The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier | 
 enlarge | Author: Tony Jones
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 29367
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0787994715
Dewey Decimal Number: 270.83
EAN: 9780787994716
ASIN: 0787994715
Publication Date: March 3, 2008
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
What the "Emergent Church Movement" is all about-and why it matters to the future of Christianity Following on the questions raised by Brian McLaren in A New Kind of Christian, Tony Jones has written an engaging exploration of what this new kind of Christianity looks like. Writing "dispatches" about the thinking and practices of adventurous Emergent Christians across the country, he offers an in-depth view of this new "third way" of faith-its origins, its theology, and its views of truth, scripture and interpretation, and the Emergent movement's hopeful and life-giving sense of community. With the depth of theological expertise and broad perspective he has gained as a pastor, writer, and leader of the movement, Jones initiates readers into the Emergent conversation and offers a new way forward for Christians in a post-Christian world. With journalistic narrative as well as authoritative reflection, he draws upon on-site research to provide fascinating examples and firsthand stories of who is doing what, where, and why it matters.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 An Onramp to the Emergent Conversation June 2, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
For anyone who ever asks me what Emergent is all about, I simply point to The New Christians and say, "read this." Fusing the clean style of a journalist, the wisdom of a scholar and the wit of a guy who is immersed in the conversation, Tony Jones has written a timely apologetic and history of the emerging church. Read it; not only will you not be disappointed, but you'll find yourself hopeful about the church's future.
great introduction to the emergent church May 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book provides a great introduction to the "emergent church" fast arising these days between liberal and conservative world views. One of the founders himself, Tony Jones
tells about the informal cadre of young Christians using all the modalities of the Internet to break out of the boxy confines of the mainline churches. Established religion is not too happy about it all, but liberals like me are delighted to see people trying to actually follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Moreover, they may help us break out of the stultifying two-party political system we are currently trapped in. Read it and have hope!
Highest Recommendation May 20, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Thanks for this book Tony! I would recommend this book to anyone looking to understand why emergent began and where it was birthed from. The first few chapters helped me to gain a better perspective of what emergent is trying to do. Keep it up! While I don't know how comfortable I would be in some of the emergent gatherings, I would hope that I would see how God is moving among those present. I think we can all learn something from the desire to have conversation instead of debates.
Best overall introduction to Emergent April 16, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
An excellent introduction to all things Emergent. Tony Jones does a great job outlining many of the characteristics of an Emergent way of faith, while also providing an insider's perspective on how much of the conversation began in the United States. This really is a must-read for anyone who is deep into the conversation, but is especially perfect for those who are new to the conversation and want to learn more about what it's all about. In reading this book it's important to acknowledge that it does primarily focus on the Emergent conversation in the United States. This is not a fault of the book, but must be acknowledged. For a more global perspective, or at least a perspective that includes the UK, one should read Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures by Gibbs and Bolger (a personal favorite, and a must-read).
This book fits well with the rest of the "Emergent Visions" series. You should definitely also check out the first book in the series Soul Graffiti: Making a Life in the Way of Jesus and the third, A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in us All - taken together they are quite an Emergent trifecta.
 Disappointed April 15, 2008
13 out of 16 found this review helpful
I was looking forward to reading this book, but ended up terribly disappointed! This book was a painful read. Not because it challenged my thinking, but because of the tortured reasoning, incoherent conclusions, and an utterly ridiculous portrayal of the modern church that left me wondering if Jones' real intent was to parody Emerging Church (EC) beliefs. For example:
1) Because the roots of the Southern Baptist denomination is the American Pilgrims and "Jolly Old England" therefore, at least genealogically, Albert Mohler (President of the SBC Southern Seminary) is in fact a Bishop of Southern Baptists (pg. 6).
2) Evangelical churches determine their theological and missiological priorities under pressure from conservative radio show hosts (pg. 18).
3) The claim of biblical authority as the Word of God is demonstrably untrue, and portrays those that think otherwise as irrational and unsophisticated.
Another example is Jones' effort to demonstrate the irrationality of believing in Biblical authority, To accomplish this Jones presents a rhetorical conversation between someone with the more sophisticated view of Scripture and an Evangelical:
-"I believe because the Bible says so."
-"How do you know the Bible is true and accurate?"
-"Because the Apostles died for it, and people don't die for a lie."
-"What about the 911 terrorists?"
-"They were deceived; they didn't know that what they died for was a lie. The Apostles had seen Jesus and lived with him so they knew he wasn't a lie."
-"What about the followers of Jim Jones and David Koresh?"
-"Well the Bible is really true because of the original manuscripts."
-"Do we have the original manuscripts?"
-"No, but we some old ones that are close to the originals."
-"How do we know they weren't changed?"
-"Because we have faith in the historical process by which early manuscripts were copied and distributed."
-"So your faith is in history..." (pg. 19)
The presentation continues on, but anyone that knows anything about the issue understands that Jones completely misrepresented the evangelical position. Either Jones is intellectually dishonest or he doesn't understand the issues. His inability to accurately portray the beliefs and practices of conservative evangelicals raises the question of whether or not emergent objections to modern Christian doctrine and practice have any real substance? If so, then why not accurately portray that which they seek to criticize? If EC theology is correct, then why is it necessary to misrepesent their opponents to substantiate their conclusions? Whether it is misunderstanding or misrepresentation, the result is same: Jones is disqualified as a legitimate critic of the modern church; for the reader cannot hope to gain any worthwhile insights from the critique of a belief system that either doesn't exist, or that the critic simply doesn't understand.
I have been researching the EC full time for more than two years. A primary practice of the Emerging church is deconstructing (critiquing) the doctrines and practices of the modern church. Let me assure you that if your desire is to learn about the Emerging Church's construct and theology, there are other books written by other authors who can explain the EC and who - even though their theology is fraught with error - possess the intellectual capacity to offer a critique of modern Christianity that will, at least, challenge your thinking. This, however, is not that book, and Jones is not that author. Save your money!
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