All advocates of either reason or mysticism are, by
definition, members of a movement.
The movement supporting mysticism is populous and diverse; the movement
supporting reason is less populous and less diverse. Within each broad movement
-- for mysticism or for reason -- there are sub-movements supporting
specialized versions of mysticism or reason.
This post, which is based only on a preliminary look at a
few sources, focuses on one narrow sub-movement of the movement for mysticism
-- the emerging church. One purpose of this post is to examine this movement
for characteristics it might share with all other movements, as well as
characteristics that distinguish it from others.
WHAT IS THE "EMERGING CHURCH"?
The term "emerging church" refers to a group of Christians who think
that because our society and culture have changed radically from modern values
to postmodern values, the Christian church -- which tries to lead that society
and culture to God -- must change. Here, the term "church" (also
called "ecclesia") refers simply to the total group of believers in
Christ; "church" here does not refer to any particular institution,
such as the Roman Catholic Church. "Church" here names a
"body" of believers. Advocates of the emerging church have a mystical
view of this body. They think individuals in the group are united through God's
"grace" or other factor.
"Modern values" means the values of the
Enlightenment, especially the Enlightenment's love of reason as a faculty
available in everyone. Other modern values flow from reason -- for example,
admiration of capitalism and respect for individual rights. Postmodernists
oppose these values. They reject reason, capitalism, and individual rights. (For
The Main Event articles on postmodern rejection of
modernism, see Feb. 7, 2012; Feb. 11, 2012; Feb. 21, 2012, and other posts listed under "postmodernism" in the
LABELS section in the right-hand column.)
Some proponents of the emerging church define their movement
as "a growing generative friendship among missional Christian leaders
seeking to love our world in the Spirit of Jesus Christ." ([3], p. 1) The
emerging church movement seeks to bring "together a wide range of
committed Christians and those exploring the Christian faith in wonderful ways,
and many of us sense that God is at work among us." Some members of the
movement are activists; they produce "books, articles, speeches, blogs,
events, and churches." ([7], p. 1, points 1 and 2) Three goals of the
emerging church are: "to make disciples -- especially among the
irreligious and unchurched, to serve those in need ... and to show a special
concern for orphans and widows in their distress." ([7], p. 3)
The emerging church opposes reason and supports mysticism.
For example, Brian McLaren, a leading advocate of the emerging church, says
"Christians should present Christianity through loving attitudes rather
than logical arguments." ([3], p. 2) Accordingly, the emerging church
rejects reason in the form of truth statements (propositions), especially
foundational ones, in favor of images and stories. ([1], pp. 6-7) Members say
they experience a mystical community through interaction with each other and
through a shared spiritual life devoted to the three virtues of faith, hope,
and charity. ([1], p. 8; and [9], p. 1 for the "Church as Mystical
Communion")
FACING CRITICS OF THE MOVEMENT. Disagreements
have arisen within the emerging church movement. The overall movement's deep
commitments to "conversation" and to reconciliation have been a
salve. "We have repeatedly defined [the] emergent [church] as a
conversation and friendship, and neither implies unanimity -- nor even
necessarily consensus of opinion." ([7], p. 2)
Criticism from observers outside the movement has also
appeared. Some advocates of the emerging church movement have sought
"constructive conversation" with these critics. Such a conversation
"involves point and counterpoint, honest speaking and open-minded
listening. ... We have also attempted to make personal contact with our critics
for Christian dialogue." Most critics have refused the invitations. ([7],
p. 1)
Some individuals in the emerging church movement have acknowledged
that their movement, as with all movements, has no official spokesmen. "We
each speak for ourselves and are not official representatives of anyone else,
nor do we necessarily endorse everything said or written by one another."
