Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications

260 Pages·2005·1.11 MB·English

by  D. A. Carson

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Becoming
Conversant
with the
Emerging
Church
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Zondervan Books by D. A. Carson
Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church
The Gagging of God
An Introduction to the New Testament (coauthor)
Matthew in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary
Telling the Truth (general editor)
Worship by the Book (editor)
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Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church
Copyright © 2005 by D. A. Carson
All rights reserved under International and Pan -American Copyright Conventions. By payment of
the required fees, you have been granted the non -exclusive, non-transferable right to access and
read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down -
loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage
and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known
or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.
AER Edition January 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-29648-5
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carson, D.A.
Becoming conversant with the emerging church : understanding a movement and
its implications / D.A. Carson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN-10: 0-310-25947-9 (pbk.)
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25947-3 (pbk.)
1. Postmodernism—Religious aspects—Christianity. 2. Non-institutional
churches. I. Title.
BR115.P74C37 2005
262—dc22 2005000360
CIP
All Scripture quotations from the Old Testament, unless otherwise indicated, are taken
® ®
from the Holy Bible, New International Version . NIV . Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984
by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
All Scripture quotations from the New Testament, unless otherwise indicated, are taken
® ®
from the Holy Bible, Today’s New International Version . TNIV . Copyright © 2002,
2004 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to
you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part
of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for their content for the life of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy,
recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
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This book is gratefully dedicated to
JoyJoy
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CONTENTS
Preface 9
1. The Emerging Church Profile 11
2. Emerging Church Strengths in Reading the Times 45
3. Emerging Church Analysis of Contemporary Culture 57
4. Personal Reflections on Postmodernism’s Contribution
and Challenges 87
5. Emerging Church Critique of Postmodernism 125
6. Emerging Church Weakness Illustrated in Two
Significant Books 157
7. Some Biblical Passages to Help Us in Our Evaluation 188
8. A Biblical Meditation on Truth and Experience 218
Scripture Index 237
Index of Names 241
Subject Index 245
About the Publisher 257
Share Your Thoughts 258
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