>I am beginning a study of something called the “emergent church.” I grew up in a Christian tradition and, in some ways, I still claim that pedigree. This emergent thing, however, is something different than what I’m used to. It’s not exactly new, but it’s newish. It also has various aspects, some of which look very appealing to me, and others look potentially troubling. I am hoping to sort it out for myself. I may post some of my thoughts and conclusions here at PilgrimAkimbo from time to time.
Here are a couple of videos that try to get at what underlies the emergent church.
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-8802026530343805467&hl=en&fs=true
What do you think? I am interested in hearing your thoughts, especially if you participate in an emergent church.
pilgrimakimbo 
>I’ve come to believe that we’re in the midst of an historic era for the Church that will probably be looked at as similar to the Reformation in its importance. What it will look like will be more clear in fifty or a hundred years, but I see us in the middle of a process where there are two (perhaps superficially) distinctive types of church: the Emerging, and the Existing (Marcus Borg calls this the Earlier; I disagree with Borg on many things, but his description of the two paradigms is generally useful).This is a conversation I am interested in having. I’m glad I can see your blog, again!
>Brian, good to have you back.I think you may be right. This era just might be revolutionary in terms of the church, et al. Another description, beside Emerging and Existing (or Earlier) could be Modern and Postmodern. The whole Postmodern thing is a big part of the discussion I’m discovering. I am going to pick up some books on the topic. I started reading Brian McLaren’s “A New Kind of Christian” and his observations seem right on, though I am not sure what his conclusions will be. I have my reservations. There’s a couple of voices in my head, one that says Yes! and the other No! And I know there’s some distinction between Emergent and Emerging – which may be important, or may not.Also, I’m actually thinking of starting a separate blog to deal with these kinds of issues. PilgrimAkimbo has been more of a cinema/arts/culture blog, and maybe I need one that will be more personal/spiritual/theological. What do you think? (Not that I need to be blogging more!)
>Now I’ve got some book recommendations! Huzzah!I have a couple of thoughts about the idea of a separate blog for these issues: one is that I find blogging to be (perhaps this is ironic) more structured in terms of a topical conversation than, say, a web-forum. That can be somewhat limiting. Also, creating/maintaining a blog seems to be a commitment. If it’s something you’re willing to do, go for it!
>The Emergent Church has a lot that I can resonate with. I also am still learning about it all. The book mentioned by Tucker, A New Kind of Christian, was really helpful for me to know that other people actually were thinking some of the same things as myself. I have learned since, that MANY people are thinking the same way. The book, End of Religion by Bruxy Cavey might be helpful to you as well. I will be posting an interview with the author on my blog soon. On another note, it does seem like this post is quite different that than the rest of your blog. But that’s OK, isn’t it? We don’t need to compartmentalize everything do we? Just a thought.
>irreligiouslife, thanks for commenting, and thanks for the book recommendation. I agree that many people are thinking along these lines. I also think many feel somewhat trapped in their orthodoxies, that they can’t really speak their minds or they’ll get “kicked out” as it were from their church community. Fortunately I am part of a community that welcomes thinking, open dialogue, and searching – even though I think they would largely disagree with the whole emergent position(s).As for this blog… it started as a way for me to reconnect with my interest in cinema and the arts. It has grown beyond that somewhat, but I’m not sure where the boundaries should be. I have written from my place of faith in the past, such as on Red Letter Christians (those troubling red letters), art and theology, (theology and the narrative arts), and some poetry (breath of God) – as just some examples. But I’m thinking it might be time to draw some lines and have one blog for arts and the other for “god” – though they will overlap, of course.
>mister – thanks for the insight I think you should keep pilgrimakimbo as a full picture…arts, cinema, family, faith, all of it. that’s my two cents xoxo