the great emergence: how christianity is changing and why the rev. marilyn baldwin st. john in the...

The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why

The Rev. Marilyn BaldwinSt. John in the Wilderness Episcopal ChurchWhite Bear Lake, MN June, 2009

From the book by Phyllis Tickle, c. 2008 by Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI

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Emergence, Emersion

The emerging church (sometimes referred to as the emergent movement) is a Christian movement of the late 20th and early 21st century that crosses a number of theological boundaries: participants can be described as evangelical, post-evangelical, liberal, post-liberal, charismatic, neocharismatic, and post-charismatic. (Wikipedia)

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Emerging Church

Proponents… call it a "conversation" to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature, its vast range of standpoints and its commitment to dialogue. What those involved in the conversation mostly agree on is their disillusionment with the organized and institutional church and their support for the deconstruction of modern Christian worship, modern evangelism, and the nature of modern Christian community. (Wikipedia)

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The Great Emergence

Part I: What Is It?

Part II: How Did It Come To Be?

Part III: Where Is It Going?

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Part I: What Is It?

Changes slipped into our lives somewhat unnoticed, unheralded in late 20th Century

Affect every part of our lives Interface with/context for all aspects

Social Culture Politics Economics

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“The World Is Flat Again”

Classic economics applies less to service economies than production-based ones

National borders, loyalties not as strong as before

Small nations can hold large ones hostage Technology, knowledge have leveled playing

field Traditional privilege no longer a given

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Examples

“Information overload” at all levels To-do lists are endless Dependent upon technology outside ourselves

for even simple tasks Simple calculations Computer, phone issues disrupt lives

Where is the line between human and machine?

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How Does This Apply To Religion?

(specifically, North American Christianity) About every five hundred years the

Church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale….

We are living in and through one of those five-hundred-year sales.

---Phyllis Tickle, quoting The Rt. Rev. Mark Dyer, Retired Anglican Bishop

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Understanding History*

Pattern of 500-years helpful to understanding and reassurance

Empowered structures become unwieldy Must be shaken off so that new growth

may occur

* “Those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it” ---George Santayana

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Three Results or Corollary Events

New, more vital form of Christianity emerges Former dominant form becomes “more pure and

less ossified” version of itself

= two new creatures where there was one Faith has then spread dramatically into new

geographic and demographic areas Increasing exponentially range and depth of

Christianity Eg., Reformation forced changes upon Roman Church

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Rummage SalesWhen the Church Cleans Out Its Attic

500 Years Ago: Great Reformation (16th Century) growth in relative importance for

religion & culture Luther: October 31, 1517

Others had made rumblings for at least a century Other changes went on for at least a century more

Wycliff, Zwingli, Knox, Calvin, Hooker

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Rummage Sales (cont.)

500 Years Earlier: Great Schism (1054) Cultural, theological, practical differences

between Eastern and Western Churches Symbolic habits, rituals, sacred means

Eastern: (Constantinople) Leavened bread, Greek language, Spirit descended from God the Father

Western: (Rome) Unleavened bread, Latin, Spirit descends from Father and Son (filioque clause)

Rome excommunicated Constantinople Constantinople declared Rome anathema

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Rummage Sales (cont.)

500 Years Earlier: (Late 6th Century) Pope Gregory (I) the Great (590-604) “Cleanup” after the Fall of the Roman Empire

(Rome sacked, 410; fell, 476; Senate disbanded in 480)

Council of Chalcedon, 451: Issues Nature of Jesus’ Incarnation: divinity vs. humanity Whether Mary was “Mother of God” or of human

Eastern, Western, Oriental Christianity

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Gregory and the Monastics

Growing lawlessness, illiteracy of culture Commoners, minor clergy left with little official

religious practice or scriptural study Thanks to Gregory (and Benedict before him)

Convents, monasteries became repositories for early treasures of Church and learning

Power rested in religious communities and especially their leaders

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First Century CE

Obviously most important to Christian faith Christianity born out of Judaism

Birth, public ministry, teachings, crucifixion, Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth changed everything

Judaism itself forever changed 70 CE Temple destroyed; 130 Jews barred

Jews dispersed; epochs of human time redated Much of Church born in those 60 years

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Inner Workings of Rummage Sales

