Tony Jones
“The problem with the emerging church is that they are allowing culture to set the agenda for the theological conversation, whereas the “Reformation” was driven by a desire to get back in touch with the Bible.” (conservative theologian who is writing a book which will most likely be an attack on the emerging church)
There was a major shift from feudal economy to the rise of the nation state (as well as the birth of the Enlightenment Project) – occurring during the time of the Reformation – so of course there was a cultural movement that the Reformation was riding the waves off of.
Responding theologically to a cultural problematic.
And that is exactly what is happening right now.
“My friends, the Reformation is over. Signed, sealed and delivered. But it’s done. Something new is happening.” Phyllis Tickle
The point of Emergent as a name, is that God seems to be doing new things, and we want to develop religious structures, churches that are open to what God is doing.
1. It’s very important for us to be up front about the fact that there is a doctrine of revelation is at stake here. There are new revelations. We haven’t displaced Scripture as the penultimate revelation of God – but that God is continuing to do new things, to reveal Godself in the midst of culture, theology, churches, our lives, marriages, etc. We want to be open to that new revelation from God.
2. Cultural problematic we’re dealing with is globalization. It means:
a. it’s the decline of the nation state, borders don’t really mean so much, they are human constructs. People have more of a consciousness of being citizens of the Globe, of the planet, instead of nation-states. The world has become smaller.
i. 4 Responses to Globalization
1. secularization: continuation of the Modernist project, progress, reliant upon technology. eventually we won’t have to rely on religion to give us meaning for life.
a. this is dead amongst social theorists – religion will NOT fade away
2. ethnocentrism: patriotism, flag-waving, desire for purity amidst cultures
3. fundamentalism: religious response to globalization, we’re dealing with “otherness” – and when you live in a globalized world, you have to deal with the fact that OTHER people really really really believe this stuff. So you want to build up the walls, and look inward and build up theological constructs that protect, and they want to hermetically seal up what we’ve always believed.
4. postmodernism: philosophical construct that tries to deal with the radical pluralism of the world today.
a. We have to somehow construct theory that deals with the “otherness” that confronts us in a globalized world.
b. An attempt to navigate, theologically, at the one hand at the heart of the gospel is a respect for the OTHERNESS of human beings. (again, Volf’s “Exclusion & Embrace”) / on the other hand, there is something particular about being Christian
c. Navigating living in a radically pluralistic world (D. James Kennedy is wrong) – we have this apostolic call that is unique
5. American individualism vs Christian communalism
6. Books:
a. A New Religious America: Diana Eck
b. The Next Christendom: Philip Jenkins
c. The Transformation of American Religion: Alan Wolff
Doug Pagitt
Church communities are supposed to create theology, they are supposed to be theological communities.
Reasons for New Ways of Understanding/Explaining God (Theology)
- our story doesn’t fit
- we now know what we didn’t know before
- not about cultural accommodation, but about theological reflection. I don’t think that in a time of great innovation, innovation of travel, technology, healing the body, transhuman/nanotechnology, etc., etc – that we can be applying 15th century theology to our lives today.
Nanotechnology: changing of substances at the molecular level – the rearranging of atoms to create entirely different substances.
The way God behaves, is the way we’re supposed to behave. “Be holy because I am holy.” Behave the way I behave. Be the people of God.
We understanding humanity primarily by its distinctiveness from God; but maybe we need to be co-collaborating with God – doing what God does.
“The Next Big Thing is Really Small” intro-level book on nanotechnology.
“The point is that matter…matters. If we can manipulate the atom, then the rules of the games change.” If we are actually CREATING new substances, then we’re entering into “God’s realm.”
Characteristics of a New Theology
- Rhythm with God / less distinctive FROM God
- New Ways of Being Human – Co-creative
- the problem of Christian theology is not our understanding of God, but it’s our BAD understanding of humanity/anthropology
- Educated communities who can communicate
- comes from a context
- theological statements need to begin with “it seems to me” – which does not weaken our theology
- integrated
- temporary: “it seems to me for now that this is a pretty good way of understanding”
Theology & Culture
- take what you learn from the bible and apply it to culture
- Tillich: correlational model: culture raises questions, and theology provides answers
- Transversal reasoning: theology will be done at local points
- group of people in a mental hospital sit down to talk about a patient, you’ll have a social worker, parents, neurological doctor, psychiatrist, nurse, etc. They all use what they have to offer to help bring about the healing of this patient
- we gather around together doing theology together that is local, temporary, fluid – to deal with a problematic
- We are saying that the message does in fact change – not just the methods. The medium is the message.
- Expanded theology for an expanding world.
People don’t get to share because they are educated, but just because they are.
What makes someone ready and able to do theology? The birth experience.