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Everything is Opinion?

I've been trying to understand more lately about the Emergent church movement, largely because I know some people who are heading that direction, and I'd like to be able to engage them in intelligent conversation and debate. I do believe that there are some legitimate concerns with the church status quo that Emergent brings to the table, but I think there can be real danger with their method of thought. To illustrate, I was reading a book tonight, and came across the following paragraph:

[There is a] changing view of reality itself, based on the growing sense that no one can be truly objective. You cannot stand outside of your own context--including experiences, biases and the historical-cultural context--and be free to make an unconditioned observation. More than the sentiment "That's your opinion," the idea is that everything is opinion. This does not mean there is not a reality "out there," just that all of our "stories" about what is "out there" are the products of individual, highly subjective minds engaging "what is."
-James Emery White, A Mind for God

Doesn't that have the ring of some things you hear from the Emergent circles? It's not too far from "God has spoken, and the rest is commentary," the Rob Bell quote on the dust jacket of his books. The thing is, this author wasn't describing Emergent at all, but rather moral relativism! I'm afraid that is the destination where some streams of Emergent thought are heading.

Anyone else grappling with this, or dealing with it in their church?

 
Posted by jvp on Oct 2, 2007 at 9:06 PM

Billy Chia says:

Yeah I feel ya on the moral relativism.

The problem with "emergent" is the great diversity of thought and actions that take on that label. Sometimes "emergent" or "emerging" is a liberal thing while other times people can be both very conservative theologically and emergent.

It is really difficult to criticize or praise anything as being "emergent" because that word means different things to different people.

Here are some people who try to define it:

Mark Driscoll: Emergent vs. Emerging --
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcbnGXSYxuI --

Ed Stetzer: Understanding the emerging church --
http://www.baptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=22406 --

Scot McKnight: Five Streams of the Emerging Church --
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/february/11.35.html

- October 2, 2007 11:08 PM

JVP says:

Thanks for the links, I will definitely check them out. I have a couple of books on my reading list for this purpose as well:

"Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church" by D. A. Carson (recommended by my brother)

And the book that came out of last year's Desiring God national conference, "The Supremacy of Christ in a Post-Modern World".

- October 3, 2007 7:52 AM