EMERGENT CHURCH: THE ARROGANCE OF THE EMERGING CHURCH MOVEMENT


Following on the heels of the posts Rob Bell: The gods Should Be Angry and Christianity & Liberalism is the following from my friend Dr. Ron Gleason, aka “Rattlesnake 6, a former tank commander and instructor in the US Army Armor School at Ft. Knox, KY.”

The Lord be praised for bold men and pastor-teachers like Dr. Gleason who are not afraid to tell it like it is. Apprising Ministries recommends that you pay close attention to Gleason when he says:

the more I read books by Emergent/Emerging authors, the more I’m convinced that what I said a couple of years ago—at least—is becoming increasingly evident. When I finished reading McLaren”s A Generous Orthodoxy it was clear to me that this was going to be an aberrant, heterodox movement. McLaren’s new book Everything Must Change seems to be his (vain) attempt at ethics and deviates even further from true Christianity…

Let me state at the outset that in his latest book McLaren comes out looking very much like a left-wing Democrat who despises George Bush, hates the war, and believes that we are all going to become crispy-critters due to global warming unless we heed Al Gore’s “facts,” which a number of scientists have debunked… 

Another aspect of McLaren’s book that irked me as I read it was McLaren’s arrogance. Like N.T. Wrights What Saint Paul Really Said, McLaren gives us the impression that up until this point in theology and ethics we have been surrounded by incompetents and dolts, but now Bri is here to rescue us from our blatant ignorance. While the old dead guys were spewing out all that doctrine stuff and burning witches at the stake, Brian has bigger, better, kinder, and gentler fish to fry. Heck, he’s even willing to stop admiring his Birkenstocks long enough to help us discover the real Jesus. How kind.

You can read the rest of Dr. Ron Gleason’s important piece on the neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church right here.

See also:

BRIAN MCLAREN: CULT LEADER OF THE EMERGENT CHURCH

EMERGENT CHURCH: “DOES DAN KIMBALL PREACH A PERVERTED GOSPEL?”