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Part 5: The Emerging
Emerging
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“After emergence
comes emersion.”Teilhard de Chardin,
The Phenomenon of
Man (Harper, 1965), p. 309.
The
Emergent/Emerging Church movement is heading towards a crash
collision with the New Age movement. In fact, it may already be
happening before our very eyes. The Discernment Research Group has
reached the inescapable conclusion that this is intentional and it
has been planned for over a generation.In brief, there has been a crossover
of personnel, organizations,
doctrines, methods, and agendas
going back at least 40-50 years.
Constance Cumbey, who first exposed
the New Age movement and its
Theosophical roots in her
groundbreaking book
The
Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow,
has been writing a series of reports
on the earliest examples of this
crossover for
her blog
and her
NewsWithViews.com column.
Through our own research we have
discovered that there was an earlier
Emerging Church movement, which was
initiated in the late 1960s and
early 1970s, which bears remarkable
resemblance, crossover and
correlation to its newer
counterpart. This early history is
currently being recounted in an
ongoing series of posts on the
Herescope blog.[1]
We know that the current Emergent
Church is a marketing phenomenon,
set up as an official movement by
Bob Bufords Leadership Network, a
historical fact which we documented
in a series of Herescope posts in
2005 and 2006.[2]
From its very inception in the 1980s
Leadership Network imported a number
of leading New Age business gurus
as experts holding nebulous (if
any!) Christian credentials. They
trained an entire generation of
evangelical leaders on the latest
tactics of psycho-social change
theory, substituting it for genuine
Holy Spirit revival. These business
gurus, some of whom had open New
Age beliefs, included such notables
as
Margaret Wheatley,
Peter Drucker,
Jim Collins, and
Ken Blanchard. Many spoke at a
2000 Leadership Network conference
Exploring Off the Map which
launched the Emergent Church
movement.[3]From our research we also know that
the Emergent Church was set up to be
a vanguard, a forerunner, to propel
the postmodern evangelical church
towards a
paradigm shift in theology,
structure, methodology, and purpose.
As such, it has been rushing
headlong towards an open convergence
with the New Age movement. Emergent
leader
Phyllis Tickle has termed this
The Great Emergence, which is
the title of her 2008 book
announcing the birthing of a
brand-new expression of faith and
praxis (p. 17) which will
ultimately rewrite Christian
theology (p. 162).Important details about both the
history and theology of the modern
Emergent movement can be found in
Pastor Bob DeWaays recently
published book
The
Emergent Church: Undefining
Christianity (2009). This
book summarizes the basic doctrines
and practices of the movement, and
gives an account of a few key
leaders.
Emergent Eschatology
Pastor DeWaay recognizes the
defining issue for the Emergent
movement as eschatology:
While Emergent Church leaders differ
on nearly every Christian doctrine,
one belief they hold in commonthe
one that unifies their movementis
their eschatology. Emergent
theologians and church leaders
reject Gods final judgment in favor
of His saving of all humanity and
creation into a tangible paradise in
which all will participate.
(p. 13)This view of eschatology is also a
key doctrine of
Dominionism, and is therefore
linked to the concept of
building the kingdom of God on
earth. This eschatological
worldview proclaims that there
isnt going to be a Judgment Day,
and teaches that man can facilitate
the return to
pre-Fall paradise conditions on
Earth. This view of the future
subliminates the Cross, ignores
scriptural prophecies about the
endtimes, and positions man into
godlike status as a
co-creator. Obviously, in such
an eschatological scenario there is
no Heaven nor Hell.The
Emergent paradigm shift is
already happening. This
eschatological worldview is now
becoming widespread and is
subtly being incorporated into
most major mainstream evangelical
ministries, missions, and
organizations. A few examples we
have noted on the Herescope blog
include
N.T. Wright,[4]
the
Lausanne movement,[5]
Ralph Winter,[6]
Transform World,[7]
Dutch Sheets and Bill Hamon,[8]
and many
Latter Rain leaders.[9]
Exemplifying this shift, a recent
article in a publication called
ConvergePoint, put out by the
Baptist General Conference,
describes this groups
transformation initiative in these
terms, My personal joy was
compounded culturally by the fact
that the word converge happens to
appear in the Portuguese Bible in
Ephesians 1:10: to make all things
converge together in Christ, things
in heaven and earth.[10]This eschatological worldview has
serious ramifications for all of
Christian theology. DeWaay explains:
[T]he
possibility of future judgment and
punishment of those who do not
believe in Christs death on the
cross and His shedding of blood to
avert Gods wrath against sin is
either denied or not discussed in
Emergent/postmodern theology.
