Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives [Paperback]

Mark Driscoll (Author), John Burke (Author), Dan Kimball (Author), Doug Pagitt (Author), Karen Ward (Author), Robert Webber (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2007

What are the beliefs of the new movement known as the emerging church? In thought-provoking debate, prominent emerging leaders John Burke, Mark Driscoll, Dan Kimball, Doug Pagitt, and Karen Ward discuss their sometimes controversial views under the editorship of author and educator Robert Webber. Hear what they say about their views of Scripture, Christ, the atonement, other world religions, and other important doctrines, so you can come to your own conclusions about the emerging church.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Webber (1933 - 2007) was the William R. and Geraldyn B. Myers professor of ministry at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois, and professor of theology emeritus at Wheaton College. A theologian known for his work on worship and the early church, Webber was founder and president of the Institute for Worship Studies, Orange Park, Florida.

Doug Pagitt (BA Bethel College, MA Bethel Seminary) is pastor of Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis. He is part of the leadership of Emergent: a generative friendship among missional Christian leaders. Doug is married to Shelley and they are parents of four children, and is author of Preaching Re-Imagined, Church Re-Imagined, and BodyPrayer.

Dan Kimball is the author of several books on leadership, church, and culture. He is on staff at Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California, and is a professor at George Fox University. He enjoys comic art, Ford Mustangs, and punk and rockabilly music. His passion is to see the church and Christians follow and represent Jesus in the world with love, intelligence, and creativity. His website and blog are at www.dankimball.com. SPANISH BIO: Dan Kimball es autor de varios libros, incluyendo 'Emerging Worship', y 'Jesus me convence, pero la iglesia no'. el es pastor de la iglesia Vintage Faith en Santa Cruz, California, una iglesia misionera enfocada en la cultura emergente y post-cristiana. Dan y su esposa, Becky, tienen dos hijas, Claire y Katie, y un viejo Ford Mustang de 1966.

John Burke and his wife, Kathy, founded Gateway Church in Austin, Texas, in 1998. Since then, Gateway has grown to over 3,000 people, 70 percent of whom are in their twenties and thirties, and consists mostly of unchurched people who began actively following Christ at Gateway. Burke is also the author of No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a Come-as-You-Are Culture in the Church.

Mark Driscoll is one of the 50 most influential pastors in America, and the founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle (www.marshillchurch.org), the Paradox Theater, and the Acts 29 Network which has planted scores of churches. Mark is the author of The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out. He speaks extensively around the country, has lectured at a number of seminaries, and has had wide media exposure ranging from NPR's All Things Considered to the 700 Club, and from Leadership Journal to Mother Jones magazine. He's a staff religion writer for the Seattle Times. Along with his wife and children, Mark lives in Seattle.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (January 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310271355
• ISBN-13: 978-0310271352
• Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 6 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #380,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A great look at the diversity of the Emerging Churches April 19, 2007

By Jay Winters

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

After a while, studying the Emerging Church leaves you wondering if any of the major figureheads of the movement really agree on anything. Robert Webber has created a "boy band" (with one girl) of the Emerging Church with this book - putting together the right blend of different leaders from the movement to show five representative streams and make it an entertaining read all at the same time.

Although the idea may have originated to show the commonality between Emerging leaders, what is better highlighted is the diversity of belief between these folks. Through reading this book you learn what makes a Dan Kimball who he is and how that is different from the approach that a Karen Ward will take.

The book shows the commonalities found in the Emerging Church in a more inductive way. The Emerging Church's focus on those who do not know the faith yet is very apparent, and the missional philosophy of church is a major factor. Additionally, a general feeling that the things that these pastors were taught in seminaries didn't give them all that they needed. Dan Kimball who went to a Baptist seminary goes on and on about the Nicene Creed which was probably not taught all that much. Karen Ward, educated in the ELCA (she actually grew up as an LCMS Lutheran) expresses a dissatisfaction with how she was taught theology as a "big theology" instead of a more localized effort. Lastly, an overwhelming warm fuzzy feeling prevades the book. I don't think this is a mistake, these Emerging Church leaders don't see each other as enemies even when they disagree which says things both good and bad about the movement.

This book is also a rare look into what many theologians want to know about the Emerging Church, the specific theological beliefs of the Emerging Church.... However, rather than finding specific theological beliefs, what the reader finds is theological beliefs from all sorts of different Christian traditions (liberal protestant, post-evangelical emergent, Calvinistic conservative, etc) tied together by a sense of urgency and purpose.

There are specific ideas about favorite theological "picking points" in the book. Scripture's role, the Trinity, and substitutionary atonement are all addressed. It would be remiss, however, for someone to claim that this book clears up how the Emerging Church sees these issues as a whole. It appears that the Emerging Church has beliefs, but they are far from homogenized as of yet.

Instead, what the reader finds is a clearer understanding of how they might fit into what this "Emerging Church" looks like. Five of the Emerging Church's most popular pastors seek to show not only the unity that they feel in being "emerging" but in the diversity that they express through their different takes on things from Baptism to ideas about physics.

It's a good read and I would recommend it to anyone who is far enough along in their research to know at least a few of the names in the book. If you don't know who Mark Driscoll, Dan Kimball, and Doug Pagitt are - you should spend a little more time getting to know the movement before you read this book. Read more ›

36 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Theologianhood Of The Believer... May 2, 2007

By Douglas Bass

Format:Paperback

...is what emerging churches are about, at least according to this book (with the exception of Mark Driscoll's contributions). I say "contributions" because each of the five contributors not only writes a chapter of his/her own, but responds to each of the chapters by the other contributors. So by the time you've finished the parts written by the contributors, you have a pretty good idea of what the contributors are thinking about things.

