The New Christians – Dispatches From The Emergent Frontier
Jossey-Bass Publishers
“The truth? You can’t handle the truth!” raged Jack Nicholson in the face of Tom Cruise in the movie A Few Good Men. With this book, Tony Jones will become the foremost voice for the emergent movement in the U.S. along with his friend and mentor, Brian McLaren. Frankly, I’d follow either of these two guys into the ongoing revolution that Tony aptly describes in The New Christians – Dispatches From The Emerging Frontier.
Intellectually nimble, culturally savvy, well-grounded in the reality of living the everyday, and theologically equipped, Jones writes from the gritty reality of his day-to-day experience on the front lines of faith. This is distinctly not a book written by a remote observer, located on a bluff, ensconced safely within the confines of some sort of fortified bunker or ivory tower.
Jones writes from his experience inside the foxholes on the front lines of God’s ongoing battle for the human heart in the 21st century. You may disagree with his dispatches. They may confuse, confound or even enrage you. Some will not like what they hear from Tony. For others, suffering from battle-fatigue acquired from years of silently suffering from the festering wounds of unspoken questions inflicted by living in the paradox of the faith-life wars, Tony’s observations will provide the coordinates to a new place, a hopeful place, where combatants can rest, lay down their arms, recuperate and regenerate. For the AWOL among us, it’s an invitation to come home — to a new home — to come as you are to a place, a people, who are dedicated to a preserving a new, emergent way of living this life with Jesus.
Listen to Jones: “It’s just that the gospel cannot possibly be commodified into “Forty Days of Purpose” (as Warren himself has admitted). People may want their gospel in 40 days, but the gospel cannot be packaged, and its calling on a human life cannot possibly be completed (or even figured out) in six weeks.” p. 37. (Finally, somebody finally had the guts to write this critical fact other than me!).
Yet, his communiqués are real. For the shell-shocked, Tony’s book is bound to cause you to recall the tragedies that you have suffered in life, in church, with Christians, in relationships and in community — Perhaps even how Christians, somebody else’s Jesus or church has disappointed you. He doesn’t stop there though.
Once again, Listen to Tony: “Too much thin theology is responsible for far too many Christians who practice the faith in ways that are a mile wide and an inch deep. The hope of emergents, their ministry, their message is, more than anything, a call for a reinvigoration of Christian theology — not in the ivory towers, not even in pulpits and pews, but on the street.” p. 105.
If you’ve given up on God, Christians, Christianity or the Church, if you’re considering fleeing the Christian life, or pondering what it might mean to explore the possibility of coming into relationship with The New Christians — Tony has great news for you – you have loads of company. They’re out there…You’re not alone.
In his Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier, Tony Jones shares the truth about the emergent opportunity that is alive and well. Yes, it’s really true. Can you handle the truth?
The choice is yours. Believe me. Buy this book. The truth? You tell me when you’ve finished it.
“Incoming!!!”………
I’m sorry – I could only read the first ten pages – I don’t feel the need to defend the Episcopal church but if one speaks the truth, then one needs to get one’s facts together first and foremost. I don’t buy into the myth that the mainline church is DOA and that the emergent church is the church of the 20th century. Nor do I buy into the US centric vision when in fact, forms of alt. w. and emerging church (a term now abandoned by global leaders) have been transpiring across the pond for decades. The emergent church ™ is akin to disco circa 1980 – you might sell some product to the suburbs but the true pioneers have left the building.
Becky – As an author, you have to admit that by reading the first ten pages, you have jumped to a premature conclusion about this book. Your concerns over Emergent and things emerging are well known. As I have said to you, this book is a more intellectual approach to the subject than most other books. I really enjoyed this book. However, the end result was that it made me pause and seriously reconsider a number of things that were troubling me about the emergent thing (and my personal place in all that). That’s a good thing. I took a sabbatical for a year and have come out in a vastly better place. I really enjoy Tony as a person, a thinker, and an author. I thought this book was very well done —- that doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything the author wrote….read the entire book. Perhaps it will shed some light on some things for you, as it did for me.
