Emerging Church theology compared to Irenaeus “lost Christianity”

In my thesis with the title; ”the dream of a perfect church – Emerging Church”, I compare Emerging Church theology, with the theology of Irenaeus and, the Christianity which has its roots in Asia Minor and Antioch.

The most significant exponent of the theology of the northeastern Mediterranean was Ireneus. Antioch is where Christianity first comes after Jerusalem. In other words it is the oldest Christianity we can trace back to the present day. I shall call this theology for Type C theology as explained below.

A part of my conclusion is that the church again is reminded about this “lost Christianity,” through Methodist writers like Geoffrey Wainwright, Justo González and Runyon. Other writers like Robert Farrar Capon, N.T Wright and Dallas Willard, and as I point out in my paper, many of the Emerging Church Leaders and personalities like; Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt and Rob Bell.

Shane Claiborne

I have been asked a few times about the connection between Shane Claiborne and the Emerging Church. Now th at m

ay also be a new questio

n to some, but an interesting one none the less. Claiborne recently visited Gothenburg and is becoming a well known personality also on this side of the Atlantic. So how can one answer the question? Well first of all it is hard to define the emerging church. How can one take a whole movement and then put Claiborne in it. So lets forget about emerging church and look at Shane Claiborne and emerging church personalities.

Brian Mclaren and Rob Bell

Brian Mclaren writes the following in his lastest blog post for sojourners:

“That prayerful hope came back to me the other day when I read a post by a good friend. He suggested we should advise everybody and endorse nobody.”

The good friend he is referring to is Shane Claiborne.

Lets look what Rob Bell says concerning Shane Claiborne. In his book SexGod, Bell writes the following in the footnotes:

“I call him for my friend, but he is also a hero and a profet. Shane Claiborne lives in Philadelfia and wrote a book called “the irresistable revolution.” (my translation from the Swedish edition)

So just based on these two examples from two of the most influential Emerging Church Leaders, we see the freindship between Claiborne and emerging church.

The same theology

If we look at the theology emerging in Claibornes two books; Jesus for presisdent and Irresistable revolution, it is clear that it has its roots in Brian Mclarens and Rob Bells theology. I could also draw the similarities between Claiborne and other Emerging Church personalities such as Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones. But that I will in some other post.

If familiar with Claiborne what are your thoughts on his theology and do you see the connection to Emerging Church?

For those of you following these two pastors and the emerging Church movement, and especially those who follow Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Seattle knows that he wants to have as little to do with Rob Bell as possible. Rob Bell is the Pastor of Mars Hill Grand Rapids. Mark Driscoll says the following in a video on youtube:

“If you are a leader, Mclaren and Bell are probably good guys to read so that you know what‘s going on. But you know what though, I don‘t encourage them to our people I don‘t recommend them to our people and I would never sell them in our bookstore and I would never let them teach or preach at my church: Never. Unless i saw great repentance on some of their doctrinal instruction. The direction they are going I have strong concerns with. I know that will be very controversial…”

Rob Bell has as far as I am aware not made a comment on this.

But I want to ask; what do they have in common

?

Besides both calling there churches for “Mars Hill”, being pastors and influential leaders, the one thing they have in common is John Piper.

Rob Bell writes the following in a footnote to his book “Velvet Elvis”: “Read everything John Piper has ever written, beginning with the Dangerous Duty of Delight.” (you can read the 3 first chapters for free from John Pipers website.)

Mark Driscoll has this to say about John Piper on his blog: “Last week was a glorious week. Early Friday morning my wife Grace and I boarded a flight to Minneapolis for the national Desiring God conference hosted by my friend Dr. John Piper.

Interesting to note that two guys who are so far from each other theologically, find common ground in John Piper.

Read my thoughts on Heaven, Hell and Rob Bell here. (and his book “love wins”)

For an in depth look at there differences and similarities read my thesis on the Emerging Church, “The dream of a perfect church.”

I recently finished reading 3 books on biblical authority ( Bibelsyn och Bibelbruk by biskopsmötet 1964, Bibeltolkningens problematik by Sven Ingebrand and Texter och tolkningar by tryggve Kronholm, all in swedish).

I have since then been exploring the topic also in other spheres of our world like here on the web. I came over a fantastic article by N T Wright, called ; How Can the Bible be Authoritative? I found it through Rob Bells “Velvit Elvis” If you have 16 minutes today and you want to read a short and brilliant piece about the bible, about why and how it has Authority this is what you should read.

Rob Bell writes the following about it:

“The best thing I have ever read about the Bible is a transcript of a lecture given by the British Scholar N. T. Wright called….”( the above article)

Here is a sample;

I came over this very cool website called “ship of fools”. They visit churches all over the world and then give them a review on all kinds of things from the sermo

n, till how they were welcomed and feel at home etc.

This is there own description of what they do:

“Since ancient times (ok, 1998), Ship of Fools has been sending Mystery Worshippers to churches worldwide. Travelling incognito, they ask those questions which go to the heart of church life: How long was the sermon? How hard the pew

? How cold was the coffee? How warm the welcome?

The only clue they have been there at all is the Mystery Worshipper calling card, dropped discreetly into the collection plate.”

Head here to see how they reveiwed Rob Bells, Mars Hill or, Ted Haggard’s church before and after the Big Bang