For those in the Emerging Church conversation, and who have access to a Moody radio station, tonight’s “Open Line” (9PM Eastern) will be of interest:
June 3, 2005
Understanding the Emerging Church
On tonight’s OPEN LINE, Dr. Don Carson joined Wayne Shepherd to help us understand the “emerging church” movement. He assessed the theological views and some weaknesses and criticisms, and recognized the strengths of this movement.
UPDATE:
The program has been placed on the audio archive from MBN.
5 comments:
I suspect that most of the folks who read this book will be from the emergent church and very few from Carson's camp. I also think that the rest of the Body of Chrsit world-wide could care less what D.A. Carson thinks or even knows who he is.
Rick,
If only that were true.
1. He is perhaps the most respected evangelical New Testament scholar in the United States. He is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.
2. Those who will read this book will be leaders/pastors in many evangelical churches--from "free" churches (like Baptists [of all forms], Restorationists, Evangelical Free, etc.) and from the conservative wing of mainline Christianity (like Presbyterians and Reformed and the like).
3. While it may be true that the Body of Christ worldwide may not know who he is (that is, the people in the pews), the leaders of the Body of Christ worldwide know him very well. He is one of the best-selling English-speaking commentary writers in the world (he has written or edited more than 45 books). His world-renown expertise includes biblical theology, Greek grammar, Johannine theology, Pauline theology, questions of suffering and evil, and most recently postmodernism and pluralism. He is one of the most respected members of several scholarly groups, including the Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical Research, the Society of Biblical Literature, the Evangelical Theological Society, the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, and the Institute for Biblical Research.
THIS IS WHY HIS OPINION MATTERS. Because when DA Carson speaks, PEOPLE LISTEN.
So...If he has some wrong information about the Emerging Church, we MUST try to answer that with GOOD information!
Thanks Bob,
My statements were not fair. I am jaded. Having attended a large ecumenical seminary in Berkeley I am a little jaded when some evangelical scholars are elevated to cult status. It would be fair to say that he did not make the radar in ANY of my biblical studies classes and most likely would not in any major mainline or catholic institiution. I suspect that is because he is evangelical, not that evangelical is bad, but his scholarship may not be as respected outside his core audience of conservative evangelical christians. I guess I stand corrected for the evangelical perspective. Thanks for the clarity. Peace.
You've nailed it.
Many evangelicals simply don't get a hearing simply because they are evangelical. So it is not surprising that many who have entered the Emergent/Emerging Church conversation from different paths other than the evangelical one may not have heard of him. But the major leadership and many of us who have dived into the EC conversation are mostly from an evangelical background, so we do indeed know who this man is.
And Carson is no slack. If you were to ask non-evangelicals which evangelical scholars they would perhaps give some attention to, I would guess that Carson would be on that short list.
Thanks again for your time and comments. I was just tellng my wife this morning about this post. You are so right, many mainlines would not give Carson a second look and many evangelicals would not give some mainline scholar a second look. Ditto for the RC. And somehow, we all claim to follow Jesus??? :)
Isn't it interesting that each of these segments speak of the "church" from their own perspective? That is one reason I LOVE the internet, it is allowing many who are willing to dialogue to dialogue. At the same time, often folks only choose to dialogue with those who think like them. That is why I was so willing to discount Carson and ignore him rather than listen. I guess I am one of the guilty ones. :)
Thanks again!
Peace,
Rick
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