ETS 2006- Brett Kunkle: Essential Concerns Regarding the Emerging Church
November 17, 2006 Posted by Roger Overton
Brett Kunkle’s paper on the Emerging Church has been one of the most popular papers this year. It is available on STR's website.
In his preliminary remarks, Brett claimed that he is qualified to speak about the emerging church because he’s personally met with many of its leading voices, attended their conferences and lectures, read their books, and attends what many consider to be an emerging church. While he made some very powerful criticisms, he noted that he does not reject everything that is going on in emerging churches.
Brett raised three areas of concern in assessing the emerging church movement (a broad missional perspective of doing church) and Emergent Village (an organization promoting changes in mission and theology) specifically. In each area, he gave examples of questionable teachings of Emergent leaders (Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and Doug Pagitt), noting that they do not speak for the whole movement, but are influential voices.
The first concern is concerning the cross. Brett cited quotes from McLaren’s work that question substitutionary atonement and promote ignorance of why Christ had to die. The second concern has to do with the authority of the Bible. Brett cited quotes from Pagitt that claim the Bible’s authority depends on the communities that use it. This makes the community authoritative rather than the Bible. The final concern has to do with the nature of truth. He again looked at remarks about truth from Pagitt that seem confused as to what truth is.
In the second part of his paper, Brett raised his most serious concern- that the door is wide open to unorthodoxy. He does not believe, for example, that Tony Jones is currently unorthodox. However, by putting “everything on the table” for reconsideration, they could easily go that route. He used Spencer Burke and his book, A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity, as an example of how unorthodox those in the emerging movement can get.
Related posts:
- Brett Kunkle's Paper Available
- The Corporate Church- An Emerging Church Update
- Defining the Emerging/Emergent-Church/Movement/Conversation
- The End of the Emerging Church
- Modern Reformation #1- The Emerging Church by D.A. Carson
- ETS 4- John Hammett on the Emerging Church
Posted in Emerging / Emergent Church, Main Page, Roger's Posts, Theology
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November 16th, 2006 at 10:50 pm
Roger, I'd be curious to hear more elaboration on those three concerns. I recognize you're trying to summarize. (If you can get the link, i'd be curious to read it). What were some of the things that he affirmed about the emergent church? Were there any papers submitted that looked more favorably on the movement?
November 16th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
My guess is that the paper will go back up, so I'll just go for the last question. I don't know of any papers that were favorable to the movement, but Brett's was the only one I was able to attend. In order to be a member of ETS, one has to affirm inerrancy. Since most of the people who might offer a favorable paper don't affirm inerrancy, it's very unlikely there would be such a paper.
November 17th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
If asked about major doctrines of Christianity, I would have to include the Cross, the Bible and the Nature of Truth.
I'd like to hear why Kunkle aligns himself at all with the emergent church. I think it has already defined itself as unorthodox and even heretical in some of these major doctrines.
November 19th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Joshua,
What then is the Christian (Biblical?) doctrine of the nature of truth?
November 21st, 2006 at 1:09 pm
I think most simply it is stated in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.'”
Jesus Christ is the Biblical/Christian doctrine of the truth (John 1:14). The truth is knowable and powerful (John 8:32). The truth does not contradict itself (Luke 11:23). Though we are unable to know all truth, it is none-the-less open that we can know some of it without violating it (1 Corinthians 13:12). This study of truth can go deep into the Bible. Truth is the perception of reality as God sees it (paraphrase: R.C. Sproul).