Jesus: the (first) emergent pastor
Friday, November 4, 2005 at 5:06PM John Frye begins a provocative new series on Jesus: the (first) emergent pastor:
In this series I will endeavor to make the case that if Jesus were alive on earth today, he would have coffee with Brian McLaren and talk "God," before he would with D.A. Carson. He'd discuss the treasure and use of the Bible with Walter Bruggemann before he'd sit down with John McArthur. He'd have in-depth discussions with Richard Rohr, SJ, about mystery and wonder before he'd chat about platitudenous stories with Max Lucado. Jesus would bear hug Jim Wallis long before he'd get the "tour" of Focus on the Family. He would probably visit every AIDS clinic before he'd visit most of our churches. You see, Jesus was the first emergent pastor. His calculated reference to "new wineskins" was his way of saying, "Don't you get it? The world is changing big time. And it's not just me that is doing it, but Herod and his cronies, the zealots and their violence, the Sadducees and their comfort, the Pharisees and their religion, the Romans and their power and the Greeks and their way of thinking--all things things are like a Len Sweet 'tsunami' and we are no longer able to live 'in the good old days.' "
Them's fighting words. Looking forward to the series.
Reader Comments (10)
If you check out his blog entry he has a picture of a black Jesus, which is inaccurate.
Darryl, one of these days you are just going to have to come out of that closet and admit who you really are - a wannabe emergent pastor:) All signs are pointing in that direction.
Now HERE is reason not to be emergent.
Kim: I had to look twice. I didn't notice before you mentioned but you could say he looks Mediterranean. George: I appreciate a lot of emerging stuff and cringe at other things. I really don't have a desire to be an emerging pastor believe it or not as much as I do to grasp and live the Gospel. Some of the stuff that he's going to talk about looks pretty good. Ken: What reason?
"...and cringe at other things" You should post about these once in awhile. Jacob.
Definitely not Jewish; being provocative is one thing but not at any cost.
Thanks, all, for the comments. Hang in there with John. I have his book and I find him to be a solid guy. I don't agree with everything in his first post here (I like some of the guys he mentions), but this looks to be a stimulating series of posts that deals with some issues of substance. Jacob: I believe I've posted about some of what makes me cringe before. My three main concerns are that there is some flaky theology out there and also some overreaction. Also some faddishness. But there is also, among many, a healthy pursuit of what it means to follow Jesus. They ask good questions and don't always provide good answers but some of the answers are getting better. Before we all react too much to the introduction, let's read a few of John's post to see what he has to say. Then we can cut loose. ;)
"Jacob: I believe I've posted about some of what makes me cringe before..." If my memory is correct, perhaps a few passing comments. Darryl, I think you're in a great position to warn about some of this "flaky theology" in a more specific and direct way. (just a little challenge bud)
Jacob: That has to be done. In one way, I don't do a lot of it because it's not the purpose of this blog, and it's a pretty challenging task. As well, there are others who are doing a pretty good job. A recent issue of Modern Reformation magazine comes to mind. Does the ec need more critique? Maybe, but there is almost too much critique happening now, and maybe not enough balanced reflection. I really do feel badly that both sides are more interested in reacting against the other than learning from the other. I also don't spend a lot of time critiquing modern evangelicalism either because that too is being done well by not only people in the ec but by Pyromaniac and Steve Camp.
P.S. Thanks, Jacob, for stimulating some thinking. I'll try to post on the issue of critiquing sometime soon.