In some ways I could say that my pastor taught me about the emerging church before there was such a term.
"All truth is God's truth" is one thing he's been fond of saying. As if to say, embrace and affirm what is of value in world religions.
In the same way, he has taught me that the proper posture towards other christian traditions is that of humble cooperation, not superiority. So it was he who first encouraged me to read the Catholic and Anglican who were taboo in my upbringing.
Today he mentioned that the ideas of the emerging church are not new. I was like, "now you're getting it..."
"Look," he says, "this anglican guy was saying similar things fifteen years ago."
So, this got me thinking... what are some books that were formative for the emerging church before the idea was hip? I'm especially thinking of people who would not identify themselves as emergent or be identified as such.
Some ideas of emerging thought in germ-form:
- Messy Spirituality - Mike Yaconelli (one of my personal heroes)
- Dangerous Wonder - Yac
- Ragamuffin Gospel - Brennan Manning
- Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
- Celebration of Discipline - Richard Foster
- Streams of Living Water - Richard Foster
- Anything by Henri Nouwen
These are some of my thoughts. Any others?
1 comment:
OK, you've got me thinking on this one - I'll post it over at my spot and link back here.
I think we're gonna find that "everything old is new again," or (as my hero, Samuel Clemens, once said) "All my best ideas were stolen by the ancients."
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