The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier

If you are even interested in reading this book I guess you may be one of three people. One, you could be an "emergent" and you are just wanted to learn a little about the movement you are involved in. Two, you have heard about "Emergent's" and the "Emerging Church" and you wanted to learn more about what it was all about. Or third, you have heard about these heretic emergent devil worshippers and you were looking for a book that could reveal all the heresies and non-orthodox practices. Well I am glad to report that this book will satisfy the needs of all three people. A little about Tony Jones, Tony has been at the forefront of the emergence for most of its existence and until recently was the national coordinator for the emergent village. He went to seminary at Fuller Seminary and is getting his Ph.D. from Princeton, he writes like a down to earth academic. Speaking to the normal everyday Christians who have never had a class in theology class, but every now and then he likes to drop his knowledge and you will have to break out your dictionary to look up a word or you have to scribble down the name of some obscure theologian so you can look them up later. Basically I am trying to say that Tony comes across as an everyman's theologian. A guy you could go have a beer and talk baseball just as easily as you could discuss the early church father's views on the doctrine of atonement. As I mentioned above I see this book as being the best primer on the book shelf to the emergent movement. In fact if you want the full treatment, get Phyllis Tickle's book "The Great Emergence" to tell you why the emergent movement is here and then get this book to fill in the details of what the movement is. In the book Tony starts off by giving some background on his own personal story and where he is coming from and how he got where he is now. Then Tony gives his take of the story of how the emergent movement evolved and began from a few young pastors and theologians. Then we get a description of the kind of people that are drawn to the movement and why they are attracted to this new form of Christianity. Next Tony really shines as he lays out much of the theology of the emergence, and while it is no way a doctrinal statement or comprehensive description of what the movement believes, it is more like what they don't believe and what they are open to. He also spends a good amount of time addressing the idea of truth and dispelling the idea that this is just relativism dressed up in trendy clothing and cool haircuts. Finally we get an inside view of several church's that Jones feels fall inside this movement, a nice cross section of what is going on in various emergent churches across the country. All in all I really enjoyed this book. I came in as a person who has had the thoughts of an emergent for the past few years I just didn't know it. This book helped me see the others who feel/think about Christianity the way I do and understand how others got to this place

Christianity has been in a state of evolution, change, flux, and internal conflict every since the very first Christians emerged out of the synagogues of Jerusalem two thousand years ago. A doctoral fellow in practical theology at the Princeton Theological Seminary, author, speaker, and seasoned observer of the American religious landscape Tony Jones has written a seminal work exploring the emergent frontier of Christianity in the opening decade of the 21st Century in "The New Christians: Dispatches From The Emergent Frontier". Providing an informed, informative, and exceptionally well written survey of the more adventurous Christian communities around the world, "The New Christians" reveals a religious movement that is not based on the usual Left-Right political, economic, social, and cultural divides that have marked previous fractions of the Christian church. Simply stated, this is a new form of Christian community that difference in both substance and ideology from such previous ecclesiastical movements that gave rise to Protestantism from Catholicism, or even earlier than that, the Catholic Churches of the West from the Orthodox Churches of the East. "The New Christians" is enthusiastically recommended reading (especially for non-specialist general readers with an interest in religion, spirituality, church history, and current trends with in today's diverse Christian communities) and a seminal contribution for academic and community library Christian Studies and Religious History reference collections.

If you're at all interested in or curious about the emergent movement you need to read this book. It not only lays out many of its philosophies, it also gives a history of the movement If you're uncomfortable with or opposed to the emergent movement you still should read this book. It will give you a better understanding of what it is that makes you uncomfortable. For me, both were true. There were parts of this book that spoke very deeply to me while other parts helped clear up my disagreements with their beliefs. While Jones can tend to over romanticize the emergent movement he is a fantastic writer/speaker and has created an engaging piece of work. As I wrote in my title, I have not stopped thinking about and wrestling with the ideas he puts forth in The New Christians since I began reading it.

In my opinion The New Christians is a needed and welcomed contribution at this stage in the emerging church conversation. This is the book to read to understand the history of this thing called emergent and the passions of those of us drawn to it. To list a few of the reasons why - First, to be completely narcissistic, I enjoyed reading Tony's story of his journey into Emergent because it echoed so much of my own experience. I know that he has received criticism for not being inclusive enough of various forms of emerging thought in this book, but he makes it clear in the book that he is telling the story of his own experiences, the groups he has encountered, and the friends he has made. He gives snapshots of where he has encountered the conversation and summarizes the trends he is witnessing. Some people may not see themselves reflected in this book, but for those of us who have trod similar paths as Tony, it is affirming to have part of our story told. This book represents our reality - from the questions, to the conferences, to the online emphasis, to the conversations. I also like that Tony isn't afraid to tell the truth about the messy parts of Christianity and emergent. The messy parts exist and many in this conversation have experienced pain because of them. So I appreciate Tony's willingness to say that yes Emergent has critics, yes there have been falling outs, and yes some people have refused to play ball with us. It's reality and hiding from it won't help resolve differences. And it's high time, imho, the truth was told that its not just emergents causing the problems. I appreciated the way Tony dealt with the issues of homosexuality and women in ministry. Instead of dealing with each as "issues," he just told the stories of real people. He was inclusive and affirming in practice while not alienating in dogma. Of course this could just mean he pisses off everyone on both sides of these issues, but I thought he was fair in how he approached such controversial topics. I enjoyed his affirmation of how popular culture shapes our reality. There are streams in the emerging church that refuse to condescend to popular culture. One often feels like one needs to apologize for watching TV or for listening to mainstream music around other emergents. I liked how Tony used popular culture as metaphors and as keys to understand the forces shaping the conversation. I prefer this thoughtful engagement to the snobbishly turning up of the noses I often expect in emergent circles. There were of course other stories and ideas throughout the book that I enjoyed, just as there were a few things I questioned and a couple of things that I found annoying (the layout). But this is a good book, well worth the read. If you want to know more about emergent, understand where it came from, or just hear the stories of real people who are a part of it - read this book.

This has been a fun, challenging, insightful read for me. As one who's been reading and thinking and messing people up with "emergent" dialog, Tony Jones' The New Christians (copyright 2008, Jossey-Bass Publishers) gets into the nitty gritty history and thoughts behind the movement in a way that's accessible and personal. I found "the emergent church" folks about ten years ago, reading some of their forebears and thinking new thoughts that scared me, to be frank. I attended a couple of seminars, traveled to Maryland for one of the Off The Map conferences, and read through alot of books. I put this new work right up there with the most meaningful of my library - good for anyone looking for someone "on the same page as me", and detrimental for anyone wanting to just keep the status quo religiously. It's into this mess of paradox, oxymorons and mystery that Jones and others have sought to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling". What I like about Jones' prose is that he doesn't water anything down. There are problems on both sides, there are misunderstandings all over, and there's a need for forgiveness and mercy and grace from each corner. He does this with the historical potions of the story, and then does much the same with the theological discussion of truth, the Bible, interpretation, missiology. There's a flow that's working for me, like a primer on what I've been reading from my own vantage point that's developed over the same passage of years.