Because there are no absolutes in postmodern religion, identifying a specific theology for the movement is essentially impossible. So rather than try to develop a comprehensive theology, here are some statements from emerging church leaders that might help at least give us an idea of where they are and where they might be heading.<\/p>\n
God<\/p>\n
\u201cGod can\u2019t ever really be an object to be studied.\u201d \u2013 Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christian<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cI am not sure I believe in God exclusively as a person anymore either\u2026. I now incorporate a pantheistic view, which basically means that God is \u2018in all,\u2019 alongside my creedal view of God as Father, Son, and Spirit.\u201d \u2013 Spencer Burke, A Heretics Guide to Eternity<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe Christian faith is mysterious to the core. It is about things and beings that ultimately can\u2019t be put into words. Language fails. And if we do definitively put God into words, we have at that very moment made God something God is not.\u201d \u2013 Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis<\/em><\/p>\n Christianity<\/p>\n \u201cSome people are upset with me because it sounds like I\u2019m anti-Christian. I think they might be right.\u201d \u2013 Erwin McManus, The Barbarian Way<\/i><\/p>\n Scripture<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to embrace the Bible as the wild, uncensored, passionate account it is of people experiencing the living God. Doubting the one true God.\u201d \u2013 Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis <\/i><\/p>\n Sin<\/p>\n \u201cMany of us have grown uneasy with this understanding of \u2018the fall\u2019 (and with it an exaggerated understanding of the doctrine of \u2018original sin\u2019).\u201d \u2013 Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy<\/i><\/p>\n Self<\/p>\n Concerning Peter walking on the water: \u201cWho does Peter lose faith in? Not Jesus; he is doing fine. Peter loses faith in himself. . . . God has an amazingly high view of people. . . . God has faith in me.\u201d \u2013 Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis<\/i><\/p>\n Atonement<\/p>\n Chalke and McLaren both dismiss penal substitution as \u201ca form of cosmic child abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n Salvation<\/p>\n When Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again \u201che was simply saying that entering into God\u2019s Kingdom or shalom is about seeing the world differently and adopting his new agenda.\u201d \u2013 Steve Chalke, The Lost Message of Jesus<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cWe do not think this [Emerging Church Movement] is about changing your worship service. . . . This is actually about changing theology. This is about our belief that theology changes. The message of the gospel changes. It\u2019s not just the method that changes.\u201d \u2013 Tony Jones, \u201cA New Theology for a New World,\u201d 2004 Emergent Convention in San Diego<\/p>\n \u201cIt bothers me to use exclusive<\/i> and Jesus<\/i> in the same sentence. Everything about Jesus\u2019 life and message seemed to be about inclusion, not exclusion. . . . Maybe God\u2019s plan is an opt-out plan, not an opt-in one. If you want to stay out of the party, you can.\u201d \u2013 Brian McLaren, The Last Word and the Word After That<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cOur message and methodology have changed, do change, and must change if we are faithful to the ongoing and unchanging mission of Jesus Christ.\u201d \u2013 Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAnd during his lifetime, Abraham\u2014like Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad\u2014had an encounter with God that distinguished him from his contemporaries and propelled him into a mission, introducing a new way of life that changed the world. . . . How appropriate that the three Abrahamic religions begin with a journey into the unknown.\u201d \u2013 Brian McLaren, Finding Our Way Again<\/em><\/p>\n Evangelism<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many (not all!) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu or Jewish contexts.\u201d \u2013 Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy<\/i><\/p>\n Miracles<\/p>\n \u201cWhile I believe that actual miracles can and do happen . . . I am sympathetic with those who believe otherwise, and I applaud their desire to live out the meaning of the miracle stories even when they don\u2019t believe the stories happened as written.\u201d \u2013 Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy<\/i><\/p>\n Satan<\/p>\n Satan is not personal, but a personification of evil, \u201ca horribly real metaphor for a terribly real force in the universe.\u201d \u2013 Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy<\/i><\/p>\n Hell<\/p>\n \u201cA staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better…. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus\u2019s message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear.\u201d \u2013 Rob Bell, Love Wins.<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cDoes God punish people for thousands of years with infinite, eternal torment for things they did in their few finite years of life? This doesn\u2019t just raise disturbing questions about God; it raises questions about the beliefs themselves. . . . If there are only a select few who go to heaven, which is more terrifying to fathom: the billions who burn forever or of the few who escaped this fate? . . . What kind of faith is that? Or, more important: what kind of God is that?\u201d \u2013 Rob Bell, Love Wins.<\/i><\/p>\n Hell is \u201ca word that refers to the big, wide, terrible evil that comes from the secrets hidden deep within our hearts all the way to the massive, society-wide collapse and chaos that comes when we fail to live in God\u2019s world God\u2019s way.\u201d \u2013 Rob Bell, Love Wins<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Because there are no absolutes in postmodern religion, identifying a specific theology for the movement is essentially impossible. 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