The New Christians and the Death of the Church

I picked up The New Christians by Tony Jones because of the title. Yes, it is reminiscent of Brian McLaren's A New Kind of Christian and intentionally so. Tony Jones begins by giving us the background of the Emergent movement. It is a bit of an Acts of the Emergent Apostles according to Tony Jones. Frankly, it reads a bit like The Celestine Prophecy as Tony Jones and the other Apostles come to terms with this strange new understanding they have and other don't seem to get. "Does he get it?" If he doesn't get it, he is not part of the conversation they are having about it.

The Emergent Christians are The New Christians. They are the hot lava that breaks through the old hardened crust of the earth aka prior church structures and denomationalism. The Emergent people are on the frontiers and the front lines while the rest of the Christians are defending old ground. Emergents according to Tony Jones are postmodern and post-foundationalist.

As I read through this book, while there is some understanding of the modern period and problems in the church, the author and the movement seem to lack a real sense of the history of the church. The author praises the open forum of one small gathering that allows anyone to speak. He seems to think this is an innovation but it sounds like the Brethren (except that women can speak as well.)

At the beginning of the book, Tony Jones claims victory over those who claimed God is dead. Instead, he suggests that the Church is dead. As one of my colleagues said, "If you read the New Testament, doesn't that amount to the same thing."
While I find myself resonating with much of what Tony Jones claims for the Emergent movement, there seems to be a self congratulatory spirit and naivete that comes with youth (and by that I mean a new movement) that needs to be checked.

As for me and my house, we don't mind being a bit crusty. After all, the crust of the earth is the place where people live. Lava is not good for much until it hardens and starts producing vegetation and that takes awhile.