book review: An Emergent Manifesto of Hope: Key Leaders Offer an Inside Look

One of the more interesting series of conversations I had at our recent Anglican General Synod focused loosely on the emerging church stuff within the Anglican tradition.  There are a number of people across the country doing fruitful things within the Anglican vocation, but with a twist of lemon.  It is hoped that some of us might connect and contribute to renewing the way we do mission in our culture, and with our generation.

I've had a bit of an interest in things emerging for a while, mainly birthed from my time in ministry at a large university, and my association with some local ne'er do wells.  Alice the Camel, faithful commentress on felix hominum, remarked that I am "ever sifting".  While not all would agree with me, I suggest that there a a fair amount to be gleaned from some of the people, ideas and practices found in what has come to be labeled "emerging church."

An Emergent Manifesto of Hope:  Key Leaders Offer an Inside Look

An Emergent Manifesto of Hope:  Key Leaders Offer an Inside Look
ed Doug Pagitt & Tony Jones Baker Books: 2007, and for those who count such things:  318 pages

EMH is a collection on short essays centered around the theme of hope.  As Tony Jones writes in his introduction to the book, the limitations of such an approach are obvious:  “How do you explain where you fit in the Emergent friendship in 3000 words?  Or, worse yet, how do you describe your hopes and dreams for the future of God’s kingdom and your cooperation in it in as many words?” [15]

The essays are grouped under 5 broad headings; A People of Hope;  Communities of Hope; A Hopeful Faith;  A Hopeful Way Forward; and Hopeful Activism.  Within the book you will certainly find things to love or hate – there are a variety of perspectives offered.  Many of the contributors appear to be refugees from the Christianity of American modernism, especially of the evangelical variety, and there are a handful of authors with connections to the traditional “mainline” churches.  As I’ve said elsewhere, the term “emergent” [or “emerging church”] is a catch all; you don’t really know what’s in the box just by reading the label.

I suggest that if you are unfamiliar with emergent, this book would give a good overview both of the variety of personalities in that conversation, and the breadth which is found within the movement.  It will give you a flavour which you might not get from simply reading the critics, or from getting together with a few friends, and setting up some Celtic music and a bag of aromatic candles.  One of the keys terms in the conversation is “friendship”.  I suggest that the reclaiming of friendship as central to the Christian community is a breath of fresh air in an erotically driven age.

In the essay “The Art of Emergence:  Being God’s Handiwork”,  Troy Bronsink suggests that “we might view Emergent as a group, a creative agent in the midst of the church readapting prior symbols shared by postliberal and postevangelical Christians.” [69]  One of the discoveries shared by several authors is the existence and importance of Christian community outside their previous experiences of “church’.  This ranges from new ways of looking at neighbourhood to finding Christian community within prison walls.  In this new awareness of community at least two authors expressed similar experience:  “being agents for change while being continually transformed” [Maddok &Maddok, 88];   “Prison ministry is a type of spiritual formation that works both ways – it changes everyone involved” [Olson, 95].

Lest you think that community can only exist apart from traditional forms of church, Brian Mitchell, a Roman Catholic writer, offers this radical vision of community within the structure of the Diocese:  “Every layer in hierarchical structure exists to serve the layer beneath, not the other way around.  This is what separates true hierarchy from feudalism.” [116]  He calls for a return to looking at the Diocese, not the parish, as the fundamental form of local community.

Several essays attempt to address the relationship between contemporary culture and the Christian faith.  Ryan Bolger observes (rightly, I suggest) that it “is often very difficult for people to know the tendencies of their own culture.” [132]  There is recognition that we are in a post Christendom era [165 ff], with a renewed emphasis beyond marketing models of church and into [caution:  jargon crossing]  missional living.  “[W]e are going to have to let go of the attractional model – inviting people to come to us – and instead go to where they live, and to there, live out our faith.” [Taylor “Converting Christianity” 170].

A section devoted to “theology-shaped practice and practice-shaped theology” [171-243] is perhaps the most diverse section of the book.  The topics range from rethinking the face of leadership, problems of inclusion all the way to a positive analysis of the value of Karl Barth’s thinking and methodology to the problems of contemporary culture.  Here’s what Chris Erdman writes:  [Barth] is like a jazz musician who knows the score so well he can freely improvise but without the foolishness of those naïve, would-be musicians who think they can soar in ecstasy without knowing their chords or being tutored by the tradition itself.”  [“Digging Up the Past” 241].

In the last section, “Hopeful Activism”, I was most moved by Rodolpho Carrasco’s stories of Harambee Christian Family Center in East L.A.   It reminded me very much of Jackie Pullinger’s dictum that we need to have “soft hearts and hard feet” in our service to the poor.  All of the essays in this section draw out the implications of the previous section:  examples of faith in action, touching the various incarnational issues of living as a human being, of a certain race, of a certain tribe, from bread in the mouth to kisses on the lips.

So what’s the nitty gritty?  It is a good introduction to some of the people in Emergent circles, with enough variety in the choice of subjects and authors to keep you either engaged and provoked, or  frustrated and simply shaking your head.  The book is has a number of small gems popping up from time to time:  I blogged one as my “quote of the day” a while ago.  If you are already familiar with Emergent, you will probably recognize many of the names.  And yes, there are a number of authors with whom I would disagree on some points, but there are others as well who have made me think more deeply about certain questions. 

Bottom line:  worth getting and reading.

Comments

[Leslie]

While not all would agree with me, I suggest that there a a fair amount to be gleaned from some of the people, ideas and practices found in what has come to be labeled "emerging church."

Know that I thought the sifting was a good thing. In fact, I'm of the firm conviction that it is how we should live, sifting and gleaning everywhere we are.

What very little reading I've done of emerging church stuff has mostly seemed to me to be common sense: take people where they're at, honour the questions, etc. Truly, the fact that these kinds of issues are beginning to appear, have meant a lot to the agnostic academics in my life who have felt the church to be about blind acceptance.

It appears to me, however, that its development into a "movement" has served as a distraction to itself and in some cases almost idolatrous -- the discussion moves to defining it or the justification of not defining it. I say that only as a point of observation. Distraction seems a natural companion for movements and idolatry seems to be a natural tug for humanity. Making idols is what we humans have done since we first dragged our irreducibly complex selves out of the primordial pond.

Still, perhaps since you suggest it, I'll put the book on my winter list and give the whole business another try...

Thanks.

[joseph]

There's a very interesting post at Amy Welbourn's place on the topic. I think it's close to a must read, especially the commentary by Brad Harper in the interview with Ignatius press.

Here's a quote from the book which might cause some conversations to get started: "After sixteen years of ministering at the corner of Howard and Navarro, I've learned that living in a stable, relatively good family is a person's best chance at experiencing justice. The best way for a child to get out of poverty is for his single parent to get married."

[Tim]

Thanks, Joe - I'll look forward to reading it.

[joseph]

well, Tim, since it's now shortly after 9 pm and it looks like you are at the same cafe open stage that I am, I could just walk over and lend you my copy...

[Tim]

And interrupt the music???!!!