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Christianity Today, May (Web-only), 2008 |

Emergent's New Christians and the Young, Restless Reformed

Tony Jones and Collin Hansen find connections as they discuss each other's books and movements.

Collin Hansen and Tony Jones | posted 5/02/2008 09:38AM

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And we all read each other's stuff, and I think that is so good for all of us. Most people in the Emergent blogosphere know exactly what "HT: JT" means. (For the uninitiated, it means "Hat Tip: Justin Taylor.") Justin, of course, is a Reformed blogger, but you're likely to see him linked to once or twice a week on the Emergent Village blog.

And I've had the pleasure of breaking bread with you, Justin, John Piper, Abraham Piper, Darrin Patrick, Tim Keller, and others. There are those on the Reformed side who won't return my e-mails, but that's the exception. The rule seems to be an openness to conversation and even friendship.

— Tony

Related elsewhere:

Hansen and Jones's first exchange was posted yesterday.

The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier and Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists are available from ChristianBook.com and other retailers.

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Tim	Posted: May 05, 2008 11:40 AM

It seems that my fellow commentors are more interested in throwing stones at a movement than in looking at the dialog in an attempt to understand the movement and the generation that it is far more successful in reaching than ours is. In the process they throw the baby out with the bathwater. Remember that Nicodemus asked a lot of questions of Jesus and ended his days as a devoted follower of Christ while his fellow Pharisees who did not ask questions, but rather gave religious answers ended their days in hell. Be careful who you throw stones at. May I never stop asking questions of the scripture and Jesus and never stop looking to other Christians and/or Christ Followers for guidance and warning. Thanks CT for continuing the dialog of the ages.

Steven

Posted: May 04, 2008 7:30 AM

One of the challenges for Emergent Theology (yes, there clearly is one), is the base concept that the asking of questions is preeminent. I see more value in asking a question, that produces a search, which results in understanding/enlightenment and that leads to viable solutions. There is nothing inherently valuable about simply asking questions. The Traditional Church[TC] (whatever that really looks like) has spent a couple thousand years trying to teach Biblical answers and solutions. Jesus did command us to "Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you" (Mt 28:20, NLT). The TC has had its issues, but so has the Emergent Village[EV]. Perhaps we could borrow from Hegel's dialectic: Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis. The TC does not hear from the EV that they are willing to dialogue w/o the presupposition that the TC is fundamentally wrong and the EV has the right way; end of discussion.

Ephrem Hagos

Posted: May 04, 2008 6:06 AM

For the record, all Christian theological theories explaining the atoning work of Jesus on the cross are the anti-types foreshadowed in the death-producing "tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad" --an infinitely far cry from "people looking at Him whom they pierced" (John 19:34-37) --the anti- type of eating from the fruit of "the tree that gives life" (Gen. 2: 9). These are verifiable life and death issues not theological theories!

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