Customer Reviews

The Emergent Church- Undefining Christianity

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I believe that this book is the most well written, comprehensive and accurate book that has been written about the beliefs of the Emergent Church. It is sure to be the standard of reference and required reading in colleges and seminaries around the world for those that are studying the Emergent Church. Bob Dewaay has certainly done a lot of research in preparation for writing this book. He documents where this movement started, who the main proponents were and who the current proponents are and what they believe.
If you want to understand the theology of the Emergant Church this is the book to read, regardless of what your viewpoint is.

Bob DeWaay`s writing is always very lucid and insightful. This book is no exception. I wish everyone deluded by Emergent Church sophistry would read this. It really is amazing that so many are deceived by something that is not even very original, as DeWaay shows very well by tracing the roots of Emergent Church ideology. Actually, he could have traced their relativism all the way to Protagoras, a relativist philosopher who was refuted by Socrates. DeWaay treats their views with a lot of fairness and respect -much more respect than they deserve. He shows how eschatology is the unifying theme of the movement [their wishful thinking about the future, which they call "hope"]. If the book has any flaw, it is in his tendency to quote Francis Schaeffer a lot. J. Gresham Machen is better on this issue. But this is a minor quibble about a top-notch book.

brilliant, mr Bob Dewaay as produced an excellent exposes of a fast growing, pseudo christian cult that will take people to a judgment of wrath that they say is not going to happen, latte drinking so called spiritual gurus, whose main
reason is to promote new age pantheism into christian churches under the disguise of being free and liberal christian thinkers, its just the old verbiage we are all-one and in-tune with the universe rubbish,

this book is a must if you are serious and want to know about and expose this cult, that thinks all religions are the same and we must make the planet fuzzy good and live together in harmony, and be RE creators with God its got no substance and no hope of salvation

thank you for a well written book, and the great amount of research you have done

yours in jesus

This book is full of good information about what the emergent church really is. However, it is not an easy read. It is more like a text book...one to be studied. But after reading it, you should understand the movement.

Bob Dewaay's research into the Emergent movement is one of the most important books I've read in years. It needs to be circulated widely, particularly among evangelical denominations like the SBC and the Assemblies of God. The Emergent Church is also a courageous work, because the movement's leaders are clever in marketing themselves; many, many pastors have been taken-in by Emergent philosophies, which are dangerous to the health of the evangelical church. In this book, the author provides clear analysis of the world view of the Emergent community, and his investigation into the eschatological views of Emergent are absolutely critical for Christians to grasp, and grasp right away.

A very well written and researched document finally explaining the Emergent Church and it's deep historical roots and it's attempts to erase the borders of what defines us as Christians.

Every age is preceeded by a change in thought, a shift in paradigm, and the way humanity perceives life, it's meaning, and how we relate to the world. The postmodern era wants to undefine the meaning of Christianity in favor of community and pural salvation. Only when we truly erase the borders, when Christians become part of the world, can we be fully united under one government ... under one man.

I enjoyed reading this more thorough & academic look into the emerging church. This work delves beyond the typical catch-phrases like 'hope', 'missional', 'relevant' etc that seem to be offered by emergents, and gives a real insight into the origins and formative elements of their theology.

Indeed, from looking at their sites such as Emergent Village or the articles on Christianity today, one would be hard-pressed to actually find any distinguishing characteristics of the Emergent church from the mainstream. On the surface it is a loose collection of young, enthusiastic Christians, simply disillusioned by the failures of current Protestantism, looking for new faith expressions & outreach styles. But Pastor DeWaay carefully outlines the alternative worldviews and non-biblical theology & eschatology (at least of emergent leaders like McLaren, Bell & Pagitt) that derive from German philosophers. In addition, he describes their departure from sola scriptura and the very idea of propositional truth & Biblical foundationalism, touching on their foray into mysticism and use of icons, the logical outcomes of these trends. I would recommend this work for every Christian who wishes to 'understand the times.'

The author's insightful research on where "emergents" actually stand on various issues is very helpful. He has exposed many of the underlying principles that many emergents accept and thus use as a springboard for their assertions. Without knowing these insights, understanding what an emergent means when he says something can be very elusive and hard to pin down. While one can never argue with an emergent, at least by giving me a glimmer of understanding of what they base their thoughts upon, I can more easily resist their tenets. Since so much fundamental information is offered in this book, it is probably a book that one goes back to again and again.

But be forewarded - understanding "emergent" tenets is not an easy task, and indeed, it may not be necessary to understand fully anyway. But when someone states that language itself cannot be trusted, I now know enough to keep away from them!

Lee

"The Emergent Church - Undefining Christianity" is little more than a hatchet job against straw men of Dewaay's own creating.

Probably the greatest problem is that he treats the ECM as a monolithic movement, when it is an organic response - across multiple denominations and traditions - to the rise of postmodernism in society.

If you want an accurate reading on the ECM - one that covers the good and the bad, you're better off reading Scot McKnight's white paper/seminar on the Five Streams of the Emerging Church, or Dan Kimball's book "They Like Jesus but Not the Church". Leave DeWaay on the shelf with the other hack-jobs whose primary concern with the Emerging Church is that it's not beholden to Calvinism...