Great Emergence, The: How Christianity Is Changing and Why (emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith)

Great Emergence, The: How Christianity Is Changing and Why (emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith)

By: Phyllis Tickle  

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Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5

Publisher: Baker Books

Customer Review: 1 out of 5
Could you be a tad more vague, please? - I bought this book in order to understand better the phenomena of the "emerging church." What I got instead was a hundred pages or so of rambling musings that made me realize just how out of touch the author is with the real world.

The book centers around the idea that, every five centuries or so, the church goes through a major doctrinal and structural change. She identifies the first of these as the Chalcedon Council, which cemented the orthodox views of historic Christianity. The second was the great schism during which the Eastern churches separated from the west. The third was the Protestant Reformation. All of this Tickle outlines in competent, though rather vague, language.

It's when she turns to what she calls the current emergence that she shifts gears into true "Anglican-speak," the nearly nonsensical language that the Episcopal Church has used over the last decade. I am a practicing Episcopalian, BTW, so I am quite familiar with this phenomena. Ask the average Episcopal clergyman or woman whether or not they favor gay marriage, for instance, and you will get a litany of platitudes about love, reconciliation, sensitivity and thoughtfulness. What you won't get is an answer to the question. That's because the church hierarchy's response to the civil war occurring in the denomination has been to create a "big tent" in which they hope liberals, moderates like myself, conservatives, fundamentalists, high churchers and low churchers will all feel welcome. The end result is a bland, generic spirituality which strives so hard to avoid offending anyone that it is also robbed of any power to inspire or instruct.

Tickle seems to believe that this watered down, flavorless approach to faith is the church's future. In presenting her case for this she reveals how elitist and out of touch she is with average people. Here is a quote from page 96 that illustrates what I am talking about:

"...after 1965...American Christians - and American Jews with them - rushed like the subjectively starving people they were towards the feast of Asian spiritual expertise and experience. Books on how to be a Buddhist Christian made the country's bestseller lists time and again..."

Yes, Ms. Tickle, but who was reading these books? Not the average person in the pew. Such avant-garde approaches to religiosity were certainly popular, though, among the artsy-touchy-feely crowds in major urban centers. And Tickle seems to think that those kind of people ARE the people.

It's this point of view that colors the remainder of the book, which is a plea for the church to abandon concrete teachings in favor of a "Christianity" which has no tangible doctrines. She says this emerging church will be distinguished by the search for warm fuzzies, and increasingly vague attitudes about what constitutes truth. This is shown in a revealing quote from page 149:

"An emergent (Christian), in observing heated debates about the factualness of the Virgin Birth can truly be puzzled. For him or her, the whole problem is just not there in any distinguishable or real sense. FOR THE EMERGENT, THE VIRGIN BIRTH IS SO BEAUTIFUL THAT IT MUST BE TRUE, WHETHER IT HAPPENED OR NOT (emphasis mine)."

What the H*** is that supposed to mean?

Let's say I'm a big fan of the Lord of the Rings books. Imagine me saying something like "for me the story of Frodo tossing the ring into the river of flame is so beautiful is must be true, whether it happened or not." Does that make any sense? Would I be seen as a deeply profound thinker or as a person who's played one too many video games?

Let's go a little further. Let's say I believe that OJ Simpson really didn't kill his wife, and I defend this view by saying "for me, the image of OJ as a persecuted and misunderstood African-American man being charged for a crime he didn't commit is so powerful it must be true, whether he committed the crime or not." Nonsense.

In summary, it seems that Tickle believes that post-modernism, with its denial of objective reality, must be embraced by the church if it is to have anything to say to 21st century people. The exact opposite is the truth. It's her pathetic attempt to water down the faith that robs it of any meaningful message.

Tickle's emerging church may find fruitful ground in the circles she moves in, but for he average person, who doesn't have the luxury of dispensing with concrete reality, it comes across as cheap sentimentality that offers empty platitudes without substance. If this is what the church as a whole is becoming then its days are limited indeed.

Customer Review: 1 out of 5
Noticed the serious problems with her thesis? - There simply is no real evidence to support her thesis. Gregory the Great as the creator of a great emergence of monasticism? Nonsense. Monasticism emerged in the 3rd century and there was a slow but steady growth of the church and of monasticism throughout the first 1,500 years. Gregory the Great was famous for lots of things. But there was no Great Emergence.

