Posted by
Ron on Friday, July 07, 2006 12:52:57 AM
Interesting:
The whole idea of an ‘emerging theology’ is nebulous, which is
probably unavoidable and probably a good thing. But every now and again
I feel the need to sketch some boundaries, contours, intentions,
commitments - if only to help us keep in view the stated purpose of
this site, which is to ‘assist the development of a transparent,
community-driven theology for the “emerging church
”’. There have been good discussions along these lines in the past: ‘Outline of an emerging theology’, ‘What is the relationship between emerging and evangelical theologies?’, ‘The marks of a renewed theology’. This is simply another personal attempt to give some definition to the phrase ‘emerging theology’.
So
here, very briefly stated, are what I feel to be some of the leading
characteristics of an emerging theology. It reflects my biases and
blindspots. If people want to suggest corrections or additions, I would
be happy to take them into account and republish the list as a more
collective statement.
- A theology for a community that is in
self-conscious continuity with the biblical people of God and the
calling of Abraham to be blessed and be a blessing to the nations of
the world.
- A theology done under the lordship of Christ.
- A theology that gives priority to narrative in order both to define its core and to contextualize the content of biblical teaching.
- A theology that seeks to understand the intimate relationship between text and historical narrative.
- A theology that at its heart is a reading of scripture.
- A
theology that as a matter of methodological commitment celebrates,
reinforces, and exploits community: an emerging theology is strongly
relational, conversational, interactive.
- A theology that is strongly aware of, and responsive to, the locality in which these conversations take place.
- A theology that attempts to resist certain distortions of modernism.
- A theology that is broadly but not slavishly postmodern
in its epistemology, wary of absolute formulations, tolerant of
diversity and plurality, sensitive to the social manipulation of texts. Read More.