In addition, this book contains some context for the conversations of the contributors, provided at the beginning and end by evangelical theologian Robert Webber. He contends American evangelical Christianity is at the beginning of the fourth of four roughly twenty-year cycles, seeking how to interact with a post-Christian, neo-pagan culture, finding that the questions to which they have answers aren't being asked anymore.

The placement of the names on the cover is a pretty accurate reflection of where the contributors are theologically. The only change I would make is swapping Karen Ward and Doug Pagitt.

Each of the five contributors have different diagnoses of the problems with American evangelical Christianity in the early 21st century:

Mark Driscoll says the problem is watering down the truth of Scripture, giving Jesus a makeover to make him more attractive to our culture. His prescription is to unapologetically present the message of Jesus as told by an authoritative Scripture. As I read his words, I remembered Bible teacher J. Vernon McGee saying "The chief sin of the church is ignorance of the word of God."

John Burke says the problem is that American Christians are both hypocritical, unchanged in their character and behavior, and judgemental, believing they have a monopoly on truth.... His prescription is to invite people to come as they are, recognizing it might take a while for changes in people to take place.

Dan Kimball says the problem is that we're still stuck with those dispensational end-time charts, and scared that someone is going to ask a question to which we don't know the answer. His prescription is to create a worshipping community of missional theologians, people who are well-versed in the study of the nature of God, and inquiring into religious questions.

Doug Pagitt says the problem is any number of assumptions about the way we do theology, an unwillingness to address new questions raised by scientific advances, and an unwillingness to think about the increasing rate of cultural change. His prescription is to challenge these assumptions and address new cultural realities.

Karen Ward says the problem is the modern pastor-as-CEO model. Her prescription is an apprentice model of discipleship, distributing as much of the mentoring as possible. Her prescription also involves a metaphor of theology as the cooking of tasty, nutritious food, as opposed to the metaphor of theology as architecture.

Robert Webber provides a helpful summary of the contributions in his conclusion section. In my opinion, Webber's Appendix 2, "What is the Ancient-Future Vision?" and Appendix 3, "A Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future" should have been placed immediately after the conclusion section, because Webber just wasn't finished commenting. It is unfortunate that some readers of this book won't read these parts because of where they are placed.

I considered my complaints about the placement of names on the cover, and the placements of the appendices to be insufficient to take the fifth star away from a revealing book about American evangelical Christians in the early 21st century.

Full Disclosure: I attend Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Doug Pagitt, one of the contributors, is my pastor. Read more ›

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A good peek into the emerging movement March 3, 2007

By Kurt J. Hannah

Format:Paperback

The candor and grace of the writers is wonderfully refreshing. The reason this book is helpful is that it presents a critique of the movement from within. While only Driscoll, Burke and Kimball seemed to stick to the topic at hand, Driscoll and Burke were the most theological and consistent. While I would be considered one of those sitting in the coffeeshop eavesdropping on the "conversation," my exposure to the last two writers left me troubled. I think Driscoll's critique to be very helpful and honest, dealing with issues without attacking personalities. That said, I'm not sure where Chrisitan distinctives fit into Doug Pagitt's or Karen Ward's congregations. They talk about God, the Kingdom, and Jesus, but in varied and often redefined ways, according to their own opinions with liitle authority outside themselves. Good exposure to be able to see what's really going on amidst all the buzz.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Demonstrates the Diversity within the Movement February 14, 2007

By Blake T. Ring

Format:Paperback

Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches is a well-writing book that represents the diversity within the movement. The writings of Mark Driscoll were the real highlight of the book. There were a number of times that this pastor surprised me with his insight and intellectualism. A first example is found in his response to Kimball's chapter. Kimball references his adherence to the Nicene Creed a number of times and he gives the impression that he is unwilling to be dogmatic on theological points that are outside the scope of this ancient statement of faith (i.e., the role of women in ministry). I praise Kimball for his commitment to the Nicene Creed, but Driscoll is right in pointing out that the Nicene Creed is silent on a number of important doctrines. Driscoll writes, "For example, when a gay couple walks in and expects their lifestyle to be accepted, a Wiccan walks in and invites people to attend her pagan eco-spirituality festivals, or The Da Vinci Code fans start inviting people from the church to their house to learn about Jesus' wife and kids, the Nicene Creed, though true, is not sufficient because it does not answer any of these sorts of current issues (107)."

Driscoll is correct that Kimball's adherence to the Nicene Creed is not enough. Another example of Driscoll's intelligent analysis is found in his response to Burke's assertions that religion (including other religions) and morals can lead a person into a relationship with God. Driscoll states, "But Jesus stands against religion and morality as enemies of the gospel because, as Martin Luther said, religion and morality are the default mechanisms of the human heart to pursue righteousness apart from him" (70).... Lastly, Driscoll calls some of the other writers out on the carpet for not fulfilling the purpose of the book, which is to address theology within the movement. After reading Pagitt's chapter, he writes, "we were assigned to articulate our views on the Trinity, the atonement, and Scripture, and having read Doug's chapter, I remain uncertain of his position on these issues" (144). Addressing Ward's chapter, Driscoll responds,"Karen's chapter raises the important question of what exactly is the level of authority that Scripture holds in the church. Karen's chapter uses only three Scripture references, an old worship song, an indie rock band, a postmodern philosopher, a church blog, a movie, an obscure theologian, and Hindu Ghandi as her authorities(184)." Here, Driscoll addresses a concern that many within the established church have raised about the emerging church, "What is its view on the authority of Scripture"? The book is a good read, however Ward and Pagitt were a disappointment. Read more ›