We are on the cusp of 500-year change We are also the product of one, and all

those before Need to gauge present pain against

patterns and gains of previous “hinge times”

No structure has been lost; only changed by new, not-yet-organized form

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“Re-Traditioning” Diana Butler Bass

Apostolic tradition did not cease to be Canon, Augustinian theology, mysticism still

with us Monastic tradition did not cease but still

influences us Roman Catholicism’s power, ritual, and

theology still inform us Protestant Christianity still important

Emphasis on literacy, Scripture

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Broader Upheaval

Colonized Christianity changing in less-developed countries, cultures More sharing, egalitarian assumptions

Similar issues in Judaism 500 years BC: Babylonian Captivity,

destruction of Solomon’s Temple 1000 BC: End of Age of Judges, David’s

monarch established Great Transformation: Emergence of humanity

Similarities in Islam? (Shorter history)

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Cable Of Meaning (after Tickle, p. 35)

Waterproof covering (history of community)

Mesh sleeve (common imagination)

Spirituality Corporeality Morality

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A Holy Tether

Consider “generic religion” – belief system Humanity secured by tether to greater

meaning “If there were no god, we would have to invent

one”

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Cable Of Meaning Explained

Waterproof covering = story of community Mesh sleeve = common imagination

Not necessarily true, but “truth” of community Three strands:

Spirituality: Naming central experiences & values of individuals and community

Corporeality: Physically embodied religion Morality: Application, enactment of values

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Cable To Meaning

All well as long as cable is intact, suffers no major blow Story and shared illusion are struck a blow

simultaneously – major change in culture “Religious duct tape” seals off changes for

awhile Healing takes place; new shared values

Cultural change cycle starts all over again

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The Great Emergence

Part I: What Is It?



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Part II: How Did It Come to Be?

Why is it important? Knowing historical parallels:

Allows us to more accurately evaluate & address changes

Diminishes sense of failure: my/our fault

Most recent parallels in 16th Century Reformation

Makes sense to gain understanding from it

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The Great Reformation:Prequel to Emergence Reformation didn’t start with Luther’s 95

Theses (1517) but much earlier 1378: Two men elected Pope

Urban VI, Italian Clement VII, French

Led to cultural, political, and social upheavals Primacy, stability of Seat of Rome shattered

Not settled until 1418, after 3 popes vying for power

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Outcome: Two Major Changes

Destroyed idea that popes are chosen by God to be arbitrator of religion and politics

Evoked one major question – always present in re-formation:

Where now is the authority? Answer didn’t come until Reformation:

Sola scriptura, scriptura sola Joined later by “priesthood of all

believers”

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Advantages of New Authority

As new source of authority becomes established, chaos gives way to stability

New changes, requirements come out of new authority Sola scriptura required literacy of all Literacy accelerated drive toward rationalism,

Enlightenment, ultimately literature, science and technology of today

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Disadvantages of New Authority

Divisiveness: many different interpretations of same information New denominations, sects proliferate Bloody history of spread of Christianity Disunity of the Body of Christ Sola scriptura sets up a “paper pope” in place

of human one?

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Further Assaults on Authority

1453: Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople Greek Orthodox intelligentsia leave Turkey for

Europe Brought copies of ancient documents in original

languages Possessed ability to read ancient languages Brought scientific and mathematics knowledge

from Islamic world All contributed to great leap in knowledge and

culture in all of Europe: The Renaissance had begun

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Tension and Conflict

Tensions defined religiously after Islam’s founding in 6th Century Less defined as far as geography

Iberian Peninsula (Spain) in 50 years before Luther series of skirmishes Regional kings and Mussulmen (Muslims) Roman Church and Sephardic (Spanish) Jews Catholic monarch’s retaking of Spanish culture

Cordoba’s library had over 400,000 volumes Largest in one place since destruction of Alexandria

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Tension and Conflict (cont’d)

Ottomans conquered much of southern Mediterranean by 1417 Inroads to Europe as far as Vienna for the

next century Finally repulsed in 1683

Caused reconsideration of Church, state, social & economic orders City-states centralized; duchies became states Merchant classes, transportation, warfare all

transformed into modern modes

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Rise of Protestantism

Shifts in loyalties from local lord to distant king Greater independence, responsibility for self Middle class came between ancient

aristocracy and peasantry Cash became basis of power

Protestantism became expression of new world order

Gave authority to new order by “sacramentalizing” important occurrences

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Rummage Sale – Hinge Time Changes Characterized by/informed by

