On Being Truly Postmodern

There is a good deal of talk in contemporary evangelicalism about the rise, nature, and effect of so-called postmodernism, a movement in architecture, literature, philosophy, and religion associated with a circle of French writers such as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. In . . . Continue reading →

Julie Roys Interviews Insiders From Mark Driscoll’s Current Congregation

And the hits just keep coming. Not only is Christianity Today producing a podcast series doing a post-mortem of Mars Hill Church

Another Downside Of Pietism: Christ’s Bodily Resurrection Is Marginalized

If it does not care much about the Lord’s Supper (either to observe it or as to who communes) neither does it necessarily have a vital interest in the facts of the history of salvation. This tendency is plainly evident in two great figures in the history of Pietism, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) and Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918). Both were raised in the Pietist tradition and both abandoned historic Christianity. Continue reading →

With Janet Mefferd On The Social Gospel

Here’s today’s episode of Janet Mefferd Today in which we discussed the “social gospel,” Walter Rauschenbusch, the emergent/emerging church movement and what it means that evangelicals seem to be heading back to this well for inspiration. We also talked about some alternative . . . Continue reading →

The Gospel Is Not Social

Between Monasticism And Transformation

Like Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) before him, Rauschenbusch’s Pietism had not equipped him to address the challenges before him. Like Schleiermacher, Rauschenbusch turned to the liberals for answers. He synthesized his Pietist theology with Albrecht Ritschl’s theology of the Kingdom of God. The Social Gospel movement wanted to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. Their optimistic eschatology (doctrine of last things) told them that they could do it. They were inspired by the Modern idea of the universal brotherhood of humanity and the universal fatherhood of God. As many others before them had done the Social Gospel movement harassed the Christian faith to their social agenda. Continue reading →

Act Like Elders Nonetheless

While the current bylaws greatly restrict our authority, we believe we must act like elders none-the-less,” they write. “It is time to take responsibility for our church, regardless of how much our current bylaws prevent us from exercising that authority. —Sarah Pulliam . . . Continue reading →

Fauxccountability?

What needs to be very clear is that the current by-laws of Mars Hill Church do not give the elders the authority to examine these charges. The Board of Advisors and Accountability is in charge of convening a group of overseers to . . . Continue reading →

The Next Big Church Thing

One of the hottest restaurants in my hometown of Chicago is Next. Chef Grant Achatz’s first restaurant, Alinea, has three Michelin stars and is regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world. Achatz wanted his second restaurant, Next, to be . . . Continue reading →

Did the Reformation Spawn A Million Churches?

Or Who's The Modernist Here?

Note: This post first appeared 5 years ago. The links to the original posts at Emergent Village and Daily Scroll are gone. I searched for the original post on the EV sub-site on Patheos.com but did not find it. What I did . . . Continue reading →

On Being Truly Postmodern

An HB Classic

There is a good deal of talk in contemporary evangelicalism about the rise, nature, and effect of so-called “postmodernism,” a movement in architecture, literature, philosophy, and religion associated with a circle of French writers such as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. In . . . Continue reading →

Brian Lee Reviews Love Wins

Brian Lee reviews Love Wins on the Daily Caller. Brian writes: “Rob Bell is one of the hottest Christian preachers in the nation today, but does he say anything that’s uniquely Christian? In his new book, “Love Wins,” Bell paints a picture . . . Continue reading →

Mark Galli Reviews Bell on Hell

Galli writes, “but in raising such momentous issues, he has raised crucial questions that also must be asked. If universal salvation is true, why does Jesus not showcase it? Why is Jesus’ teaching characterized instead by a relentless focus on the last . . . Continue reading →

Brian's God

Brian McLaren has source of continual fascination at the HB. He’s also been so for Martin Downes at Against Heresies. Martin is raising questions about McLaren’s latest in which he demonstrates that concern that the Emergent Movement is just another form of . . . Continue reading →

Calvinism Old and "New"

In response to the recent TIME magazine piece on the YRR, Mark Driscoll published a piece on the Resurgence contrasting the “new” Calvinists with the “old” Calvinists. It was followed up by a piece with a kinder, gentler treatment of the tired, . . . Continue reading →

Surprise! Emergent Leader Embraces Pelagius

Tony Jones rejects Augustine, the North African church of the 4th century, the French Church of the 6th century, the entire medieval church, the Protestant Churches, and the Council of Trent (HT: Kevin DeYoung). Here’s one on which the confessional Protestants and . . . Continue reading →