We are beginning a 5 part podcast interview series on the blog for An Emergent Manifesto of Hope. Check out the first interview with Doug Pagitt and Adam Walker Cleaveland.
Upcoming interviews include: Brian McLaren, Carla Barnhill, Doug Pagitt and Karen Sloan. These should be available in iTunes or in the blog itself using QuickTime.
There is a new OpinionRepublic Poll in the sidebar of An Emergent Manifesto of Hope blog. The question is (regarding the book, An Emergent Manifesto of Hope):
Do you have a question for one of the contributors or editors?
Here's how it works. You can add a new question or vote for your favorite questions. Then we will have the editors/ contributors respond to the top ten questions in future posts. Thanks for your input!
By Brian McLaren
Brian McLaren served as church planter and pastor (crcc.org) for twenty-four years, and now is an author, international speaker, and networker active with emergent (emergentvillage.com), Sojourners/Call to Renewal (sojo.net), and others. His books include A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and the Secret Message of Jesus. You can learn more about him at brianmclaren.net.
I expect that four audiences will show interest in An Emergent Manifesto of Hope, each of them gaining something unique and valuable.
1. Participants in the emergent conversation will want to hear these prominent voices. I can imagine chapters of the manifesto being used for cohort meetings and retreats, online dialogues, and blog conversations. There will probably be “Yes! Amen!” responses, plus “What?”, “Yes, but ...”, “I see it differently”, “Not only that, but also...” and so on.
2. People who are unfamiliar with the emergent conversation will no doubt see this book as a good introduction, helping them decide whether they’d like to get more involved or not. The fact that the book brings together many voices—a key characteristic of a good conversation—means that it provides a more 3-D introduction than a single-author book.
3. Some people who are already suspicious or critical of emergent will find even more grist for the mill, but others may find that some of their previous critiques were unfair or ill-informed. They’ll discover that there is vigorous self-criticism within the emergent conversation, with plenty of point/counterpoint going on among friends. Perhaps those whose response to emergent has been contrarian will even discover that friendship can enhance vigorous, generative dialogue in a way that traditional critique and debate do not.
4. The conversation in this book emerges in the US context. But the emergent conversation is truly global. (Having been in 21 countries on five continents in the last year, I can guarantee that this is true.) This conversation takes place under many names, and has many commonalities within its wide range of diversity. An Emergent Manifesto of Hope will apprise people outside of the US of the state of the conversation here, and will—I hope—encourage more and more exchanging of ideas across East/West, North/South, Colonizers/Colonized, and other divides.
For each of these four groups, then, An Emergent Manifesto of Hope can be a rich resource. And I’m sure I haven’t even begun to think of all the groups and ways in which it can be helpful
There are two posts on the Out of Ur blog featuring excerpts from Barry Taylor's chapter in An Emergent Manifesto of Hope entitled "Converting Christianity: The End and Beginning of Faith." There have been several responses here. There are two posts: one on April 10th and one on March 29th. Check them out and join in the conversation.
By Doug Pagitt
Doug Pagitt pastors Solomon's Porch (www.solomonsporch.com) in Minneapolis, writes (www.dougpagitt.com), and seeks seeking to find creative, entrepreneurial, generative ways to join in the hopes, dreams and desires God has for the world.
I am really excited about the Emergent Manifesto of Hope book.
I like the title because it is playful. When we were conceiving of the book we were thinking that a book that gives a picture of the varied approaches to life with God would be really helpful, but that also needed to have some girth to it. There is this tendency to think that when someone uses Emergenty language it is because they don’t believe anything. It is like if someone doesn’t want to force it down your throat they must not really mean it. And in the Emergent world we know that that this not true, in fact the opposite might be closer to the truth. The strength with which someone forces their ideas shows their lack of conviction in those ideas. Why else be so aggressive?
But we know that neither of these assumptions are really accurate.
So, the idea of having an “Emergent” “Manifesto” was meant to be a play on these assumptions. I hope people “get” that play and don’t start thinking that we really are laying down the gauntlet. While the official definition of manifesto is:
“a public declaration of intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives, as one issued by a government, sovereign, or organization.”
For many people the word has a hard edge to it--a command-like feel. Even an “I know better than you” connotation. But that is not what we were shooting for.
The inclusion of the word hope came about sort of by accident, but became really important. We were in discussion with the emersion editorial group, talking about the book, and I said, “you know this book is really going to be about hope more than anything. The kind of hope that comes when you hear other people share your ideas and intuitions.” It was clear that point that this was not about telling the way it is, but telling the way it could be.
So, it is an interesting manifesto. I is a strong, yet inviting. Real yet unfinished in its possibility.
I hope people find the content to be just that.
The emerging church is an international movement whose widespread influence cuts across denominational and traditional lines. An Emergent Manifesto of Hope represents a coming together of over twenty divergent voices into a conversation about the main issues being considered within the emerging church. This unprecedented collection includes writings by some of the most important voices in the emergent conversation, including Brian McLaren, Dan Kimball, Ryan Bolger, Barry Taylor, and Sally Morgenthaler. It also introduces some lesser known but integral players representing a "who's next" within the emerging church. The articles cover a broad range of topics, such as spiritual formation, social justice, theology, multiculturalism, racial reconciliation, postcolonialism, sex, church and community, and evangelism. Many have heard of the emerging church, but few people feel they have a handle on what the emerging church believes and represents. Is it a passing fad led by disenfranchised neo-evangelicals? Or is it the future of the church at large? To read a sample of the book, and learn more, visit the An Emergent Manifesto of Hope blog. Doug Pagitt (MA, Bethel Seminary) is pastor of Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and author of Preaching Re-Imagined, Church Re-Imagined, and BodyPrayer. Tony Jones (MDiv, Fuller Theological Seminary) is currently working on his PhD in practical theology at Princeton. Formerly the minister to youth and young adults at the Colonial Church of Edina in Edina, Minnesota, Jones is the author of five books: Postmodern Youth Ministry, Soul Shaper, Divine Intervention, and Pray.
Download in PDF format: An_Emergent_Manifesto_of_Hope_Sample_Booklet.pdf
IThe Sample Booklet includes the book cover, table of contents, introduction by Tony Jones, and two chapters (by Sally Morgenthaller and Barry Taylor).
You can also see the text in the form of blog posts at An Emergent Manifesto of Hope blog.