Increasing restraints upon/outright rejections of

Pure capitalism Mainline Protestantism’s loss of demographic base Changes in nuclear family Shift from cash to information as base of power Demise of nation-state & rise of globalization

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Influence of Gutenberg

Wycliffe,(d.1388) others argued for presenting Scripture in common language

Gutenberg’s printing press (1440) and subsequent inventions made it available

Also allowed Luther’s documents, others to be distributed far and wide

Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton theories disseminated Called into question previously unquestioned

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Rethinking Church Authority

“3-level universe” proven wrong by Columbus Where were God, Heaven?

Was the Church capable of being wrong? Simply, Yes

Common story now broken Search for new meaning, adjusted story

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New Answers To Old Questions

Open to question/change: Number and order of sacraments Role of faith and works in salvation Buying of church positions and forgiveness Nature of Communion; proper prayer Timing of baptism Numbering, definitions of Commandments

Luther/Reformation opened door to more changes – not final questions

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Counter-Reformation: Roman Response Luther, others originally envisioned

changed Church, not split Fifth Lateran Council (1512-17) within

Roman Church pushed for changes Doctrine and practice clarified

Devotions, indulgences, Purgatory Training of priests, appointments, factions cleared

up

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Seeking Hegemony

Def: Leadership; pride of place Drive to war in several areas

Spanish & Italian Inquisitions Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) involved much of

Europe over Roman/Protestant control English Civil War (1641-51)

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Questions of Re-Formation: Darwin, Freud, and the Power of Myth Modern Science as major challenge to

story and imagination in place since post-Reformation Darwin’s Origin of Species, 1859 Faraday, Field Theory, 1851

Electromagnetic rotations and induction Principles on which generators and transformers work No “ether” or “matter” as such Light not from angels but a natural phenomenon

Changed ways of thinking, being, believing

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Questions of Re-Formation (Cont’d)

Freud: Opened questions of mind and self Jung: Extended explorations of self,

collective unconscious; influenced others Campbell: Disestablished Christian

“doctrine of particularity” and “exclusivity” New mass communication technologies

made information available to all Telegraph, radio, mass news, TV

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Theological Changes: Reactions

1895: Conference of Conservative Protestants meet Formulate principles of belief: Fundamentals

1950’s on: pioneering education, discussion via TV, common culture Bishop Sheen Televangelists Joseph Campbell: What of solus christus and

sola scriptura?

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The New Self

Old theory of “self” existing somewhere in brain

Newer ideas of self merging with artificial intelligence: existential questions Self/brain/mind/I/soul/prayer/God/existence

Each time of reformation has same question: Where now is the authority? No answers = individual, societal chaos

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Two Questions of Great Emergence

What is human consciousness – what makes us human?

How can we live as religious persons in a world of many religions? We cannot have truly entered into stability until we

have answered both questions Both questions are in widespread, open discussion

All participants are products of 20th Century; major cultural changes must be examined

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The Century of Emergence: Einstein, Autos, and Marginalization of Grandma Einstein dominates 20th Century in many areas,

including religion 1905: Published 4 papers that changed our

“consensual illusion” forever1. Quanta or bundles of light proven - later

quantum physics - no angels, but natural laws2. Brownian motion described quantitatively -

proof of molecular activity - proof of existence of atoms

3. Special Theory of Relativity - no absolutes in space or in time - all depend on observer

4. Matter and energy not separate but equivalent (E=mc2)

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Heisenberg and Uncertainty

Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle came out of Theory of Relativity “Uncertainty” the only fact that could be

accepted as fact in both popular mind and academics

Literary deconstruction: no absolute truth – all relative to the perceiver

All writing – sacred or secular – has no innate meaning outside of reader

Battle of The Book

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Looking for the Real Jesus

Sola scriptura already damaged before Einstein or Heisenberg “What if Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus of

Western history are not the same? Reimarus, 1770’s

“The Quest for the Historical Jesus,” Schweitzer, 1901 – marks the end of an era and opening of another

Midcentury finds and methods changed how most view the Gospels

Jesus seen as much as guru and sage as God

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More Einstein, more outcomes:

1915-16: General Theory of Relativity Understanding of time as a fourth dimension,

capable of slowing Ongoing expansion of universe; Big Bang Human space exploration Biblical literalism based on inerrancy given a

blow Divine authority of Scripture decentralized,

turned into “pick-and-choose bazaar”

Where now is our authority?