And can the schism between the Latin and Eastern churches be called a "Great Emergence"? What the heck emerged? No theology, no new moral changes; indeed, many of the various Eastern churches quietly returned to full communion with the Roman church without any noticeable changes. So, mostly, it was a political spat.

No, there is only one era that could be called a "Great Emergence" and that was the Protestant reformation. And I cannot see how you can take that one instance and call it a trend for change every 500 years.

Moreover, although Tickle is a good writer and she posits a number of intriguing theories, she is crippled by her narrow viewpoint. Again and again she mistakes a small number of liberal believers in America for the world itself.

The growth in religion is in places like Africa and Asia. There, membership is extraordinary, an explosion unimaginable here in America or in the new dark continent for religion: Europe. And it is an explosion of traditional religion, conservative, orthodox religion.

Moreover, what emergence is even going on here? Liberal denominations are shrinking to size of peas and blowing away. Surely she can't think anything will come from the ranks of those ancient citizens--feminist nuns in their 70's, gay bishops lording it over nonexistent churchgoers, and hippie theologians no one reads anymore. Are you kidding?

No, what is emerging here in the US is...ta dum...no religion. If you look at the statistics for the young--that is, the future--you find a group of theological illiterates. Bookstores are stocked with books on wicca, psychics, magic crystals, revivals of pagan religions, and magical books on how to believe your way to great wealth.

A "Great Emergence" it is not.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Great Springboard for Discussion - Phyllis Tickle's books are always intelligent and thought-provoking. "The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why" is no exception. Following in the footsteps of the Papacy of Gregory the Great (@ 590), the Great Schism (1054) and the Great Reformation (1517), the Great Emergence refers to the massive changes going on in the Christian faith and society at large in our present day. As Tickle puts it, every 500 years the Church has a massive rummage sale during which the old ways are cast off and a new way of being Christian comes to the forefront. As Tickle emphasizes, however, "no standing form of organized Christian faith has ever been destroyed by one of our semi-millenial eruptions. Instead, each simply has lost hegemony or pride of place to the new and not-yet-organized form that was birthing."

Tickle offers a historical overview of the three previous upheavals, with a special focus on the Reformation as it is the transformation that immediately precedes our current era. There are parallels between the two, especially in that increased forms of communication made both possible. The invention of movable type made possible the widespread dissemination of ideas via the printed word. In many ways, this brought the Reformation into being. Everyone could now have a Bible. By the same token, modern communication advances such as the radio, television, and perhaps most importantly, the internet, have encouraged communication among different branches of Christianity and exposure to other faith traditions.

Tickle explores the many pivotal people, things, and ideas that have contributed to the Great Emergence. Among these were Darwin, Faraday, Freud, and Jung, new forms of communication, the increased use of the automobile, a rediscovery of the historical Jesus, communism, World War II, changing roles of women, the drug age and the birth control pill. Tickle doesn't pass judgment on any of these developments. She simply reports on the many changes they brought to society in general and Christianity in particular.

The last section of this book, "Where is it Going?" is the most speculative. Tickle divides Christianity into four main areas: Liturgicals, Social Justice Christians, Renewalists, and Conservatives. No one quadrant is the sole domain of any one denomination. Rather, there are Christians of many denominations in all four. In the middle is the convergence, the new way of being Christian, that is developing.

"The Great Emergence" is an excellent sociological and historical study of a Christianity in flux. It provides a springboard for much discussion.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Very Helpful, and Worthy of Vigorous Debate - Before The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why appeared on the shelves at the local bookstore it was on my radar screen. I've read Phyllis Tickle's work in the past and have been amazed at her command of the language. Her ability to translate complex ideas and vivid images into captivating prose is undoubtedly impressive, and her latest work is no exception. The ideas contained in The Great Emergence cannot be ignored, and will surely be of vast importance for "emergers," "emergents," and the "hyphenateds" (Presby-mergents, Metho-mergent, etc.) as the church charges into the future.

