The Emerging Church in its own words 2

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Chapter 3 of Emerging Churches: creating Christian community in postmodern cultures, by Gibbs & Bolger, is entitled, ‘Identifying with Jesus’.

Here are some extracts.

What would Jesus do on a Sunday?

‘I read the Gospels over and over.  Nothing I was doing on Sunday was what I thought Jesus would be doing if he were here.’  (Joe Boyd)

The kingdom emphasis

‘It is strange how the church for so long missed the kingdom emphasis in the witness of the authors of the Gospels. …

The Emerging Church in its own words 1

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Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Culture (SPCK) by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger is regarded by many as the most authoritative book presently available on the beliefs and practices of the emerging church.  It is based on interviews with 50 leaders in the US and the UK.

I thought that it would be interesting to provide some extracts from the book, in order let emerging church leaders, together with the two authors of the book, speak for themselves.…

Sir David Attenborough ‘gets hate mail from creationists’

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“They tell me to burn in hell and good riddance,” said Sir David in a recent interview in Radio Times.  And the hate mail bit of the interview was headlined in The Telegraph, The Guardian, and many other newspapers and news sources.

I don’t disbelieve the story for a moment.  There are hateful, lunatic minorities in all movements, from the animal rights lobby to the anti-abortion lobby.

But it’s not very scientific, is it? …

How the emerging church marginalises the gospel

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For emerging church people, Jesus’ message of kingdom tends to be all about what God is doing here and now.  It is about peace, justice, and compassion.  The gospel is an invitation to participate with God in this mission.

Participating in God’s kingdom is not about change in status (unsaved to saved), or about affirming certain doctrines.  It is about following the example of Jesus as the best way to live.

The problem with this understanding of the kingdom is not in what in affirms but in what it denies or marginalises. …

Why Scott McKnight kissed Calvinism good-bye

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Looking back over Scott McKnight’s always-interesting blog, I noticed this post about his dalliance with Calvinism (or, at least with some Calvinist writers) and why he couldn’t, in the end, accept Calvinism as a ‘system’, much as he admired many aspects of it.

He writes:-

I love the “architecture” of Calvinism — that is, the focus on God’s glory and loving God, and I love the magnitude of grace in that theology, and I even love the radical transcendence that is often found in Calvinism…

When I was in college I sat for afternoons in our library and pored through Calvin’s Institutes, leading my dear wife to comment that I’d be better off underlining what I didn’t like because I had underlined most everything!…

Wright on what the gospel is, and is not

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I seem to be doing a lot a blogging about the teaching of N.T. Wright just at the moment.  I suppose it’s because I’m struggling to understand what seem to me to be his revisionist views of many aspects of New Testament teaching and Christian doctrine.

I realise, of course, that he would be regarded by many in the academy as ultra-conservative.  But, as a self-confessed evangelical, ‘revisionist’ is not a huge exaggeration when the doctrines of sin, repentance, justification by faith, and the gospel itself seem to be up for fairly drastic re-interpretation.…

Wright on Piper on Wright

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In advance of the publication of his new book, Justification: God’s plan and Paul’s vision, here is an interview with N.T. Wright from Trevin Wax.  I’m afraid I don’t think it advances the discussion very far.

Wright says:-

My anxiety about what has now been seen as the traditional Reformed view (though there are many traditional Reformed views!) is that it focuses all attention on ‘me and my salvation’ rather than on ‘God and God’s purposes’.

…

Biblical Foundations of Penal Substitution 8 – 1 Peter

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Christ bore our sins in his body, 1 Pet 2:21-25

The suffering of Christ is certainly presented in these verses as exemplary, but this does not exhaust the meaning.  For one thing, there are clear allusions to Isa 53, and to the Suffering Servant from whose sufferings we benefit.  The ‘bearing’ of sins in Isa 53 implies the bearing of punishment.  And the echo of Isa 53:5 in ‘by his wounds you have been healed’ highlight the fact that he suffered so that we might not – substitutionary atonement indeed. …

Biblical Foundations of Penal Substitution 7 – Galatians

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Galatians 3:10-13

The image of the crucifixion at ‘hanging on a tree’ in Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29 evokes the words of Deuteronomy 21:25 – ‘anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse’.

This raises the question, ‘Why would the sinless Christ be curses by God?’  Gal 3:10-13 supplies the answer.

The argument is simple: Jesus bore the curse that was due to others, thereby redeeming them from that curse.  He bore the penalty in our place.…

In praise of the Emerging Church

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D.A. Carson’s Becoming conversant with the emerging church is already a bit dated, since things are moving rapidly in that area.  However, it remains a fair and thorough evaluation (unless you’re a big fan of emerging, in which case it’s obvious to you that Carson just doesn’t ‘get it’).…