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Enter Pentecostalism

1906: Black LA preacher’s new doctrine that Spirit gifts are accompanied by speaking in tongues Azusa Street Revival spread like wildfire in US

and world 2006: 500 million Pentecostalists – 2nd only to RC

Church of all classes, races, genders Worship style influenced others, especially

evangelicals

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Beginnings of Pentecostalism

African-American community was largest “untheologized” community spirituality

Black spiritual experience and contact with divine have been central since before Azusa Street; mainstream since then

Assumes direct contact with God and direct agency of Holy Spirit Spirit takes precedence over Scripture First answer to “Where is authority?” - Spirit ¼ of emergents are Pentecostal by heritage or affinity

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Leaving Grandma in the Rearview Mirror 1908: First popular mass-produced US car

Freed Americans from ties to home, family, community, church

Changed Sabbath forever to Sunday: shopping, errands, sports took precedence over church and family gatherings

“Grandma” was enforcer of biblical learning, church attendance, generational ties

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The Influence of Karl Marx

Published Communist Manifesto in 1848 Built on ideas of Hegel: dialectical materialism

Opposites exist only when in opposition When conflict if resolved, the two synthesize All of life is a becoming, never a being All creation part of some Absolute that is becoming

Marx: State must be supreme; all other forms of authority must cease to exist for people to thrive

Das Kapital, 1867: Owners always looking to make goods more cheaply on the backs of workers

Workers would revolt, which must be prevented State should own all things, keeping ownership from

individuals

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Marx’s Influence (cont’d)

Communist/socialist authority in conflict with religion and Reformation concepts Human responsibility, worth, purpose

Others argued for a proto-secular humanism: what is best for most

Midcentury churches took over in socializing young Building programs for meeting halls, gyms

encouraged uniformity of belief Not same as belief in God

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The Spiritual Strand and A.A.

Children of 40’s, 50’s “spiritual but not religious”

Growth of AA, other groups after 1935 encouraged people to “choose your own concept of God/Higher Power” Leap from doctrinal to experiential Wounded as better healers than experts,

authorities, clergy Revived small-group dynamic

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Strangers and Countrymen

1965 Immigration and Nationality Services Act passed Long memories of cheap labor imported from

other countries; Asians targeted Wars opened Asia to US; later, US to Asian

immigrants By end of Great Depression, Americans

primarily urban with time and opportunities Free time leads most to awareness of self,

internal experience

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A New Religion

Most mainline Christianity gave no religious vocabulary or practices

Asian immigrants brought Buddhism Rich narrative of wisdom experience Tranquil meditative tools “unencumbered by

theism” “Insinuated itself” into Christian and Jewish practice

Journey of the spirit did not require the baggage of religion

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The Drug Age

For some, drugs offered different reality and adjusted perception of subjectivity

Again, American culture had taught little or nothing about spirituality Experimentation became a way to encounter

mystery, experience Questioned nature of consciousness, further

disorienting participants “Clear trajectory from Timothy Leary to the

Great Emergence”

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The Erosion of Sola Scriptura

Years leading to Civil War had caused Scripture to be questioned by slavery opponents Freedom, equality legally guaranteed if not personally

WWI and II called gender equity into question Women got the vote; seeds of Women’s Movement

planted Divorce hurdle was overcome Ordination of women, episcopacy Gay rights as last challenge to biblical literalism

When last fight is won, where will be the authority?

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The Corporeal Strand

Protestantism codified as a set of beliefs Religious sensibilities that have assumed

body, form, & power = CORPOREAL Often exhibited in fights over hymnals,

biblical translations, rituals Race/gender/sexual preference have

crossed barriers to become cultural fights May be a sign we are nearing the end of focus

on corporeal, perhaps to begin with moral

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The Moral Strand

Roe v. Wade often cited as first sign of moral question: What defines human?

