Friend of Missional: Clarification & Apology
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Rick Meigs (The Blind Beggar himself), creator of the Friend of Missional website, has kindly but firmly stated (in the comments to a post by Jamie Arpin-Ricci) that it is not his intention to set up any kind of binary opposition, dichotomy, or emnity between his work and that of Emergent Village.
My apologies if I have misrepresented what Friend of Missional is about. There is nothing more frustrating than having people put words in your mouth that don't mean what you intended.
So, let me re-state:
- I will continue to link to Friend of Missional because it more accurately reflects my own values (link has been moved to "Communities & Sundry" section of my sidebar links). AND
- I am also increasingly uneasy with the theologically revisionist direction that Emergent Village's more prominent voices appear to be going.
posted by Robbymac at
6:36 PM
13 Comments:
Robby,
1st- I, for one, liked the picture, but I also like Horatio Caine in spite of the cheesy pith.
2nd, and more to the point, I'd appreciate it if you'd be a little more specific in reference to the "theologically revisionist" stance you've seen at EV. I don't mean to be dense, but I'd rather not infer-- and i do apologize if I'm asking you to repeat yourself.
Sorry, Cindy.
Check out the previous post, where I'm mentioning Spencer Burke's newest book, A Heretic's Guide to Eternity. I got a chance to read it for myself when Bro. Maynard loaned me his copy while I was flying to Toronto a few weeks back. The links (Bob's and Scot's) that I provided pretty much sum up my own reaction to the book.
But come on now... Spencer Burke is not Emergent Village. He doesn't hold any leadership positions in the movement. He's just a guy out west who writes about what he has come to believe. I think it's not fair to EV or Spencer to attribute Spencer's ideas to them.
Okay. I just read Bob's post on the Heretic's Guide. I agree. In what way do you see Spencer as speaking for Emergent?
I don't think that Spencer's thoughts = Emergent Village. Sorry for (even more) confusion.
I only used Spencer's most recent book as indicative of a trend I see in general -- what Stetzer & Driscoll called "revisionism", which means deconstructing and at time, rejecting theological doctrines that have been held for centuries.
I could mention McLaren's more recent books, I guess, but I haven't read them yet (other than Generous Orthodoxy, which I own, as well as the first two book in the New Kind of Christian trilogy, and More Ready Than You Realize). And even then, Brian McLaren, even with as large a shadow as he casts, isn't "the" voice of EV.
Still, I see a trend towards theological revisionism, and I'm not exactly the first one to notice or comment on that (Ie. Mark Driscoll, for starters).
Hmm...
Seems like the more I try to explain myself, the worse I'm making things. Maybe I should just delete these posts and keep my opinions to myself?
no no no. please don't delete.
There is plenty of criticism out there and if I don't keep up with the reasons for it, I won't have an answer.
Every religion has heresies. I think it's probably fair to say that most major denominations have something akin to "heresies" though I don't know what the descriptive word would be other than the catch-all "fringe element."
It stands to reason that a group moving out of the denominational system, yet trying to find some cohesion, would also have a fringe. Let's just be sure that we hang on to our orthodoxy loudly enough to clarify our stance to anyone with a microscope on us.
Perhaps Spencer will be up front in clarifying that his views aren't in sync with all of the Emergent folks.
I just worry that people like Stetzer and Driscoll have led the charge back into our protestant past. The past where everytime you disagree with other christians about something then you need to splinter off from them and start something different. The emergent conversation/movement does not dictate a theological stance. It does push for friendship and partnership with people who don't agree with you though. I think this is actually it's biggest contribution.
I happen to be a "revisionist" but that doesn't mean I think you need to be. I'm still willing to call you brother and partner. I happen to think Spencer is pretty far out there in his thinking. I'm also willing to call him brother and partner. I'm not willing to add more division to the church than we already have.
Can't we all just partner to follow Jesus together? Crazies and traditionalists together following Jesus?
Daniel,
Thanks for taking the time to write. Just a couple of thoughts:
I don't have any love for endless hair-splitting splinters, either, but I also don't see our Protestant past as entirely negative (although I think you were focusing mostly on the splintering aspect, in which case we're already in agreement).
While I want to see a robust orthopraxy (right actions) in being followers of Jesus the Messiah, even in the pre-Modernity Creeds of the Church, there was a great deal of importance placed on orthodoxy (right beliefs). I don't want to lose that balance either.
I'm more than willing to call you, Spencer, and any Friend of Missional, Emerging, Emergent, or Fred Penner "brother" or "sister"! But if Spencer (and others) can write bluntly about what they want to play revisionist with, I hope the same freedom extends to me to bluntly (but hopefully with respect) disagree.
At the risk of dipping into my Protestant past yet again, I have many friends who are hard-core Calvinists and others who are equally-committed Wesleyans (and a few who are pondering the Open Theist view). We agree to disagree, and it hasn't hampered our friendship in the slightest.
Ironically, most of my friends refer to ME as the "crazy" -- I guess it depends on your point of view, eh?
:-)
Thanks for your thoughts.
well, fwiw, I totally understand what you're saying Rob. And agree with your sentiments entirely...oh, and don't go knockin' Weslyans now ;)
Rob,
You could just give up and start writing for E-No... —jab!— ;^)
Maynard,
Keep your cattle-prod to yourself, you impudent young scalawag! Remember that Guinness I bought you in Winnipeg a few weeks back? Well, I SPIT in it when you weren't looking. Nyah.
Makeesha,
I would NEVER knock Wesleyans. Or club baby seals. However, I could be tempted to take cattle-prod to some Calvinists I know...
This has been a great discussion, but my post on taxonomy has earned me as many negative comments as positive. I have tried to clarify, but doubt it is going to help much.
Jamie, your newest post will probably experience the same. I'm actually a little surprised at the intensity of some reactions at your blog and also here (and in private emails in response to my post), although I guess that shouldn't be surprising.
Part of me thinks I should just shut up and keep my ideas/opinions to myself, since they obviously aren't welcome in the "conversation" after all. But another part refuses to be bullied into silence.
I'm going to take some time and reflect before posting on this topic again.
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