The orthodox Christian has paid a very heavy price, both in the defense and communication of the gospel, for his failure to think and act as an educated person understanding and at war with the uniformity of our modern culture. (Francis Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, 1 Complete Works, 12)

My friend and colleague, Lee Johnson has done some chronicling of the Federal Vision debate. (See, e.g., "Westminster LC Q.68 and Federal Vision", Friday, Two-Edged Sword, 22 April 2005, http://twoedgedsword.blogspot.com ) I have appreciated this work on his part, but I wonder if there isn't perhaps (possibly) a bigger concern than Federal Vision; I mean the so-called emergent church.

I believe the basis for concern is this. Whether Reformed theologians agree or disagree with the assertions of Federal Vision thinkers like Mark Horne, there is at least this much in common: the argument is taking place on the same philosophical and theological footing. The double footing has, among others, at least two elements: the laws of logic are universal; and the Bible is the source of true theology. That is to say, both sides agree that whatever the resolution, such resolution will be on the basis of what the Scriptures teach. Indeed, the argument is precisely about what the Scriptures teach. This is not the case with the emergent church, which, according to at least one of the movement's many websites, has no "...desire...to rescue people from the grips of postmodernism" (See "Our Mission," The Next Wave: The Church and Culture, Homepage, April 2005, http://www.next-wave.org/credo.html ) Like neo-orthodoxy in the last century, and the Old Liberalism of the 19th century, the emergent movement is willing to make some peace with, if not entirely embrace, the philosophical spirit of the age, which at present ispostmodernism.

Postmodernism has at least three features which serve to make it incompatible with Christianity. First,it rejects the idea of objective knowledge or that we can know anything with certainty. Postmodernism has no confidence, such as is found (without sufficient grounds, of course) in modernism, that we can know things with certainty. Knowledge, on this view, is uncertain, subjective, relative, and tentative. Our knowledge is not an accurate representation of reality. Second "postmodernism views logic as being at best only true for a given individual, community or certain communities or 'interpretative community[ies].' In other words, logic is not universally valid or applicable; it is relative only to a given context--person(s), place, or time--or only true for certain individuals or societies or cultures. For example, it is generally true for individuals or communities or societies that have been influenced by Western or Aristotelian thinking. Thus, Westerners should not impose their modality of thinking on Easterners or Eastern cultures or on anyone else who does not grant logic's validity." (Craig S. Hawkins, "The Bible, Logic, and the Postmodern Predicament", Apologetics Information Ministry, Arpil 2005, http://www.apologeticsinfo.org/papers/logicpostmodern.html ) Third, truth is relative. This doesn't mean that there is no truth at all, only that there is no absolute or universal or universally true truth. None of this, of course, prevents postmodernists from making knowledge claims.

The trouble with embracing postmodernism is that it, like the modernism which preceded it, is a worldview, a somewhat eclectic looking worldview, but a worldview nonetheless. And Christianity is a worldview. One of the first things I learned about the Reformed expression of the Christian faith is that it rejects the notion that Christianity can be embraced alongside another worldview. Sooner or later, those who have embraced Christianity and some other view, or their descendents, will have to make a choice. When this choice is made it will be a choice for either orthodox Christianity (as expressed by the seven ecumenical councils), or some bastardized version of it, or they will embrace entirely the second worldview, thus rejecting orthodox Christianity. As one author, whose name escapes me, put it, Christianity and all other worldviews, at some point, are moving away from each other. When the boat starts to pull away from the shore one can no longer stand with one foot on the boat and one foot on the shore. One must choose.

Late in the last century, Francis Shaeffer outlined how the "new" theology amounted to nothing more than existentialism dressed up in orthodox language. Readers of his The God Who Is There will remember what he called the "line of despair." He utilized this line to show the progress of existentialist thinking from philosophy through art, then music, the general culture, and finally (of course) theology. (See Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, 1 Complete Works, 8.)

A similar outline could be given of the travail of postmodern thought from philosophy, beginning in the 1960s or thereabouts, throught art, music, general culture, and now theology. But I shant do that here. I don't believe it necessary for my present purposes, which is simply to explain why I think something like the emergent church movement may be of more concern than something like the Federal Vision controversy.

A problem besets one who would discuss the emergent church. That problem is precisely that it is postmodern in flavor. Those involved in the movement are as diverse as any group can be whose members claim to have embraced postmodernism. This means that some churches in the movement may be truly orthodox, but have simply adopted more traditional (i.e., liturgical) worship styles. I have no difficulty with this: I grew up with liturgical worship, first as a Roman Catholic, then as an Anglican. Some may embrace certain practices, such as "centering prayer", which are closely associated with monasticism. (I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, as a former would-be monk I do not reject monasticism out of hand. On the other, it depends on the kind of so-called centering prayer we would be talking about.) Others seek to return to a model of church organization and form which would resemble the "early church". They want their leaders to be possessed of true spiritual authority and not be merely CEOs, managers, executives, administrators and the like; they want holy men. Who could argue with that? Of course, wanting that "early church" model and knowing what that early church model really looked like are two different things. (This is also problematic when you factor in postmodernism's denial, in general, of the possibility of certainty with respect to knowledge claims. When knowledge claims are merely perspective-driven constructs, what is the early church except the early church as it is constructed by the postmodern mind seeking the early church?)

