Tony Jones Rocks!

After seeing this clip of Tony discussing the term "born again" with a reformed pastor and critic of Emergent, I'm more convinced that I like Tony Jones. He just made my list of top 20 people I'd like to have a beer with. Not only does Tony make wonderful points about some big problems with reformed theology, he also managed not to be an asshole in the process. That really earned my respect. I wish I could do that. I'm simply not an effective communicator and I am not nearly as cool as Tony in the heat of a debate. I have this type of conversation all the time and it never ends up this cordial. Maybe having a camera in the room helps keep the conversation more civil. Then again, maybe I'm just an asshole.

The clip below is part 3 of 3. The first 2 parts have some better debate and you can find those other clips on YouTube if you are interested, but I thought Tony's answer about being born again at the end of this clip is an Emergent classic. Rock on Tony!

Is Emergent Christianity DOA?

Bishop John Shelby Spong’s makes an important observation about our faith in the title of his best selling book “Christianity Must Change or Die”. Emergent could be a catalyst for the change that saves our religion. On the other hand, Emergent could become a fleeting fad if it refuses to make real change due to our apprehension about asking hard theological questions. I have a few questions for our movement. As the Emergent movement dips its toe in the water of higher biblical criticism, will we stand shivering on the shore in fear of taking the big plunge? If Emergent begins this journey by marking certain topics out of bounds based on the fear of going too far, will we be destined to fizzle like a flat bottle of soda?

I’ve been involved in this emergent conversation for several years, but I’m constantly learning more about the movement. Recently, I’ve had an ongoing debate with Emergent Village national coordinator Tony Jones. Tony has publicly voiced his criticism of scholars, like Marcus Borg, who are open to questioning certain traditional dogmatic beliefs, for example a literal interpretation of Jesus’ resurrection narratives. In addition, Tony criticized Jack Caputo for being too specific about his own personal theological and political positions in the book “What Would Jesus Deconstruct? The Good News of Postmodernism”. Tony would prefer to keep the conversation at 30,000 feet rather than being specific and landing the plane. I understand Tony’s apprehension and I totally admire what he has written and said, but I disagree with this implication. If we can’t share our deep theological and philosophical views in detail, then what kind of shallow conversation would that create? Have we lost all hope of civil discourse? Should we enter every conversation with a fear of saying anything specific just because it might mean we will need to live with diversity? Isn't there a better alternative?

I hope Emergents are not afraid to move from the sidelines and develop independent opinions even if we all disagree. A generous orthodoxy does not mean our individual orthodoxy should be MIA. I also hope we will take specific actions. The idea of keeping the conversation ambiguous seems horribly doomed to fail. I agree that the conversation should be inclusive and generous, but we should not ask people to be intentionally vague in order to avoid criticism or conflict. That is sick! At some point, someone has to land the plane. It might mean we get called a liberal. Worse things could happen. The apostle Paul had a different metaphor. Paul suggested that at some point we must take up our cross and die. If Jesus had stayed at 30,000 feet, then he would never have marched to the capital and said the very liberal things that got him killed.

What do you think?

The New Christians

I was recently asked to review Tony Jones' new book for the Academy of Parish Clergy. His publisher was kind enough to send me an advanced copy. I loved the book. It will be available in March 2008 but you can pre-order it through Amazon.com. Here is the short version of my review:

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The Emergent Church is a hot topic. Its critics have been struggling to nail down its definition and paint its leaders into a corner. Discussions about these new Christians are full of rumors, misconceptions, and urban legends. However, many people feel this movement could be the future of American Christianity.

Tony Jones is the national coordinator for Emergent Village and a doctoral fellow in practical theology at Princeton University. He lays everything about the Emergent phenomenon on the table in his new book “The New Christians: Dispatches From The Emergent Frontier”. For anyone interested in the Emergent Church, this book is a must read. Giving the reader an inside scoop on the origins of this movement, Tony Jones has taken a big step toward answering many questions of participants and critics alike. I’d like to thank Tony for sharing his journey with us.

These new Christians began as small group of Evangelicals asking a few deep questions. As the answers produced more questions and those questions took on a life of their own, it became obvious that their friendships were much more important than their agreement on all the details. These questions are not new. Most Christians have struggled with questions of faith at some point in their life. Churches of all varieties have to deal with questions regarding leadership structure, facilities, worship models, and culture, but something different happened in this conversation. Where past generations of Christians had often come to irreconcilable differences that severed relationships and fragmented Protestantism into a million pieces, these friends found a way to see past the division and savor the conversation.

The Christian community has been watching intensely as these new Christians have held a public brainstorming session for the past decade via blogs, magazine articles, and even a few controversial books. Few concrete answers have crystallized but publishing your work for the world to see makes you very vulnerable and vulnerability creates fertile ground for change. Most pastors and executives would rather iron out all the details, conduct a few market tests, and debug all the programs before going public. These new Christians resisted that temptation and dared to take another path. The result is not simply a new denomination or a different doctrinal statement, but it is a different kind of process. They have created a theology and ecclesiology developed through collaboration and community rather than any claims of divinely appointed superiority or exclusive access to tradition. Tony Jones compares Emergent to an open source software product or an online collaboration tool such as Wikipedia.com.

“Like Wikipedia, emergent churches harbor no great fear of failure. In fact, failures are a natural consequence of innovation and adventure”
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”However, when emergent churches open-source their worship environments, all sorts of people make themselves heard, leading to a richer experience for all, albeit one with some serious mistakes.” (p.193)

This book doesn’t gloss over the problems. Not all of the relationships made it through undamaged. For some, the questions were out of bounds and many answers spelled heresy. For the critics, the concrete answers were not materializing fast enough.

As more than a biographical sketch of Emergent, the book discloses the core values of these individual communities and provides a healthy dose of the terminology with in-depth definitions. Any attempts to heal the wounds of conflict would be futile without addressing the deep theological differences. When theology and practice become disconnected, there is a big problem.

“The emergent movement is robustly theological; the conviction is that theology and practice are inextricably related, and each invariably informs the other.” (p.104)

I suspect that this Emergent conversation may be the first glimpse into modern mainline theology for many Evangelicals. It might be fair to suggest that these young Evangelicals are just now catching up with scholars like Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, and Walter Brueggemann who have been willing to tackle tough theological questions and create dialogue for a long time. There is ample evidence of that trend. His friend and fellow Emergent author Brian McLaren, credits both Brueggemann and Crossan in his latest book “Everything Must Change”. However, Tony Jones is a bit critical of these scholars. He suggests that Borg, in particular, has missed the mark by rejecting orthodox beliefs in the resurrection and interpreting the bible’s miraculous stories as symbolic parables. (p.148, p.156) I feel Tony might have been too quick to make that judgment. Mainline scholars have long been the champions of fresh theological perspectives and he might be overlooking some worthwhile advocates in the journey ahead.

This conversation is happening all around the world in homes, coffee houses, bars, and maybe even a few Sunday school classes. Something wonderful happens when people are willing to become vulnerable, share their incomplete stories, doubts, and questions. These new Christians realize that the gospel is so much more than bulletproof answers to questions. The gospel comes to life during the process of accepting people who have questions to ask. For those of us interested in the Emergent journey and even those wishing to cut them off at the pass, this book offers much to learn for us all.