Carson’s final word, or why we should welcome criticism

Reaction to Carson’s book Becoming Conversant is mixed. I understand that. But I think we still need to listen in case there is something good to say (and I think there is). I think it’s important to hear where Carson ends up on the last page:

If emerging church leaders wish to become a long-term prophetic voice that produces enduring fruit that does not drift off toward progressive sectarianism, and even, in the worst instances, outright heresy, they must listen at least as carefully to criticisms of their movement as they transparently want others to listen to them… If they manage this self-correction and worry less about who is or who is not emergent and rather more about learning simultaneously to be faithful to the Bible and effective in evangelizing the rising number of alienated biblical illiterates in our culture, they may end up preserving the gains of their movement while helping brothers and sisters who are more culturally conservative than they are learn to reconnect with the culture.

Hard to argue with that.