Emerging Church Books

Lately I have had the privilege of reading a number of books related to the subject of the emerging church. In case the term "emerging church" has no meaning to you, it is a catch-all phrase to refer to churches that are adjusting in some way to speak to the emerging, postmodern culture. The emerging church is not a denomination with creeds, spokesmen, and doctrinal statements. It is simply a descriptive term for some things that are happening. Because of that, there is no central voice, and very few things are matters of consensus.
I thought it would be fun to give some thoughts on a few of the books I have read on the subject.
Disclaimer: I am aware that it might seem strange for me to toss out compliments and criticisms of these authors and pastors. They do not need my approval. They are certainly not sitting around waiting for my review. These are all just my opinions as I process some different things.
I'll start with this book because it was the first one that I read on this recent spree. Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches is one of those "five views" books. Each author writes a chapter, and then the other four write responses. So, this one has multiple authors. I have to admit that when I first read Mark Driscoll in this book, I was not crazy about him. I did not disagree with much of his objective theology, but I did not like his presentation, and he came across as very dismissive of those who disagreed with him on points that I thought were disputable within evangelicalism, and certainly within Christian orthodoxy. I also was not sure that Mark should be considered a voice within the emerging church. I don't mean that as an insult. I don't think everyone needs to be part of the emerging church, whatever that means. I then read a full book by Driscoll (more on this later), and my opinion of him has gone up (again, not that he is awaiting my thumbs-up).
The two authors that I loved in this book, though, were John Burke and Dan Kimball. Both hold firmly to biblical truth, both have a great perspective on how we re-evaluate how we have lived out and presented Christianity and how we need to. If you are interested, you can check out John Burke in his book No Perfect People Allowed (I haven't read it yet, but I hope to soon), and you can get the podcast of his church, Gateway Church (I now subscribe).
Karen Ward's chapter was tough to read. It was not very coherent. I had problems with her and Doug Pagitt because both of them have a vague (at best) view of Scripture. They like the Bible, but they both are dismissive of using the Bible as primary revelation from God. They vaguely talk about how it is good and how we should use it, but talk about how we have overused it. There is not a real solution given, unfortunately.
While our theology of Scripture is, truly, only one area of our theology, it impacts all other areas. Pagitt (along with McLaren) is weak on bibliology and it leaves him largely rudderless. It saddens me. As all our churches seek to minister to the postmodern culture, I hope that we can emulate Bruke and Kimball more than Pagitt and McLaren (although Pagitt and McLaren have some GREAT contributions to the overall discussion).
I was so thrown off my Mark Driscoll from this first book that I decided to read his book Radical Reformission. I also subscribed to his podcast at Mars Hill Church in Seattle (not to be confused with Rob Bell's Mars Hill). I now understand why Driscoll is included amongst emerging voices. I thought his book was great (and very humorous). He is interesting because he teaches theology hardcore at his church. He is uber-reformed (almost militant at times). He is brilliant in my estimation (although sometimes he annoys me because he makes fun of others). He has some great stuff in this book about, amongst other things, the difference between culture and worldliness. I think his book is a great contribution to the discussion. He is not pro-postmodern. I think this makes his voice unique. He thinks postmodernism and modernism both have issues. He is not attached to either.
Just a note, his preaching style does not seem like it would appeal to a postmodern culture, but here are a couple of interesting things:
1. He is blunt. There is no BS with Mark Driscoll. He just puts it out there. I think that connects well with people of a postmodern mindset (although it also offends many people of a postmodern mindset).
2. He has lots of Q & A times. This allows for major interaction, which I think all our churches should do more of.
3. In the Q & A times, he will answer questions on forbidden topics. He unblushingly answers questions about masturbation, oral sex, and abortion. He contributes by helping these topics not to be off-limits.
I liked Dan Kimball so much that I just had to read his book The Emerging Church. Also, if you see a picture of Dan Kimball, he has the coolest flat-top ever! I loved this book, and Kimball has lots of helpful charts to contrast modernism and postmodernism. Kimball is more favorably disposed to postmodernism because he sees problems with modernism. At the same time, he focused his main problems with modernism on consumerism (which, hopefully, we could all agree is a problem to be combatted). Kimball also does great work in demonstrating that ministering to the emerging culture means more than just "refluffing the pillows" by bringing in candles and growing goatees. I really recommend this book. Great stuff, and very thought-provoking.

Okay, so I have issues with Brian McLaren. To be honest, it saddens me that he is one of the chief voices for the emerging church (although many who are identified within the emerging church have expressed major concerns about him). At the same time, to talk about this issue and not talk about McLaren would be like talking about civil rights without talking about Martin Luther King, Jr. McLaren has great contributions to this discussion. I think he often does a great job diagnosing some major problems in our churches today. At the same time, I think some of his solutions don't move us forward. Again, as was the case with Pagitt, McLaren's bibliology is very poor. It puts him off-base at some major points (in my opinion). At the same time, his book Everything Must Change has some great thoughts on how we as the church serve the world and become advocates for justice and for the needy. Good stuff. Major discernment is needed, in my opinion.

I also read Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church by D.A. Carson. This book is sort of conservative evangelicalism's response to the movement. The difficulty is that there is not a creed, denomination, doctrinal statement, or spokesman for the movement. This is where I think Carson's book is not entirely productive. He is not all-critical with the emerging church, but I think that he is dismissive in some ways that are not helpful (again, my opinion). I have no issue with him being dismissive of certain values, or even certain people. But when the reasoning is, "The emerging church is like this, and that is bad," Carson falls short of recognizing the diversity within the emerging church. I also think that he falls short in really understanding some of the very real problems with modernism that are being positively addressed by people who are associated with the emerging church. It may be arrogant for me to critique D.A. Carson, but, hey, this is just my two cents on my blog. Also, I am a Master of Divinity now, so that must count for something :).

Well, I am impressed if any of you actually read this whole thing. Have a great day.