the blog
Is The House Studio emergent?
by bruce
March 4, 2010 | Culture, Faith, Religion, Theology | 11 responses
A couple mornings ago I listened to Matt Lauer of the Today Show interviewing a politician. As they were running out of time for the segment, Lauer tried to squeeze in one final question, prefacing it with, “Ok Senator, one more question. Please answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’.” I lost a lot of respect for Lauer at that point. I decided long ago that if I ever get the “Yes or no only” question, my answer will be, “I don’t answer questions that aren’t concerned with the truth.” Why is it so hard for reporters to realize that not everything is as cut and dried as what a one-answer reply will indicate?
Off and on here at the House we get a similar question, and it is impossible to answer as stated: “Are you emergent?”
The first time I received this question I was pretty embarrassed; since we don’t have any intent to categorize ourselves one way or another, we hadn’t concerned ourselves with being schooled in what it meant. So we started reading. We started listening. We started watching the debate as it continues to unfold. And after many months of this, all I can say with confidence about the debate is that there is no single definition. There aren’t even just a couple definitions. In fact the definition of what “emergent” is appears to vary from person to person, regardless of whether the individual speaking is for it or against it. Like the old men in Douglas Adams’s famous work asking the all-knowing computer, “What is the answer to life?” I realize I don’t understand the question. And more and more I am convinced that those who ask us don’t understand it either.
The best we can respond to this is with a question of our own–”What do you mean by ‘emergent’?” If you consider yourself emergent and are seeking an ally in the debate, I would encourage you to look elsewhere. If you believe emergent means we represent some big bad theological Boogey Man, I would again urge you to look elsewhere. Our materials are vetted by theological scholars, and are firmly based in the Arminian tradition. If you read something into the fact that we use a casual tone, or that our work typically speaks from a position of place rather than authority, then there’s not much we can do about that. But it really has nothing to do with whether one is emergent or not…as we understand it.
photo source: Leo Reynolds
great thoughts bruce! it's much too easy to write people off when you give them a label.
i'm getting ready to read "The Great Emergence" by Phyllis Tickle . . . the book goes into great historical detail about the pattern of the Church to "emerge" every 500 years. i was fascinated to know that there have already been 3 other emergences besides the one the Church is currently going through!
i'll let you know how the read goes.
folks, any other good reading suggestions for me? i'm a geek for this kind of stuff . . .
Tickles book is a good choice Liz.
Very well written and thought out. At first I expected you to just ride the fence. (not that you took a side), but you certainly we're able to help people distinguish what you ARE and ARE NOT. I very much liked this response Bruce!
Personally, I'm a big fan of labels. For instance, I'm an unashamed, committed, enthusiastic "Christian." If that's also your label, let's shake hands and get about the business of living the Great Commandment and accomplishing the Great Commission. Who knows? We might even enjoy discussing some of the finer points of our beliefs as we fellowship together.
sooooooooooo….yes or no? lol couldn't help myself
Another book that I'm finding really useful in the conversation is Peter Rollins' "How (not) to speak of God".
I've been very impressed with your books so far, because they're so much more concerned with how our faith should directly affect our lifestyle, and how to actually carry out that lifestyle, rather than focusing mainly on belief. Thank you for that.
Thanks Todd! Gonna look into this read
Rollins' book is fantastic! He's doing some really great things within it. Yes; it's a bit heady and swims around in the philosophical pond quite a lot, it's important to set the context of what they're doing. Well worth the time and effort
Thanks for the encouragement. And I have Rollins' book open on my desk right now. Just getting started. What can you tell me about him? Do you know anything about his Ikon organization?
Thanks for this. Really am glad to see you speak to the second most divisive issue in our movement today.
Refusing to engage in a witchhunt and not particularly interested in being cool, I don't care whether the House is emergent or not or anti-emergent or post-emergent or para-emergent. While I appreciate your Arminian commitments (though ol' Jake and I have a few differences…), what draws me back to you guys and your work is that you are Christian– not nominally so, but missionally so. Thank you for helping people do the Kingdom (dtK).