Jack Kevorkian, “mercy killing” Terry Schiavo was most recent major case

to question difference Inflict vs. permit death

Questions still open and debated

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Technological Advances

Roman Catholic leadership ¼ of today’s emergents are of Roman Catholic

background Impact of Vatican I & II on all of Christianity

I: Papal Infallibility; origin, role of Scripture II: Ecumenism, interfaith dialogue, theology of

religion

Medical advances & ethical questions Beginning & end of life issues

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Technological Advances (cont’d)

Impact of personal music devices Changed expectations from performed to

participatory music Changes in political boundaries, loyalties

Money no longer sole basis of power Information now holds power in most cases

Religious experience has moved from sacred to secular to electronic space Internet connects without hierarchy, yet

disconnects from local community

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Technological Advances (cont’d)

Enables “priesthood of all believers” in ways the Reformers could not imagine Huge implications for emergents

Opens information to all Opens dis-information as well No mentoring, formation, credentials

Rise of “aggressive atheism” in response to worldwide connectedness Theodicy of natural and human-caused

disasters, wars

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Rosie the Riveter

Mobilization of troops and materials for WWII required women in war mfg. jobs Over 20 million women worked in defense

Others cared for their children, did other related work

Peace sent most back to domestic oblivion Restiveness from having had power New technologies left much time, little to do Role expectations of returning GIs, wives

differed

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Rosie the Riveter (cont’d)

Rosie increased social life in acceptable ways Telephone contacts Church volunteer work, fellowship

Young women had memory of a different upbringing – power of women Domestic, work, and social life would change

forever as they came to adulthood

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Family Reconfigured

1960: Birth control pill changed women’s options Family planning More equality in jobs Smaller, later families Two-income families Child care elsewhere Loss of mother role, traditional family

Where now is the basis for our social order?

66

Scripture’s Place

GenX children no longer learned bible stories, morality at home Scriptural ignorance results in two

possibilities: Some eagerly seek engagement with it Others ignore, avoid it – “send to attic” with

antiques

Where is this all going?

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The Great Emergence

Part I: What Is It?



68

Part III: Where Is It Going? No one really knows – we can only imagine,

forecast possibilities Like others before

A generalized social/political/economic/ intellectual/cultural shift

Initiating in, but not limited to, Western experience

We speak of North American Christianity but other religions, areas involved as well Emergence in UK 20 years ahead – useful for our

purposes

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Learning From History

After “sale” was over, Christianity readjusted, grew, and spread

Today’s Emergents have spread Geographically Numerically In depth In passion In belief of Christian call to brotherhood of all New way of living out faith?

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The Gathering CenterMany Faces of a Church Emerging

Early church first called “Christian” only when Barnabas and Paul were called to Antioch

“Protestant” name used at least 12 years after Luther’s Theses

No way to pinpoint when, where, what history will see as emergent Walter Rauschenbusch, 1907, first id’d Western

humanity in “a revolutionary epoch… as thorough as Renaissance and Reformation”

Paul Tillich, 1950’s, spoke of “shifting times and shifting foundations”

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Sketching the Church

1960’s observers noted changes in a diagram – a quadrilateral

LiturgicalsSocial Justice

Christians

Renewalists Conservativesaka Charismatic & Pentecostal

aka Mainline

Aka Fundamental

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Changing Shapes

No longer fit neatly into boxes Now more of a cruciform shape


Christians

Renewalists Conservatives

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Changing Shapes (cont’d)

Locate self or community based on importance in Christian practice


Christians


Intersections loose and flexible

74


Top: Intersection between faith & works

Where will you be at 10 AM on Sunday?


Christians


Places on a spectrum rather than boundaries

75



Christians


Bottom: Belief more important than what one does - orthodoxy

Top: Action more important than belief - orthopraxy

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The Gathering Center


Christians


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The Gathering Center (cont’d)

20th – 21st Century changes Lifestyle from rural isolation to high-density

suburban/urban Labor from solitary to constant contact

Given that religion is relatively very important to Americans, it is natural that we should discuss it in both private & working lives “Watercooler theology”

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Watercooler Theology

Conversation about God in public Diversity in conversationalists about God

No longer just reserved for clergy Open opinions on interpretations of current

events Old divisions begin to melt, especially in

“four corners” area Finding “empty spot” or hunger or question or

experience to talk about

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Ubiquitous theology

Public, shared, and vital Media age expedited communication and

diversity New center not quite Protestant or any other

Melange picked from each quadrant Established churches could not accommodate

New faithful began meeting among themselves House churches sprang up along with unlikely

meeting places All share incarnational characteristic: Jesus is

incarnate as is worship – of the whole body

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Centripetal Force

Gathers energy by bringing in more of its own Swirling, mixing from quadrant to quadrant Sweeping toward center Expands in waves of influence

Results in new way of being Christian & church Predicted by scholars Dismissed as generational by established

churches

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Error in Assessment

Denominations failed to account for “rummage sale” factor – massive cultural shift

Culture had become post-everything Modern Denominational Rational Enlightenment Literate ???

