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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:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 131060
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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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 24 more reviews...
 A Helpful Guide to the Emerging Church and Contemporary Christianity September 11, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Tony Jones gives a brief but well thought out account of the emergent church culture among contemporary expressions of Christianity. He touches on general misconceptions of the emergent church and offers some insights that ought to help understand emergent Christians and evoke discussion. Also, Jones' telling is delightfully personable with the inclusion of stories and conversations.
I believe that this book is a good starting point for discussion with or about emergent Christians, and on the trajectory of Christianity in our world.
Chapter 1: "Leaving the Old Country" gives a brief review of today's cultural and political context, including cultural, spiritual, intellectual, and organizational dissatisfaction with mainline and evangelical Christianity.
Chapter 2 "Dispatches from the Frontier of the American Church" gives an account of the formation of emergent - on a conversation about visions for the future of Christianity/church and the development of friendships that have ensued. This conversation began with the recognition that the world is now experiencing a major cultural shift - even transformation - that is likened more to with reformation than mere generational differences. This transformation accounts for what many call "postmodern."
Chapter 3 "Who are the Emergent Christians?" talks about attitudes concerning community and culture, how emergent Christians interact with each other, and toward others. I think that this chapter touches on the feeling of tension between faithfulness toward God (with sound theology) and compassion toward others that many Christians have felt.
Chapter 4: "The Theology, Stupid!" gives some perspectives on how to think through and talk about theology. It highlights humble approaches of theological conversation that involve being intentional about the theologian's spatio-temporal locality. This involves, I think, an honest hermeneutic (Perhaps the importance of "specificity" in chapter 4 gives a cue for the discussion on hermeneutics in chapter 5).
Chapter 5: "After Objectivity: Beautiful Truth": talks about attitudes about "truth", and I think touches on what it means to be religious AND realistic in a messy world where we must mature out of our expectations for everything to be clean and sensible. Not everything is clear. If truth is God, and God is incarnational, how does that inform how we live faithfully to what is true?
Chapter 6: "Inside the Emergent Church" gives short accounts of services and communities of four emergent churches that the author has visited, and also notes distinctive qualities of and common attitudes within the emergent church. I think this chapter touches on some important relationships between communal connectiveness, group dynamics, and personal spirituality. Especially notable is the variety of church and experiences.
COMMENTS: I think that it is worth commenting that this book sheds light not only on what this whole "emergent church thing" is, as a specific movement or network, but also on many Christians who have found ways to express their faith in our recent times. For this reason you may find this book helpful for discussion.
 good read August 14, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an important read for anyone interested in the emergent conversation. The personal history of the author's journey and the concepts developed, in this journey, give this book 5 stars from this reviewer. The reviewer feels that more acknowledgement that there are other histories converging into the emergent conversation would have enriched any readers understanding of this movement.
 Garbage! July 16, 2008
1 out of 12 found this review helpful
2Tim 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; (4) and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
The 0NLY "new" teachings after the first century are those that were created and added by Man. Man's "traditions" and "new teachings" were ALL added after the last Apostle was dead... and have sent millions to hell.
Don't be fooled, your salvation is at stake!
Written by an insider but can he see the forrest from the trees? July 15, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Who are Emergent Christians? In his newest book, author Tony Jones provides the most comprehensive explanation to date from that of an insider. The book is basically organized into three sections that describe different aspects of the Emergent movement. The first section outlines the basic history of the movement, which we discover is only about ten years old. The second section outlines the beliefs, attitudes, and philosophies of most Emergents. Here the author spends some time differentiating Emergents from liberal and fundamentalist groups. The final section of the book actually takes the reader through an experience of visiting a worship service of an Emerging Church as well as provided some interviews of those who attend and why. Interspersed throughout the book however, the author also includes what he calls "dispatches" which make summarizing points like news flashes that describe beliefs, thought processes, or behaviors of Emergents. I found these to be the most helpful albeit controversial. They make the book more user-friendly and accessible as reference after you have finished reading it.
In all there are many more things that I can affirm than I can dispute about the Emerging Church and Emergents in general. So as I would not go so as far to call myself Emergent, I definitely feel apart of the Emerging Church after reading this book. One of the ideas I want to begin affirming is idea of the middle way concept. In dispatch #2 Jones states, "Emergents reject that politics and theologies of left verses right." (p. 20) The politics in the church are just as fierce as the politics in government and frankly I am tired of all the mudslinging and conspiracy talk that goes on between conservatives and liberals in our churches. The whole idea of "Emergent" than is to move beyond partisanship and division. Emergents also see "little importance in the discrete differences between the various flavors of Christianity." (Dispatch #1, p. 8). The emphasis is on relationship rather than doctrine. They believe that it is healthy to have theological disagreement and debate as long as it is done in an "envelope of friendship and reconciliation." (Dispatch #7, p. 78).
This is where things get tricky, and there is where a lot of misunderstanding can begin to develop about Emergents. What is important to remember is that they are not saying that all truth is relative. They are just saying that "truth, like God, cannot be definitively articulated by finite human beings." (Dispatch #13, p. 153) In a lot of ways emergents are very skeptical. Thus they enjoy deconstructing doctrines, even the ones at the core of Christian belief, and reconstructing them to test their validity. This may make leaders in the established traditions squirm, but is it really a bad thing? Going back to Emergents concept of truth, they believe that "theology is local, conversational, and temporary," (p. 115) but that does not mean that they hold their beliefs without conviction. It only means that Emergents tend to hold their beliefs with quite a bit of humility (See Dispatch 11). How much of this is uncertainty disguised in the garb of (false) humility is a judgment I am not ready to make at this point.
Now I definitely have red flares going up in my brain when I read something like that and I am sure you might as well, but we must remember that it is dangerous to make premature judgments about a general mindset, until you see it applied to a specific core doctrine. Are they questioning the atonement? Or are they questioning church government? There is a big difference between the two and the latter offers a lot more freedom of interpretation than the former. Yet even the former has had many different emphases over the years. Another thing you have to be careful of is that one Emergent writer rarely speaks for all in the movement. The Emergents have a hard time defining themselves, so good luck trying to categorize them. The minute you do they move.
Finally one of the aspects of Emergents as outlined in this book that I was very uncomfortable with was the disregard at best and open disdain at worst for reverence to God in their worship and an ethical (holy) principled lifestyle (p.199). This surprised me because I was under the impression that Emergents were interested in spiritual disciplines, and the whole point of spiritual disciplines is to have an experience with God, which leads to Holiness of life and character. This laid-back irreverence to me comes across as very presumptive and greatly concerns me. All in all I would recommend the book, especially who someone who is unfamiliar with the movement.
An Onramp to the Emergent Conversation June 2, 2008
3 out of 5 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.
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