names are available. Which reminds me of Thomas Knoll’s “Emerging Stories” project, which (as of 5/9/2008) still needs four more contributors ...
New Phyllis Tickle Interview
Zach Roberts has a new audio interview with Phyllis Tickle up today over at the Dogwood Abbey website. In it, Tickle talks primarily about spiritual practices.
Rose Marie Berger has a post up this morning on the God’s Politics blog talking about Tickle’s upcoming book The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why. Berger writes, “Emerging Christianity, posits Tickle, brings together — rather than divides — the best practices of the Christian traditions, practices that have been divided in the church and held within denominations for 500 years. It also looks back at ancient church practices and tries to apply them in fresh ways in the post-modern era.”
Berger points to Brian McLaren, Rowan Williams, Karen Ward (of Anglimergent), the New Monastics, and the Sojourners community as other examples of those “who are keeping our rosebush tended.” (Note: You probably have to understand Tickle’s presentation on the “great emergence” to get the rose reference.)
UPDATE 5/9/2008: There is a rumored “Great Emergence” event being organized in Tickle’s hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, for the weekend of December 5-6. More details to follow …
Pray for Myanmar - And Donate Toward Aid If You Can
In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, the death toll in Myanmar is now estimated to exceed over 100,000 people—and another 2 million have been displaced.
The EmergingUMC blog points us to a Prayers for Myanmar site that has been set up by the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church. The site states, “Nations and international aid organizations are offering support of many kinds, but to date it appears that the only aid being distributed is what already exists in the nation from groups that were already on the ground.
“There is much to pray for, much to seek God’s deliverance to address. This is a place for you to offer prayers, litanies, hopes, and other forms of intercession … with all who are suffering, all who are seeking to help, and all who may stand in the way.” Post a prayer for Myanmar now.
Euguene Cho, who visited Myanmar less than two years ago, writes, “As Christians pray, this is one of those situations where we must join the global community to bring resources and aid. Please help spread the word for both prayer and aid. The situation is far worse that what people imagined it would be when they initially heard about the cyclone. And I suspect that it is actually even worse than what we are now speculating.”
Cho’s church, Quest in Seattle, is collecting donations for partner missions/organizations working in Myanmar, as well as, through the Covenant Church denomination.
Satellite Images Showing the Devastation in Myanmar:
(Source: NASA)
Joel Vestal, founder of ServLife, is encouraging people to donate to Asia Heartbeat, which provides free medical care to 50+ orphanages in Myanmar. Dr. Bill Greiser of Asia Heartbeat writes, “This disaster is worse than hurricane Katrina because Myanmar has no reserves, no emergency response capability and negligible outside assistance. Food scarcity is a very real concern. ... It is my hope that we can raise $30,000 to provide for these critical needs in the orphanages and homes with whom we are connected.”
Previously: Burma Must Change
UPDATE 5/8/2008: Christine Sine writes, “Why does God allow events like this that sweep away Christians and non-Christians alike? I don’t know. The verse I continually return to is Lamentations 3:31-33, ‘For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.’
“My prayer is that God’s love and compassion will be poured out on the nation of Myanmar today and throughout the coming months and that out of this terrible pain and suffering God may bring hope and wholeness.”
Whither "Evangelicalism"?
[Note: Not everyone in Emergent Village would self-identify as being “evangelical,” so this mega-post will be viewed by some as being rather irrelevant. For others who were raised evangelical, like myself, this is a very real part of the emerging church conversation.]
Today’s announcement by some prominent evangelical leaders—such as Os Guinness (Trinity Forum), Richard Mouw (Fuller Seminary), David Neff (Christianity Today), and others—of a new “Evangelical Manifesto” raises the question once again of what it really means to be “evangelical” and what the implications of that might be.
The 20-page “Evangelical Manifesto” states, “Reformers, we ourselves need to be reformed. Protestants, we are the ones against whom protest must be made. ... We speak only for ourselves, yet not only to ourselves. We therefore invite all our fellow-Christians, our fellow-citizens, and people of different faiths across the nation and around the world to take serious note of these declarations and to respond where appropriate” (emphasis in the original).
Among the charter signatories are Miroslav Volf, Jim Wallis, Ron Sider, Eric Metaxas, John Ortberg, Stephen Strang (Charisma magazine), Bob Buford (Leadership Network), and 60+ others.
Helen Mildenhall has already responded, “I haven’t read it all yet—it’s long—but from what I’ve seen and heard so far I think it’s a step in a positive direction.”
Justin Taylor has posted his own summary of the document and writes, “It’s an imperfect but nevertheless (in my opinion) remarkable document that deserves serious attention. The press has latched on to the political dimension of the document, but the critique of theological liberalism is much more extensive and pointed.”