Some of what emergents talk about is not foreign to me. Indeed, I well remember how much, in my young Christian life, discussions with other Christians my age were dominated by "The early church didn't do this" and "The early church didn't do that" and so forth. I well remember lecturing an episcopal priest on how there were no bishops in the early church. The word translated bishop was also used by Paul in Ephesians in such a way as to make clear that "pastor", "elder", and "bishop" are equivalent terms, I instructed him. Therefore, I informed this priest, I did not believe in the episcopacy. He replied simply that it depended on how you looked at the church and went on his way. Fifteen years later I know that he is right. If, as Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox believe, the church is one and visible, then the church is presbyterian in polity: the bishops are the elders of that one-and-visible church. If, as others believe, the church is one-and-invisible, with only individual congregations being visible, then the elders of the local congregation are the elders of the church. (I happen to hold to the latter view.)

Another concern of emergents is the centrality of the preaching personality. Note I did not say the preacher. Emergents who are truly orthodox, or at least want to be but find their postmodernism getting in the way, understand that the Scriptures must be proclaimed. But their concern, and I think it a valid one, is that people flock to hear a preacher preach and not the Scriptures proclaimed.

So, I can see some of the concerns of emergent thought. And everything about them isn't bad. However, postmodernist Christians have at least two problems. Postmodernist Christians claim to disdain system (just like existentialists). They want to embrace a relationship with Jesus, and want to commend such a relationship to others. They do not want to embrace a system; and they do not want to commend a system to others. Of course, in embracing a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, they are embracing a system whether they want to or not; and they may as well accept it. Surely, they are desirous of a risen Lord Jesus, not the mythical Jesus of neo-orthodoxy. If such is the case, and if they do in fact have this relationship, then the universe is such as to make possible this relationship. In other words: if they have a relatinship with Jesus Christ, then it is possible for a man to come back to life after he has died--even after he has died a horrific death. This means that miracles are possible. (Note the logic: if a thing has happened then it is possible.) Thus, embracing Jesus Christ--a Jesus Christ risen from the dead--one embraces a metaphysical and epistemoligical system. For not only is it possible for one to have a realtionship with One who was once dead and now lives (metaphysics); it is possible to have knowledge of this Person. (St. John says that he wrote his gospel so that we could know that Jesus is the Christ.)

Also, postmodernist Christians complain that many who criticize them have just gotten them wrong. When one writes a criticism of the movement one can expect some of them to ask, "What are they reading? That's not us." Unfortunately, they have embraced a (non?) system that should really make it difficult for them to complain if their writings are misinterpreted. There is nothing to interpret. On a postmodern view, there is no objective text, nothing that has a meaning. The text does not control the reader; quite the other way around in fact. The reader controls the text. So when these postmodernist Christians complain about being mis-read, one just has to wonder what are the grounds for the complain. After all, that's just happens to be how we read them! I do not think they can take the position they seem to take with respect to postmodernism and at the same complain about being read wrong.

Of course, as I've already mentioned, some of them are not truly postmodern. They have simply decided to find a way to give postmodernists what they want, or not give them what they do not want. If postmodernists don't want a system, they'll not be offered one. If postmodernists are sceptical of exclusive claims, they won't hear any. If postmodernists do not believe in certainty, they'll not be asked to have any. If a postmodernist believes that the truth about reality is forever hidden from us, and all we can do, therefore, is tell stories, then narrative--and lots of it, including narrative theology (or, a/theology)--is what he will get. Never mind in all this that repentance calls us to surrender our worldview and embrace Christ--and the worldview that He has.

Now, none of this means that every emergent has jettisoned orthodoxy. But there are some in the movement who truly do have a non-orthodox theology and have, just like the neo-orthodox before them, adapted orthodox language to the postmodern intellectual milieu. Let me offer a few tid-bits of what I'm talking about.

Do you believe that Jesus died a substitutionary, propitiatory, atoning death for your sins? Well, according to at least one emergent theologian, you have fallen prey to the literalizing of Scripture. Take this example of an emergent theology of the cross:

"Then there's the cross as the once and for all sacrifice for sin. If we literalize that language, as much of conventional Christianity has done, the only way God can forgive sins is if adequate sacrifice is offered: Somebody has got to be punished, and that person is Jesus. Also only those people who know and believe in that story can be saved. Thus, literalizing that language is a slur on the character of God. If you see Jesus' death as part of the divine plan, as part of the will of God, that suggests that God required the suffering of this immeasurably great man. It is never the will of God that an innocent person be crucified, and to suggest that is to suggest something horrible about God." (Marcus Borg*, "What is the significance of the cross and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?" April 2005, http://www.explorefaith.org/questions/cross.html)

Those of us who, with virtually all Christians in all ages, believe that Jesus died for sins are guilty of slurring "the character of God." And how dare we suggest that God requires the suffering of the innocent for the sins of the guilty. (Never mind that under the Old Testmant sacrificial system, innocent animals suffered for guilty humans all the time.)