Actually, we have to agree to disagree here – I get far too many books handed to me for me to even attempt to read them from cover to cover. So, I read the intro of a book and if the premise holds my attention, then I continue reading the book. If not, then I move on. And if I find the book loaded with inaccuracies (evangelicals often depict mainliners inaccurately and vice versa), then I definitely don’t proceed further – I don’t need to have my blood pressure lifted anymore. Life’s too short.
Actually I’m very supportive of what’s happening beyond our borders – I can’t wait to see what Andrew Jones discovers on his tour for instance. I just wish we in the US would rid ourselves of missional myopia and commercialization that has come to define a segment of US Emergent Church ™. – and it’s all kind of silly – Emergent Church isn’t the church of the 21st century – in fact, being branded an Emergent/Emergence/Emerging Church author/speaker is like being a disco king circa 1980 – you’ll sell a few copies but by 1980 the real pioneers had moved on to what now become hip-hop – and that’s where my interest lies – where is the spirit today? Call it whatever you want but don’t brand the sucker because when you do that, you lost it.
I have to wonder what Jesus thinks of all this.
Tony Jones’ book “The New Christians” is an outstanding history and overview of the Emergent Church movement. Jones is obviously a clear and compelling writer. He also brings up many important things to consider for the future of the Church. But it was hard to read past the negative and inaccurate characterization of Mainline Christianity in general and the United Church of Christ in particular.
In the first chapter of his book, Jones attempts to set up a dichotomy between conservative Christians (via the Southern Baptist Convention) and liberal Christians (via the United Church of Christ). He then implies that these two denominations represent the extremes of Christianity. The SBC being at the far right and the UCC being at the far left. Jones also says that this SBC-UCC dichotomy represents “Conventional Christianity” that has grown stagnant, ineffective, and irrelevant. He then suggests that the Emergent Church represents a “New Christianity” that is fresh, capable, and relevant. The implied message is that the Emergent Church is the movement that has been able to transcend the conservative-liberal dualism and form something radically different.
The problem with this argument is that it’s an oversimplified description and false dichotomy. For example, Jones commented on “the silly television ads from the liberal United Church of Christ.” This comment is a misunderstanding of the purpose and meaning of the commercials. The “bouncer ad” (which Jones mentions) was one of many different ads used in the UCC’s TV ad campaign. All the ads have different themes and ways of communicating, so it’s not possible to describe them with one simple, flippant description. As Bill Moyers says, we must “beware of the great oversimplifiers.” Nuance is always important because things are always more complex than our initial impressions reflect. Plus, for Jones to name something as “silly,” is dismissive, unhelpful rhetoric for Christian dialogue.
As another example, Jones said the UCC was a “notoriously left-leaning denomination.” This label is a gross misrepresentation of the UCC, since the denomination is represented by a vast array of theological perspectives. The UCC is a postmodern denomination that is made up of a diversity of the polities, theologies, perspectives, and peoples from many different contexts: Evangelical, Reform, Congregational, Frontier Christian, Black Church, Rural America, Feminist, Womanist, Queer, etc. So, the UCC is a multiform denomination that seeks unity in it’s diversity. It’s not an ideological denomination that imposes any one agenda. It’s not accurate to label the UCC as a “notoriously left-leaning denomination.” A better description might be to label it a “notoriously ‘big tent’ denomination.”
Real life is too complex for labels. But we need to use them in order to make sense of things and engage in conversation. The important thing is to use labels in a careful, prayerful, and mindful way. And to realize that all labels fail to perfectly describe anything or anyone perfectly. So, the flippant way in which Jones used labels in his book seemed inaccurate and unproductive.
I’m writing this note because I care about helping to foster a productive dialogue between the Mainline Church and the Emergent Church. Hopefully we can communicate more clearly and fairly in the future. We both have important things to learn from one another.
May a “generative friendship” continue to develop and grow between all of us missional Christians!