After naming the historical reality in which we stand "The Great Emergence," Tickle states her task as answering three questions, "What is this thing?", "How did it come to be?", and "Where is it going?" The church, according to Tickle, stands in the midst of a giant rummage sale. This rummage sale is not the first of its kind, as each of the great Abrahamic faiths have been through this before. These moments have come about in history at approximately five hundred year intervals. Quoting the Anglican bishop Mark Dyer, Tickle states, "about every five hundred years the empowered structures of institutionalized Christianity, whatever they may be at the time, become an intolerable carapace that must be shattered in order that renewal and new growth may occur." Now, Tickle believes, is one of those times. Tickle generalizes three results each time one of these historic shifts has occurred. According to her analysis: (1) a more vital form of Christianity emerges, (2) organized expressions are reconstituted into a more purified expression of the former self, and (3) the "the range and depth of Christianity's reach" expands.

To support her argument Tickle provides a broad historical sketch. Her markers in history include the rise of Gregory the Great and the monastic movement in the 500s, the Great Schism which occurred near 1000 AD, the Great Reformation of the 1500s, and, now, the Great Emergence. During each period she uses a tethered cable as a helpful analogy which consists of four components. The exterior of the cable is a mesh sleeve, represents the common imagination of the time. Once punctured, lying beneath that common imagination are three strands representative of the spirituality, corporeality, and morality of the age. Tickle's examination of each designated time period show how an individual, a group of individuals, or some historic event punctures the common imagination and brings about the reexamination of each of these three strands, raising new questions pertaining to authority, reality, and meaning in the world. When challenges arise, a new common imagination must be formulated which will guide existence within reality. As this occurs, the process can be painful and discomforting. Yet, purgation leads to purification.

According to Tickle, the two central questions of the Great Emergence are: "(1) What is human consciousness and/or the humanness of the human? and (2) What is the relation of all religions to one another--or, put another way, how can we live responsibly as devout and faithful adherents of one religion in a world of many religions?" Tickle further asserts, "the other great truth here is that we can not be said to have truly entered into any kind of post-Emergence stability until we have answered both of them." Interestingly for Tickle the question is one of plurality, or the truth of plurality. In order to negotiate this question one must wrestle with the location of authority. The dilemma of authority today is present not only in Christianity, but in the world at large. Tickle is right to point us in this direction.

In an attempt to explain how we got here, Tickle traces important philosophical, sociological, theological, scientific, and technological developments including Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Einstein's theory of relativity, the advent of the automobile, the shifting relationship of families, the rise of the drug culture in the 1960s, the quest for the historical Jesus, and the rise of Pentecostalism. All of these factors, in a way, eroded the Reformation foundation of authority, sola Scriptura.

To address her final question, "Where is it going?", Tickle provides a quadrilateral to serve as a guide. In each of the four quadrants (moving from upper left, clockwise to lower left) she locates Christians on Liturgical, Social Justice, Renewalist, and Conservative terrain. The Great Emergence has brought about a stirring in each of these four quadrants, drawing leaders in each area in to a gathering center. As this gathered center begins to draw more and more people of like mind together the church becomes primed for renewal, though this new reality is turbulent and challenging. The church together must navigate these new frontiers, with traditionalists, re-tradition-ers, progressives, and hyphenateds engaging in constructive dialogue which paves the way forward.

As this pattern emerges, Tickle turns to the sources of authority in this new environment. Here she defines and explores two terms, "orthonomy" (correct harmony & beauty) and "theonomy" (only God can be the source of perfection in action or thought). Under this context she explores how Christians in the Great Emergence will define authority underneath these categories, offering that authority is established in Scripture and Community. Authority becomes a dynamic conception based on a network theory or crowd sourcing, and levels hierarchical structures which have carried the day in the past. Christian communities will become a centered set rather than a bounded set, will emphasize narrative, and will return to Hebraic roots of the Christian faith, purging Hellenistic influences which have defined certain aspects of Christian belief and doctrine. Tickle's ideas are complex and defy simplification. I recommend you read them.

Tickle's book is a good one. At times I found places where her argument could be strengthened, though not to the detriment of the whole. This book should be read by practitioners and church leaders seeking a way forward and then discussed with fervor. There will be moments when one may strongly agree or disagree with her argument, but Tickle must be contended with. We stand at the precipice of a new age, which in and of itself is not a new dilemma. Christian people must seek to be faithful in that age. A debt of gratitude is owed to Tickle for how her ideas might sharpen our thinking, strengthen our practice, and spur us on to greater deeds.

Read this book.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Keep moving - To move is to emerge, and become what you are destined to be. HOORAY for writers like Tickle who amuse and amaze you with their insights on the church's future. Don't dispair, there is HOPE for the future if we go back to the basics and learn to love our neighbors and to care for the poor.

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