If we were to handle the language correctly our problem would disappear, or as Borg puts it:

"If, on the other hand, we understand the language of Jesus’s being the sacrifice for sin as a post-Easter interpretation of his death that emerges within the early Christian community, we can then see that, metaphorically, it's a proclamation of radical grace. The connection is this: If Jesus is the once and for all sacrifice for sin, understood metaphorically now, it means that God has already taken care of whatever it is that we think separates us from God. It means that God accepts us just as we are and that the Christian life is not about getting right with God. God's already taken care of that. The Christian life becomes about something else, namely, living within this framework of radical trust in God and relationship to God that makes possible our transformation, and, ideally and ultimately, the transformation of the world." (Borg)

Ah, words worthy of any neo-orthdox theologian of the last century--or even an Old Liberal of the 19th. (Truly as Schaeffer's students at Farel House used to say, "The new theology is the old theology.")

Do you believe that the eternal divine nature, precisely because of being eternal, is unchanging? Here is a sampling of an emergent theologian on whether God changes over time:

"Recent scientific theories, such as evolution and quantum physics, for instance, have provided a rich source of metaphorical speculation about God’s nature. Such thought is exciting to me, because it proposes a God whose characteristic creativity implies constant change, the exercise and expression of the same freedom given to us. When you stop and think about it, it makes sense that the very evolution of human history and its consequences for all of creation call forth from God new responses all the time. It’s an interactive and emergent view." (Rev. Dr. Katherine M. Lehmen,* "Does God make mistakes?" April 2005, http://www.explorefaith.org/questions/cross.html)

and

"Yet even in this view, it’s not that God makes mistakes, but that God has new ideas and takes new actions as God wills. We outgrow earlier notions of God, and scripture records some of that evolution. My own notions about God have been transformed over time, and I hope insistent inspiration will continue to stretch me. Does God outgrow previous notions about us? Another way to ask that is to ask if we can surprise God. Freedom seems to require that astonishing possibility." (Lehmen)

Do you believe that Jesus Christ rose bodily and physically from the dead? You need not do so in order to be a Christian--at least according to some emergent theolgians:

"...I don’t think that to be a Christian we have to believe that Christ literally, bodily rose from the dead and that he literally, bodily ascended into heaven. Yet I do believe that these words are our best attempt to give expression to an experience which was true to the followers of Jesus in his time, and is still true to those of us who engage with Jesus in heart, mind and spirit still today. What Jesus’ rising from the dead means to me is this: That life is eternal, and that we are a part of that eternal life even now, in this life we are living. That we live in eternal life was true of us before we were born; it is true while we are living here and now; and it will be true after we have died. We live always in the embrace of God’s eternity." (Rev. Margaret B. Gunness*, "Do I have to believe that Christ literally rose from the dead in order to be a Christian?", at http://www.explorefaith.org/christ.html

"The most Christ-like professor I ever had once turned to our seminary class and asked us a question with an intensity that made us know he was serious: "What if they proved without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus of Nazareth never lived! What would that do to your faith?"
He stared fiercely at us. There was a long, awkward silence. Then he said, "I can tell you what it would do to my faith. It would not change it one bit. I would believe in the myth of Jesus. It's the best story going!"
(Lowell Grisham*, at http://www.explorefaith.org/christ.html

This stream of emergent thought is obviously something to be concerned about because it is precisely the sort of thinking postmodernism can make seem attractive.

We could say of all this that postmodernism is a passing fad and we should not devote much time and attention to it. In many ways, it's something old that's just been re-packaged...or re-released. But every spirit of every age is and will be a passing fad, or the re-release of an older fad. And when we are dealing with people who believe that the words coming out of our mouths are merely constructs used to exercise power over them, it may make more of a difference right now than whether the Federal Vision implies a works-based salvation. I simply suggest that, at present, it may make more of a difference whether the people in our pews even believe in real truth than whether they believe in the Federal Vision. Postmoderns in our pews will not hear an exposition/demonstration of Federal Vision's falsity; they will hear only an attempt to instute a "regime of truth" over them.

Of course, I'm willing to concede that any concerns about the emergent church/postmodernist Christianity may be much ado about nothing. But I haven't noticed as much discussion of it as I might have hoped for. Certainly it doesn't seem to be arousing as much of a stir as neo-orthodoxy; and I think it should be. It's just as dangerous. (Could be I've been looking in all the wrong places.)

Finally, don't think I don't know how much disdain you have for the term postmodernism, Dr Powell.


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(To sample some emergent thought see http://www.emergentvillage.com/Site/Explore/EmergingStories/index.htm and the article by Bob Hyatt, "Just who is emergent, anyway?",10 April 2005, The Next Wave: Church and Culture, http://www.the-next-wave.org/ with the comments that follow.)

*I refer to these theologians as emergent theologians primarily because the writings I am citing here are posted at a website (namely, explorefaith.org) that is listed in answer to the question, "What is the Emergent Church?" at next-wave.org.