Watch for others in the emerging church blogosphere to chime in. I’ll try to post updates at the bottom of this post as those come online.
Here are some of the other voices in and around the discussion of what it means to be “evangelical”:
Tim Keller: What is an Evangelical?
Speaking at the EMA conference in the UK last year, Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City, addressed the question of “What is an evangelical?” and offered three “evangelical essentials”:
- “the final full authority and clarity of Scripture (the formal cause, the idea)”
- “the gospel — that salvation is by sheer grace alone through faith alone in the substitutionary work of Christ alone (the material cause, the raw material)”
- “in a life of repentance — repentance as a life and not as a one-time event (the efficient cause, the means)”
According to Darryl Dash, “I think it’s Keller who has said elsewhere that we’re still waiting for a Gospel movement that includes both a focus on the trajectory of the gospel (a renewed material creation) and the means (sheer grace, not works).” He quotes Keller: “One of the biggest problems we’ve got is that the older evangelicals are really great at the second aspect of the gospel. The newer younger evangelicals are fairly good at the first. But I don’t know yet of a movement that seems to be bringing these together properly.”
Noting the lack of gender and non-Calvinist diversity at the “Together for the Gospel” conference, Dash asks, “Is a Gospel movement possible that allows diversity in these areas of doctrine within the broader evangelical movement? ... I still have hopes for a wider evangelical coming-together around the Gospel.”
The Myth of Evangelical Political Engagement
Not everyone is convinced that the evangelical movement has been co-opted by one political party and/or ideology. Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost writes, “Rather than assuming that evangelicals are a large, powerful, committed political bloc that, for some inexplicable reason, is completely ineffective, the more realistic conclusion is that politically engaged evangelicals are like a herd of unicorns: powerful and abundant in the imagination while not actually existing in the real world.”
So is the “Evangelical Manifesto” based on misplaced concerns? Some will no doubt be arguing that point.
Interview with Christine Wicker, author of The Fall of the Evangelical Nation
“Sources kept telling me that the evangelical movement was in trouble. But evangelicals have always cried wolf, and I didn’t believe them. Then the results of the Southern Baptist Million Baptism Campaign came in. The Baptists spent more than a million dollars, did a big national road trip and walked neighborhoods all over the country. But they baptized fewer people than the year before.
“That forced me to re-consider something else I’d learned but left out of my book. A megachurch consultant had given me pretty good proof that megachurches are facing big trouble. I put the million baptism failure and the megachurch troubles together and started digging.
“It was all there. Most of it gathered by evangelical churches themselves. Just waiting for someone to look for it.”
View a preview of Wicker’s statistics showing the evangelical slide
Yes, Nominal Evangelicals Exist
Christianity Today editors write, “Our neighborhoods—and churches—are full of nominal Christians, even nominal evangelicals, who still need conversion. Evangelical is not a synonym for ‘committed Christian.’ There is a massive difference in behavior and belief between those who affiliate with evangelical churches and those who actually attend them. ...
”[Christine] Wicker thinks it’s a scandal that the megachurches are full of uncommitted Christians. The megachurches think it’s an opportunity.
“Wicker, a former Southern Baptist, grounds her book in far too many false assumptions. Perhaps her worst is thinking that evangelicals are calling their neighbors to become evangelicals. We’d rather call them—and ourselves—to become better disciples of Jesus.”
Evangelical Cizik Among Time’s 100 Most Influential People
The subtext to this recent news story is that Cizik survived a very public attempt to oust him from the National Association of Evangelicals a year ago, which was led by James Dobson and others. The attempt failed, and the influence of Dobson and other dissenters in the NAE has seemingly waned—while Cizik’s influence has risen, marked most poignantly by this TIME magazine feature.
Tellingly, Dobson and other conservative evangelicals such as Richard Land, head of the public policy arm for the Southern Baptist Convention, were apparently not asked to sign the “Evangelical Manifesto.” Then again, Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and Doug Pagitt all confirmed to me that they were not asked to sign it either.
Previously:
The Emerging Critique of Evangelicalism
UPDATE: This is not directly “Evangelical Manifesto”-related, but I thought it does add another interesting perspective on the relationship of evangelicals to the broader culture. John Marks, co-creator of Purple State of Mind and author of Reasons to Believe, writes about his recent experience at the Wheaton College/Billy Graham Center “Evangelism Roundtable” discussion of “Imagination and the Gospel”: “When it comes to participation in and creation of American popular culture, the consensus seemed to be, evangelical Christians are being left behind, and they know it all too well. ... [But] there is ferment among the evangelicals. ... In a quiet conversation being held in churches and conferences and seminaries around the country, barely audible as of yet, the hunger to break out of accepted molds of thought and action is growing. The effort to end the long ghettoization of the Christian mind has begun. Whether secular America will offer itself as a partner in this conversation remains to be seen.”