No means of returning/no desire to do so

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Backlash

Major changes between inherited and emergent church result in backlash

Dramatic change perceived as threat to status quo Fundamentalism (early 20th C.) one example Reaction is not necessarily a bad thing

Scholars predicted @ 10% of born Christians would push back violently against center; new diagram

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The Rose


Christians


The Rose was the symbol of the Great Reformation

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Backlash Examples

Congregations, ecclesial units, individuals would aggressively dedicate resources to reversing all changes Fallout from consecration of Bp. Robinson in

Episcopal Church Election of conservative Roman pontiff, local bishop Splintering of Presbyterian Church

Choosing sides unavoidable Each quadrant develops reactionists, purists

“Ballast” against too-hasty changes in stormy sea

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Surrounding Currents

Other sections of quadrants can be assigned by rough percentages Exception: Unknown % emergent Spectrum or sliding scale in widening ring

Ultimately 60% may be Emergent by the time the movement is mature 30-35% neither Emergent or reactors

86

The Surrounding Currents

Liturgica

ls

Social Justice

Christians

Renewalists Conserva

tives

Hyphenates

Progressives

Re-Traditioning

Traditionalists

87

Surrounding Currents

Flexible, open boundary lines Outer corners peopled by persuaded

quadrant dwellers Inherited church of parents, grandparents Lend stability to faith in transition Will accommodate to and assist gradual

change Will participate in realignments across

sectarian lines

88

Re-Traditioning Christians

1 ring closer to center Choose to stay with inherited church but

wish to make it more fully what it was “Fond refurbishers” want to fix & live in it for all

time Increase comfort, beauty, welcome to all Their task is the most remarkable, arduous,

and richest of all

89

Progressive Christians

1 track closer to center Want to maintain position in institutional

Christianity yet give up controlling doctrine, practices Remain within Protestant communions Seek to adapt to realities of postmodernity Remodelers, not refurbishers; “open place up”

Def: Believes in loving God, neighbor, self; thinks that 2 out of 3 ain’t bad” – Eric Elnes

90

“Hyphenateds”

Nearest to center Names bear literal or implied hyphens:

Presby-mergents, Anglo-emergentsMeth-emergents, Luth-emergents, etc.

Now losing the “-”

Most schizophrenic of circles; most vibrant, colorful,vital Tear down the house on Grandpa’s land; build

anew Most difficult to predict future

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7. The Way AheadMapping Fault Lines and Fusions

Different Bases of Authority Left of vertical axis has different base of

authority than the right

Left: (all in tension) Right:

Scripture + sola scriptura

Spirit + scriptura sola

Liturgy +

Apostolic tradition +

92

The Bases of Authority (a)

Liturgicals Social Justice Christians


Ort

hodo

xy

Ort

hopr

axy

93

Orthonomy and Theonomy

Numbers diminishing for traditionalists Orthopraxy (right practice) remains in upper

quadrants Orthodoxy (right doctrine) in place for lower

quadrants Emergence grows & occupies no

quadrant; comes from all of them Open space on both sides of vertical axis

94

The Bases of Authority (b)

Liturgicals Social Justice Christians


Ort

hodo

xy

Ort

hopr

axy

Orthonomy Theonomy

95

Orthonomy

New word coined from ancient Greek

Ortho = correct + nomy = naming harmony, divine beauty

“correct harmoniousness”

Employment of purity to discern truth Many emergents confused about

arguments over exact historicity, doctrine “Must be true since it is so beautiful”

96

Orthonomy – Keatsian Heresy?

“Beauty is truth and truth beauty” =/=Beauty in the eye of the beholder Action or object not divine or authoritative just

because of its beauty or harmoniousness Emergents on right side of axis use a word

of their own: theonomy Greek “theos” = God + “nomy”“Only God can be the source of perfection”

How best to understand God’s meaning?

