Kind of like the Jesuits, with goatees. February 26, 2008
Posted by Zack in | 7 comments
During the Reformation, the newly-formed Jesuits took on a special role inside the Counter Reformation of understanding and validating many Protestant grievances and theological arguments—with the goal of bringing people back into the fold of the Roman Catholic Church. They successfully stopped the spread of Protestantism in large chunks of Europe. Their success came from their ability to connect with and affirm disgruntled Catholics while rekindling hope of reforming the church from within. This role, and their success, made Jesuits extremely valuable to the Catholic church—and extremely dangerous.
With the rise of the Revolutionaries—including, but not limited to the Emergent movement—the cry “Heresy!” has rung at churches, conferences and across the Internet. Some critics have been acting on a purely knee jerk fashion—often not even taking the time to understand what the real views of their targets are. Other critics are making principled theological arguments in good faith.
Mainly, though, the new counter reformation has been falling on deaf ears thanks to a usually bitter and angry approach. For example, efforts such as Apprising Ministries are stuck preaching to their own choir. Here are some of their recent articles (all-caps theirs, not mine):
EMERGENT CHURCH: FEEDING YOU THEOLOGICAL POISON
GREG BOYD: HERETIC
BRIAN MCLAREN: SPREADING A GENEROUS HERESY IN THE EMERGING CHURCH
ROB BELL IS NOT A CHRISTIAN
Enter a couple of young hipsters (to be fair, only one seems to have a goatee) who are capable of sympathizing with the Emergent Church’s passions and grievances, while making reasoned arguments why true Christians must sick with an orthodox theology and (modern) church traditions:
Tags: appraising ministries, emergent church, why were not emergent“You can be young, passionate about Jesus Christ, surrounded by diversity, engaged in a postmodern world, reared in evangelicalism and not be an emergent Christian. In fact, I want to argue that it would be better if you weren’t.”
The Emergent Church is a strong voice in today’s Christian community. And they’re talking about good things: caring for the poor, peace for all men, loving Jesus. They’re doing church a new way, not content to fit the mold. Again, all good. But there’s more to the movement than that. Much more.
Kevin and Ted are two guys who, demographically, should be all over this movement. But they’re not. And Why We’re Not Emergent gives you the solid reasons why. From both a theological and an on-the-street perspective, Kevin and Ted diagnose the emerging church. They pull apart interviews, articles, books, and blogs, helping you see for yourself what it’s all about.