(7, p. 2)
After outsiders' criticisms of the emerging church accumulated,
some of the leaders of the movement responded in writing. Denying the critics' charges, one by
one, these leading activists said:
"[W]e truly believe that there is such a thing
as truth and truth matters ... no, we are not moral or epistemological
relativists any more than anyone or any community is who takes hermeneutical
positions -- we believe that radical relativism is absurd and dangerous, as is
arrogant absolutism; yes, we affirm the historic Trinitarian Christian faith
and the ancient creeds, and seek to learn from all of church
history ... yes, we believe that Jesus is the crucified and risen Savior of the
cosmos and no one comes to the Father except through Jesus; no we do not pit
reason against experience ... our greatest desire is to be followers and
servants of the Word of God, Jesus
Christ." ([7], p. 2)
HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT. What were the major
stages through which the emerging church movement developed? Around 1989, a few
Christians in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom began pursuing
"alternative worship." They networked with each other, some inside
but others outside their conventional church organizations. ([1], pp. 3-4) The
movement spread to the USA. There, an informal group of Christian intellectuals
began discussing the implications of two ideas: (1) From the 1960s through the
1980s, Western Civilization had changed radically, from modern to postmodern;
and (2) "the church" (the sum of all Christians everywhere) needs to
change itself in response to the changes in the general society. Sharing the
same insights, more Christian intellectuals joined the network. "These
believers realized that pushing the same methodologies [for spreading the
message of Christ] and striving to salvage the old worldview [modernism, the
pro-reason principles of the Enlightenment] would increasingly alienate popular
culture and future generations of Christian youth." ([4], p. 3)
In the early 1990s, Leadership Network, a Christian
foundation based in Dallas, Texas, brought "together the leaders of
megachurches" in the USA. These leaders of megachurches noticed that
individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 were not attending meetings. ([4], p.
3) Leadership Network then began building networks of "Generation X"
Christian intellectuals. ([4], pp. 1 and 3-4) "After a couple of
years," said Brian McLaren, a founder of the emerging church movement in
the USA, "some of these young Gen X guys said, 'You know, it's not really
about a generation. It's really about philosophy; it's really about a cultural
shift'." The shift was from modern to postmodern. ([4], p. 4)
In the late 1990s, a group of like-minded individuals,
brought together through the support of Leadership Network, began meeting
formally to discuss their common views, especially the importance of
"conversation" with other Christians and with non-Christians. ([5])
Valuing "conversation" became an essential characteristic of the
emerging church movement. Conversation brought social contact, demanded
tolerance, and yielded knowledge, they said. The proponents of the movement
prefer the term "conversation" to "movement" because they
see themselves as primarily conversing with each other, with other Christians,
and with non-Christians. ([7], p. 2, point 7) The term "conversation"
-- as an epistemological term -- is an echo of postmodernist Richard Rorty's
notion of using conversation -- not independent, individual thinking -- as a
source of knowing. ([8])
In 2001, a few young members of the emerging church movement
-- which, until then, had consisted mostly of lone individuals or networks of
individuals -- formed a particular organization, Emergent Village. Its purpose
is to support the "Kingdom of God." The Emergent Village website says:
Above all, we became convinced that living into the
Kingdom meant doing it together, as friends. Thus, we
committed ourselves to lives of reconciliation and friendship, no matter our
theological or historical differences. As time passed, others joined the
friendship, and the friendship began generating things like books, events,
websites, blogs, and churches. ([5])
Thus, within a decade of its beginnings, the emerging church
movement had: grown in population; developed networks of communication and
activism; clarified its defining principles; spread from New Zealand to
Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; expanded its networks; dealt
with criticisms; built a formal organization; and melded the nearly 2000 year
old Christian movement with elements of the twenty year old postmodernist
movement.
Burgess Laughlin, author,
WORKS CONSULTED, SO FAR
[1] "Emerging Church," Wikipedia,
printed Sept. 2, 2012, 13 pages, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church.
[2]
David Roach, "Leaders call 'Emerging Church Movement' a threat to
Gospel," Baptist Press, printed Sept. 4, 2012, 4 pages,
http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=20420.
[3] "Emerging
Church," Theopedia, printed Sept. 4, 2012, 6 pages,
http://www.theopedia.com/Emerging_Church.
[4] Discernment
Research Group, "How Leadership Network created the 'Emerging
Church'," Herescope, Nov. 9, 2006, 5 pages,
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2005/11/how-leadership-network-created.html.
[5]
Anonymous, "History," Emergent Village, "About/History,"
http://emergentvillage.org/?page_id=42.
[6] Tony Jones and
others, "About/Values" and "Practices," Emergent
Village, http://emergentvillage.org/?page_id=77.
[7]
"Our Response to Critics of Emergent," printed Sept. 7, 2012, 3
pages, http://emergent-us.typepad.com/emergentus/2005/06/official_respon.html.
[8]
"Richard Rorty, a postmodernist mystic," The Main
Event, April 11, 2012, http://reasonversusmysticism.blogspot.com/2012/04/richard-rorty-postmodernist-mystic.html.
[9] Richard J. Vincent, "Models of the Church" (a
review of Avery Dulles's book, Models of the Church),
TheoCenTric, April 4, 2005, 5 pages,
http://www.theocentric.com/ecclesiology/leadership/models_of_the_church.html.