97

Networked Authority

New Christianity/emergent church must discover Authority base Delivery system Governing agency

Must find something other than Luther’s sola scriptura Seen as insufficient, outmoded

Historical Authority

Church has always utilized ideological currents of culture in general Early church copied Rome’s governance Under Gregory church’s authority was

administered through monasteries and convents in similar hierarchical order

Roman church defined authority in single position: system of kings, lords of pre-Reformation culture

Reformation created democratic theology of priesthood of all believers; elected leaders

98

Emergent Authority?

Scripture-and-community combined: network theory (math, physics, Web)

Church more of a network than an entity Self-organized system of relations between

parts Each part of smaller networks in complex levels

Each is a working piece as long as connection remains intact

No one part or network has entire truth Crowd sourcing = total egalitarianism 99

New Concept of Church

Egalitarianism = respect for worth of each Indifference to capitalism, individualism

Becoming the church = discovering what it means that the kingdom of God is within Each person a bit of a much grander network

Established leaders, scholars, priests have only human understanding Message will flash to, from remote parts of

network and be tempered by community100

“What Is Emergent/Emerging Church?” A conversation: bottom-up vs. top-down Global: no barriers as to nationality, race,

class, economic status Radical: relational, non-hierarchical, post-

democratized form of Christianity for the future

Impetus in the secular emergence Theory and tools found in theology,

experience of quadrants plus one group101

A Gift from the Quakers

Early support in conservative quadrant Evangelicalism Lacked flexibility to shift to new model

Quakers belong in no quadrant “Proto-network theory” in interplay of revelation,

discernment, Scripture, governance Recent writers described different approach to

spirituality and orderly being

(Richard Foster, Parker Palmer, J. Brent Bill), John Wimber of Assn. of Vineyard churches)

102

A Gift from the Quakers (cont’d)

I believe…we are witnessing a new reformation …challenging not doctrine the the medium. These new paradigm churches have discarded many of the attributes of established religion…creating a new genre of worship music, restructuring the organization, and radicalizing the principle of the priesthood of all believers.-- Donald E. Miller, Firestone Professor of Religion, USC, 1997.

103

Center Set and Bounded Set

Don’t always fit into established churches or quadrants Often don’t fit the community from which they

came Center-set: let people sort out by how close

they want to get to the center Assumes something other than rules holding

things together Presence of rules assumes some authority,

consequence Bounded-set = defining who’s in, out

104

Center Set and Bounded Set (cont’d)

“Believe-behave-belong” fits bounded-set Roman Catholicism, historic Protestantism Requires adherence to beliefs, conduct

“Belong-behave-believe” reverses process Occurs in center-set approach One can belong and can seek more Will begin to behave in a different manner not

imposed by rules Behavior shapes belief until both are one

105

Narrative

Emergence thinking often critiqued as anti-intellectualism

Postmodern/emergents recognize paradox in life and logical thinking Logic suffers from sufficient perspective Meta-narrative also product of human thought

Narrative speaks truth to the heart so it may inform the mind Markedly different principle of human

organization and understanding106

The Problem With Constantine Growing distrust for precepts, teachings of

post-Constantinian church Doctrine formalized at his direction Theology shifted from Judaic wholistic concepts

of life and structure Became Hellenized dualism, Greco-Roman

cultural hierarchy Body = evil, suspect; soul = separate, good

Salvation concept went from how to live out God’s will to a guaranteed ticket to Paradise

Great Emergence about restoring wholeness to Christian life

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Future Possibilities

Great Emergence may rewrite Christian Theology Atonement, origin of evil up for question New theology may be more embodied,

paradoxical, narrative, mystical than before Roman, Protestant communions will need

to adjust to massive changes Protestantism will have major impact Will need to assume greater collegiality

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Not Easy To Discern

How will the Great Emergence interface with results, consequences of realignments?

How will Emergents themselves consider resulting Christianity?

The growing emergent movement must be intentional about faith and what it is to become Once-inocuous movement no longer is

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The Emergent Mission

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“The church became a place to go…

…Let us make it a people to be.”

the great emergence: how christianity is changing and why the rev. marilyn baldwin st. john in the...

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