by Ray S. Anderson
Published by Intervarsity Press in 2006
Summary and Review: The emergent church movement goes back more than a decade now and has grown from some of the early innovators in the movement like Brian McLaren and Dan Kimball, but Anderson makes a very valid observation that this movement has sort of divorced itself from a compelling theological base for their actions. This book is an attempt to address this "lack of a theological underpinning" for the emergent church movement. Anderson, at the time of publication, was a senior professor of theology at Fuller Theological Seminary and a prolific writer. He has been a student of church for a very long time and has found the ideas of the emerging church movement of having a new kind of church, a new kind of Christian, a new kind of spirituality for this new world that we live in quite compelling. At least compelling enough to engage these ideas in theological discussion. That is what this book is about, looking at the theology behind the ministry practices that we are seeing in the emerging church. I love his premise, "theology matters" and we need to make sure we understand it before we march off in this new direction and suddenly find ourselves so deep in the weeks that we cannot find our way back.
The book isn't so much a critique of the emerging church movement as it is a resource for the movement and any pastor that is implementing the ministry ideas espoused by the movement. Anderson makes contrasts in most every chapter; Christ versus Christology, Spirit versus Spirituality, Gospel versus polity, mission versus ministry and the list goes on. It is not that he is saying one is more important than the other, but more that you can't have the one without the other. All ministry practice must be under girded by theology. Just because a movement is producing numerical success doesn't mean that they have it right. What makes it right is to have the right theology supporting that success. We don't want to end up with thousands of people coming to Christ with a heretical understanding of Him. The book has a strong premise that I really enjoy and it is readable, but I would not suggest for a moment that it is a must read. It is however a refreshing take on the emerging church.
Reading Recommendation: Maybe, the book had a few compelling points that make you pause and the premise that "we need to understand theologically what we are doing practically" is incredibly important, but overall the book isn't a must read.
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