Cedarville cancels Claiborne

Just when I write that I haven't blogged too much about my alma mater, I see another reason to do. Katelyn Beaty, posting to the website for Christianity Today magazine, writes that Cedarville University had invited Shane Claiborne to speak on campus but then cancelled. This cancellation happened after "a small but vocal number of bloggers" complained about Claiborne's appearance because they "saw the lecture as a step toward liberal theology." Although the article indicates that several bloggers were complaining, only one - Ingrid Schlueter - is specifically named. Schlueter was unhappy with the article's focus on bloggers instead of Cedarville's perceived "step toward liberal theology," so she wrote a response.

Naturally, I have a few thoughts....

(1) Despite writing that several bloggers complained of Claiborne's scheduled appearance, Beaty names only Schlueter. Why is that? Was Beaty operating on hearsay, or could she simply not be bothered with informing her readers of the identities of the other bloggers?

(2) Think about what a church is, and what it isn't. Next, think about what a university is, and what it isn't. Should a university act as a church, even it has been "approved" by a specific denomination of churches? What is a university's obligation to its students?

(3) How many non-Reformed speakers must be invited before we can definitively say that Cedarville is on the path to "liberal theology?" How many Reformed speakers must be invited to counter that claim?

(4) Is this just a bunch of hoo-haw?

(5) Peruse Schlueter's blog for yourself. You'll be seeing a lot of this, and consider how many times those kinds of posts appear. Ask yourself, how are these posts any different than gossip?

(6) Which would you prefer: a blog that causes you to think, and or a blog that tells you what to think?

"I was ready for the kool-aid and purple Nikes myself."

A family on vacation visits an emerging church.

"We should have gone back to the B & B the second we saw the way those people were dressed," said Glover. "They looked ready to slam dance at one of those Linkin Bizkit concerts."

"Really though." added Verna. "No suits, no ties, no Sunday shoes. I told one of the ushers that he needed to show more respect in the Lord's house. That this was a church, not the mall. Then he sassed me. Talked about how he wasn't 'at church, he is the church'. I was like, 'Oh, okay. I must have mistaken that steeple on your head for a plastic mesh trucker cap, Cooter.' Lord forgive me."

(HT: Pyros)

Motivational posters for emerging Christians

Funny stuff. From the Pyromaniacs, natch.

Emergence 2007

I certainly don't attend an emerging church, but I recognize that the "movement" - or whatever it is - is something that cannot be ignored. That being the case, I wish I could attend this event, if only to hear Mark Driscoll.

Five Streams of the Emerging Church

Scot McKnight has a helpful article on the Christianity Today website, Five Streams of the Emerging Church.

• Prophetic
• Postmodern
• Praxis-oriented
• Post-evangelical
• Political

His concluding paragraph:

All in all, it is unlikely that the emerging movement will disappear anytime soon. If I were a prophet, I'd say that it will influence most of evangelicalism in its chastened epistemology (if it hasn't already), its emphasis on praxis, and its missional orientation. I see the emerging movement much like the Jesus and charismatic movements of the 1960s, which undoubtedly have found a place in the quilt called evangelicalism.

emerging church primer

So many other people are doing this already, and one doesn't want to jump on the bandwagon too often, but here goes....

Read Justin Taylor's primer on the emerging church here. It's good and worthwhile all at the same time. Isn't that great?

The top dogs at Fide-O have placed all links to emerging church postings to one post - here.

Some past posts on the emerging church:

• Campi, the EC, and McLaren
• Emerging church books
• The Emerging Church

Emerging Church books

Andrew Jones has listed his top 10 books on the emerging church. If you are a fan of the emerging church movement/conversation, then by all means pick these up. If you aren't a fan, you should also read through these because the emerging church movement/conversation appears to be a force with which to reckon.

His top 3:

1. Emerging Churches, Eddie Gibbs & Ryan Bloger
2. Shaping of Things to Come, Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch
3. Out of Bounds Church, Steve Taylor

Related: The new Southern Baptist Convention president, Dr. Frank Page, answers some questions about (among other things) the emerging church. Read here.

"When we refuse to take a stand against sin, we become nothing more than saltless servants of our culture."

Joe Carter takes on Brian McLaren and his apparent wishy-washiness with the Scriptures.

MORE: Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle joins in.

MORE STILL: Mr. McLaren responds.

Brian McLaren in Grand Rapids

The Grand Rapids Press has an article about Brian McLaren, author of "A New Kind of Christian" and one of the leaders of the emergent church movement. A biography of McLaren can be found here, on his website.

Arjay Stevens has this posting about the GRP article. As you can see, Arjay is not a fan of McLaren. Phil Johnson, executive director of Grace to You ministries, has written on his views of the emergent church (as well as other fads of Christendom), which you can read here and here.

Confused as to what constitutes the emergent church movement? Click here, here and here.

Update: When I was writing the last bit with the links, I didn't realize that I made a Freudian slip and spelled 'emergent' as 'emergency.' I wonder what that means...

Update 2: I didn't do this post to get "blogspotted," Phil, but thanks!