Random Norm Update: A Little (or probably a lot) of Emergent Reading...

My wife Janice, my son Luke, and I are headed from Southern California to North Carolina this weekend in order to visit family, so I thought it would be a good time to give all of you an update on my posting intentions for the near future, since I will likely be out of the action here for the next few days. Its gonna be nice to be free of everyday responsibilities for the weekend!

Anyway, I'm sure that many of you have noticed our posts responding to the emergent leader, Tony Jones. Maybe you were reading this blog prior to that incident, or perhaps you became aware of our site as a result. Either way, I have been thinking that it would be a helpful service to many Christians, both conservative and liberal (if you still consider that a valid way to speak about Christians and the church), to spend some time trying to dissect, and articulate, the postmodern philosophy of Deconstruction, which undergirds the thinking of many of the more radical representatives of this movement. After spending a good deal of time observing conservations that take place on the blogosphere between advocates and adversaries of the emergent movement, it has become clear to me that both groups are talking past one another most of the time, and ultimately regress into in-bred theological banter that accomplishes nothing.

Now I will be the first to say that this project is definitely a lot to bite off, but perhaps this is an opportunity for us to journey together; to look together at something which is obviously complex, and to synthesize it in a way that makes it readily accessible to a wider audience. It really does not matter to me whether you follow this journey in order to strengthen your critiques, or whether you are simply open to questions- the point is to learn, and to create dialogue that cuts to the central issues. Even if disagreement is the ultimate result, at least it won't be ignorant disagreement. I will tell all of you that I have serious reservations about some of the philosophical convictions that manifest itself in the emergent movement, but I also think its intellectually and morally irresponsible to vigorously oppose something that you do not understand comprehensively. Thus, you should rightly consider this to be an act of intellectual sanctification.

In order to start this project off, I thought it best to begin with some of the most important contemporary, philosophical Emergent literature, and to work my way back through some of the philosophical literature that set the stage for this line of thought historically. For now, I will begin with two relatively recent books:

1."What Would Jesus Deconstruct: The Good News of Postmodernism for the Church", by John D. Caputo (Baker Academic Books, 2007).

2."How (Not) to Speak of God", by Peter Rollins (Paraclete Press, 2006).

Finally, I just want to encourage all of you to offer critique of my general thoughts and assessments as this progresses- I have broad shoulders, I can handle it. Part of growing in character, I believe, comes by allowing yourself to receive criticism as a conduit for change, as opposed to denial and regression into oneself, which can only result in a hard heart and a neurotic mind. I will do my best to provide an opportunity for all of us to grow through deep investigation, vigorous discussion, and objective critique, but its up to all of you to appropriate what is offered.