I’ve written a series on the American emergent movement, its brief history, its lack of definition, its connection to postmodernism, and its effect on cultural Christianity in the United States. It’s possible to read up on the emergent movement and feel like you’re spinning your tires in a ditch. I’ve tried my best to avoid that in this series and provide some kind of clarity on the subject.

I tackle a multitude of things, which may or may not become clear through this series:

1. My experience at a postmodern/emerging worship service
2. The Emergent Church’s history & definition (or lack thereof)
3. The unofficial buzzword of the movement: conversation
4. The Emergent Church’s connection to postmodern philosophy
   • Definition of modernism
   • Definition of postmodernism
   • Definition and essence of postmodern philosophy
     • Rooted in criticism and critique
     • Rooted in a shift away from superiority and toward equality
   • Discarding the label “postmodern Christianity”
5. The identical foundations between secular postmodernism and the emergent movement
   • Criticism and critique are at the heart of each movement
   • Neither movement has a clear, determinate meaning
   • Both movements seek deconstruction in some fashion
6. The theme of Christianity as a running narrative or an unfolding story
7. Distinguishing between emergent and emerging (according mainly to Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle)
8. How the emergent movement affects my life
   • My experience reading Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis
9. Impact of the emergent movement
   • Cultural relevancy in domestic missions
   • Expansion of faith post-legalism without it falling apart
   • Influence on Christian dress
   • Influence in Christian art
   • Its possible effect on long-term Christianity

This might as well become a Wikipedia entry in and of itself. My hopes are, however numerous or few of you, that you’ll be able to read through this series with some degree of ease in order to gain a fuller understanding of the emergent movement. My apologies in advance if I fall into emergent-speak that is at all unclear.

For the past day or two, I’ve been doing some research and reading on the Emergent Church and postmodernism. My husband, baffled by my sudden interest in the movement, asked why. I explained that the Emergent Church (which, by the way, isn’t really an institutional church, just a term assigned to the emergent movement) and its connection to postmodernism has become pervasive in Christian culture. I’ve seen it in the blogs and books I read, I see it in some cutting-edge, hip magazines, and I see it in some worship services. The emergent movement’s influence is one of those things that I’ve been able to see but have not been able to define. So, I’ve suddenly become filled with the desire to define it.

How is one able to “see” the emergent movement without being able to define it? Consider the following experience: Continue reading “The American emergent movement and postmodernism: Introduction & Part I” →