The Younger Evangelicals: Facing the Challenges of the New World

This is a great book for reviewing the historical progress of Christianity in the United States and gives clarity to the confusing times we live in. I really appreciated the author distilling it down into a somewhat intense read.

I give this book to anyone who wants to know what the whole emerging church movement is about. Webber does an excellent job of placing emergent Christianity in a historical context with fundamentalism and pragmatic evangelicals (your Willow/Back churches) and shows how each came from the other in succession... and how each is distinctive. Want to know about the practices and beliefs of many in the emerging church? Start here.

Robert Webber has once again written about what it means to be "postmodern" as opposed to "modern." Only this time, Webber distinguishes among "Traditional Evangelicals" (3 hymns, sermon, etc) and "Pragmatic Evangelicals" ("Contemporary, praise songs) and "Younger Evangelicals." The entire book explains what a Younger Evangelical is, and how these Christians differ from many Christians whose expression of faith is embedded in modernism. At the end of each chapter, Webber has very useful tables that compare the beliefs of each group. For instance, in Chapter 4 (History) the attitudes to historical approach are compared. Traditional Evangelicals "maintain Reformation distinctions," while Pragmatic Evangelicals "start something new; innovate." However, Younger Evangelicals believe, "the future runs through the past."Younger Evangelicals are more traditional, very arts oriented, sacramental/symbolic, less legalistic, and seek meaning, as opposed to entertainment, from worship. They are leaving "contemporary" churches for ones that are more connected to the ancient Church. They are reading their Bibles in less literal ways, and see room for disagreement on controversial scripture passages, including the creation stories. Younger Evangelicals are more likely to take Eucharist weekly than sit through long sermons, and they seek a visible church, as opposed to an invisible one. In general, many young Christians are unsatisfied with both "traditional" and "contemporary" worship, and prefer a blending of the two, where the rich tradition of the Church is alive, but contextualized for each era.I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as I do all of Webber's books. Writers like Webber, Thomas Oden, Brian McLaren, and others speak to me as a postmodern Christian. Often Webber's yearnings are my yearnings. His students' concerns are the concerns of many friends of mine, as well as my own. Much of what Younger Evangelicals want is part of the catholic tradition, while evangelicalism, both traditional and contemporary, has been effective at ignoring church history. But it is not just about "going back." It is about rendering the ancient Christian tradition, worship, the Bible, and doctrine in a contextually relevant way. However, rather than change the Church based on culture (as many contemporary churches do to make church "cool"), Younger Evangelicals approach culture, and current humanist disciplines, through the lens of the ancient beliefs and practices of the Church. If you no longer find meaning in your church, but don't want to give up on Christ, perhaps you are a postmodern in a modern church. Reading this book will be a start to rediscovering Christ in your own era. However, postmodernism is so broad, nobody will agree with *everything* Webber says (that would be rather modernist). For evangelicals under age 30, this book will provide some framework for what you probably already believe, and for people over 30, it might be a bit frightening.

Although some would question whether there is such a thing as 'postmodernism', many would agree that we are presently in some sort of cultural transition period, or at least our children are, regardless of what label we would put on it. To paraphrase Judges 2:10 (KJV), "there arose another generation after them, who knew not" the Enlightenment or the 'rationalistic' forms of Christianity which came about in opposition to those ways of thinking. As one of the 'younger evangelicals' in the book says, "God has always raised up an effective apologetic for His sovereign plan to save the world through Jesus". The goal for many of these leaders is to rediscover a 'pre-Constantine form of Christian life' so that the new generation may see Jesus in ways that speak more clearly to them. It is another way to take the Gospel to 'the ends of the earth' even if the 'ends' are in Berkeley or Boston or Seattle. This book describes the 'new wineskins' which are arising to 'seek and save' the culturally 'lost'.

If you are under age 30 stop reading here-and go read something else. However, if you are over 30-especially if you are in my own "boomer" generation, this is probably the most important column I'll write this year.There is a book you need to buy. No, it isn't one of my own books-I don't use the Tuesday Column to promote books-not even my own. I review them sometimes (but that only makes it easier for you not to buy them-since my reviews are pretty complete.) I'm breaking my own rule today-I found a book every person over 30 interested in church ministries need to own.This book is about the twentysomthing crowd Well, not exactly them, but about an emerging movement in the church made up of mostly Twentysomethings. That crowd might not like this book because the book tells us boomers all their secrets. In fact they hate being labeled at all, and hate it doubly when Boomers do it. But since they are no longer reading this and are off reading something else by now, let me tell you over-30 folk why this book is so important.If you are a regular reader of my "Tuesday Columns" you already know I often knock us boomers for our generational arrogance. We think we are so cool, so "contemporary." We think our ways of doing church are so wonderful and we assume we've made something lasting. I often warn us that our churches are headed to becoming "Boomer nursing homes" where we continually congratulate ourselves on how cool we still are, while totally losing the next generations and the world and never noticing! Finally there is a book that explains what is happening in the massive generational shift. So far there have been bits and pieces here and there, but now Robert Webber has put together a book outlining the secrets of this enormous shift in thinking that involves younger people mostly, but many older folk as well. Using the term "Younger Evangelicals" instead of "post modern or some other silly term, he outlines in chapter 1 the recent history of evangelicalism since 1950 in the most concise way I've seen anywhere-take that Martin Marty! That chapter is worth the first ten dollars of the book's ...price tag. But the rest of the book outlines chapter by chapter the immense shifts in the world under our boomer feet. Most boomers reading this book will feel like they are still leading singing in a "praise team" in a church with mauve carpeting while using colorful sponge covers on their individual microphones. Be careful-this book will make you feelout of date out of touch and out of coolness. If you are a "successful pastor" you'll hate it more-because some of what is happening among the next generation are things you spent ten years overthrowing when you were younger. You'll say, "well, this is only a trend among the younger folk-they'll change eventually" (what they said about us!) In this book you'll discover in easy to read format how communication has changed, how the view of history has changed, how propositional theology is i