Brad Cecil has started blogging in defense of the Emergent church. He has a list of points that the Emergent church is founded on. I’m copying them here for discussion.
The Nine Foundational Pillars of the Emergent church
1. Post modern refers to the period after modernity. It appears to “us” that a significant epistemological shift is occurring – the likes of which we haven’t seen in 400 years.
2. Language is limited
3. Human concepts are limited
4. There is no place of irreducible certainty (foundation)
5. Considering the above it would be very difficult to convey absolute meaning using language and human concepts
6. Christian theology has become enslaved to the 1st order assumptions of modernity and is far more Cartesian than Christian and has become ashamed of faith
7. A Reformation of recognition and repentance is needed
8. New theological thought is needed to free Christian theology from the enslavement of modernity and enlightenment assumptions and conversation and friendships would be more productive than developing imperatives.
9. This is just the beginning of the transition and a great deal of work and theological thought lay ahead for those who desire to join the conversation.
Being a Cartesian rube, I don’t get it. I’m sure the postmodern schoolmen will disagree, but my rejection of this is not based on ignorance. My rejection of it is based on the Holy Bible.
I can agree with points two and three, but I don’t don’t agree with points one and four. So point five doesn’t follow. And the remaining points are not supported. In other words the last four are founded on the fifth, which is founded on the first four. You’ve got about one-half of a foundation there, and the walls are unsupported. (Please accept my apology for mixing metaphors. Pillars, structural elements, …)
Jesus Christ is Truth and He is The Foundation. So this attempt to reduce him to a weak god does not fly.
April 10, 2008 at 10:40 pm |
[...] From Disengaging the Bible: [...]
April 14, 2008 at 12:00 pm |
Concerning point 1–
I wonder if Cecil would elucidate, or if explanations are even possible in a world where language is so limited.
point 4
Is he “certain” of that?
point 8
Is he “certain” of that?
In fact, for someone who seems to be embracing uncertainty, he’s very “certain” of several things in those nine points. Makes one wonder…
April 15, 2008 at 1:00 am |
[...] said that I agree with this point in my first post on this subject. I must now eat crow, because I don’t agree with this point at all. This second excuse is [...]