UPDATE: More responses to “An Evangelical Manifesto”:
James K.A. Smith writes on the Generous Orthodoxy blog, “In general, I think it rightly criticizes trends on both left and right, and problems both internal to evangelicalism as well as external challenges (e.g., the public policy impact if the “new atheism” gained a foothold). ... On the other hand, I find it a strange document.” Smith outlines six “strange” points and concludes, “Do we need an ‘Evangelical’ Manifesto? Is it ‘important’ to ‘keep the term?’ I remain unconvinced, particularly if keeping the ‘distinctives’ of ‘Evangelical’ means buying into some rather simplistic hermeneutical moves.”
Jim Wallis explains his endorsement of the “Evangelical Manifesto” over on the God’s Politics blog, “We have a serious image problem. People think that we should stand for the same things as Jesus did. So it’s time to change the image. A substantial group of evangelical leaders are trying to do just that. ... I very much affirm the views expressed in the manifesto and was happy to accept an invitation to be one of the charter signatories.”
UPDATE 5/8/2008: The Everyday Liturgy blog outlines seven “good” points about the “Evangelical Manifesto” and five “bad” points. It also ties the “Evangelical Manifesto” into a discussion of the “equity system” outlined in Brian McLaren’s Everything Must Change.
UPDATE 5/9/2008: James K.A. Smith takes another look at the “Evangelical Manifesto” and concludes: “Such definitions define ‘Evangelical’ by what evangelicals THINK and BELIEVE, rather than what they DO. That, I think, reflects just the sort of modernism that gives us evangelicalism (and fundamentalism) in the first place. ... When it comes to this elusive thing called ‘evangelicalism’ it seems like you can only know them by their documents. I think this reflects a modernist conception of doctrine as prior to liturgy, whereas I think the wisdom of tradition points to the priority of liturgy to doctrine. So, no, I didn’t sign it and won’t.”
In other news, a new survey performed by LifeWay Research (affiliated with the Southern Baptist denomination) found that just over half of people (52%) said they disagreed with the statement, “I am concerned that at times Christians are too involved in politics.” Less than half (44%) somewhat or strongly agreed with the statement.
Ed Stetzer, the director of LifeWay Research, is quoted as saying, ”[I]n regards to public policy, it is a both/and, not either/or. You cannot stand for justice and be told you cannot speak of Jesus, nor can you love God and His Word and not care for unborn children, the abused, and social justice. ... Christians need to speak prophetically to all parties, not be beholden to one. If evangelicals are seen as a voting bloc of the Republican Party, I am concerned. If Christians are told to leave their faith outside the public square, I am more concerned.”
Justin Taylor has posted a round-up of his own on the “Evangelical Manifesto.” He quotes Alan Jacobs, Denny Burk, and Joe Carter, who blames “the elite media” for politicizing the term “evangelical.”
UPDATE 5/12/2008: I wasn’t going to post any more updates to this, but I think now that Al Mohler and JesusManifesto.com have both weighed in on the “Evangelical Manifesto,” it is now safe to close the books on it here. Or at least, on this particular post. Future updates will get their own post.
Mohler says, “I admire so much of what this document states and represents, but I cannot accept it as a whole.”
Michael Kline says, “Most of the attitudes and actions listed seem to be aimed at the more Fundamentalist side of Christianity. This leads me to believe that one major aim of the document is to place further separation between Evangelicals and those political Fundamentalists that are still getting all the press.”
In addition, Eugene Cho has some good links, and I let Chad Crawford have the last word (at least on this post): “If we do have a supreme leader, it is the one we profess to follow, and though we have the courage to be so bold as to try, we know individually we fail to proclaim his full message of salvation.
“All of us together, on every continent, illuminating different parts of the good news, as the body of Christ, reveal the fullness of the gospel, but only in glimpses.”
Anthony Smith on the Blues, Race, Religion, and Politics
The discussion of “Race and the Emerging Church” may have dropped off the homepage of emergentvillage.com, but it certainly shouldn’t drop off our theological and ecclesiological radars.
In a new interview posted today, Anthony Smith (a.k.a. Postmodern Negro, who was featured in Tony Jones’ book The New Christians) talks with Tripp Fuller and Chad Crawford about a wide range of subjects, including: what it means to be a “blues people” (his topic at this summer’s Cornerstone Festival), who he’s voting for today in the North Carolina primary (and why), his affinity for the “Hauerwasian mafia”, what he loves about Emergent Village, how to address “racial imperialism” in the Church, and more.
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