(p. 149)
Theology of
Hope?
Pastor DeWaay identifies Jürgen
Moltmanns book,
Theology of Hope, first
published in 1964, as a seminal
document forming a foundation for
the Emergent Church movements
revisionist, evolutionary
eschatology. Moltmann was influenced
by Marxism and the philosophies of
Georg W.F. Hegel. Moltmanns
eschatological hope is headed
toward the kingdom of God on earth
with universal participation (p.
23). DeWaay explains that
Emergent/postmodern theology is
based on the Hegelian idea that
contradictions synthesize into
better future realities . Moltmann
took Hegels ideas and created a
Christian alternative to Marxism
(which is also based on Hegels
philosophy) that he called a
theology of hope (p. 30).
Emergent church leaders who hearken
back to Moltmann include
Brian McLaren,
Doug Pagitt,
Stanley Grenz and many others.DeWaay makes the case that,
according to the theology of hope
promulgated by Moltmann and his
Emergent disciples, the truth will
only be known with certainty in the
future (p. 39) Therefore, this
uncertainty results in the corollary
heresies that God is re-creating
the world now with our help and
the world has a universally bright
future with no pending, cataclysmic
judgment (p. 40).
Evolutionary Eschatology
The root theology undergirding all
Emergent eschatology is evolution. A
generation ago, certain Christian
leaders took the ideas of Moltmann
and began to fill in the outlines
for his theology of hope. They
also got their ideas from a group of
so-called secular futurists, who
happened to hold a Teilhardian
evolutionary worldview.[11]
Today we might classify these
futurists as New Agers.Modern Emergents hold a remarkably
similar worldview to these early
futurists. Phyllis Tickle, in her
book
The
Great Emergence, writes
approvingly of Darwins evolution
theory, saying that it was the
tipping point that sent us careening
off into new cultural, social,
political, and theological
territory (p. 64).While researching the early Emerging
Church movement we came across a
seminary theologian, Kenneth Cauthen,
who wrote a book in 1971 entitled
Christian Biopolitics: A Credo &
Strategy for the Future (Abdingdon
Press). It was the premise of
Cauthens book that Jürgen Moltmann
didnt go far enough; that his
theology of hope was incomplete
because it was focused too
exclusively in the context of
society and history and has
neglected the natural and cosmic
setting of the human enterprise (p.
102). Cauthen proposed a
Christian biopolitics an
ecological principle that would
connect nature and society so that
Moltmanns theology of hope could
become cosmic. He called for the
recognition of the centrality of an
evolutionary perspective (p. 109).
We dont know the full extent of
Cauthens influence upon postmodern
evangelicals, but the theological
changes he anticipated bear
remarkable resemblance to Emergent
thought and practice today.As a member of the
World Future Society, a group
formed in 1966 with strong ties to
the
New Age Theosophists, Cauthen
articulated an
ecological model for politics and
theology (p. 106) that would
facilitate a transition leading to
global transformation. He proposed
that we take the New Testament
conception of the consummated
Kingdom of God as a symbol of the
transcendent goal of history (p.
131), a theology which would
eliminate a future of either Heaven
and Hell. And he suggested that man
is indeed becoming like a god that
science and technology are putting
power into the hands of human beings
that have traditionally been
reserved for the gods (p. 140). He
summarized his views as follows:The message of the church during
this period of world transition
should be framed in
utopian-eschatological terms,
stressing the power and purpose of
the Divine Spirit to bring all men
into the ecstatic joy of a New Age,
while the ministry of the church is
basically to create a community of
persons who can cause, celebrate,
and cope with the changes that are
required to bring humanity into the
promise of the planetary society.
(p. 124)Cauthen was not happy with
Moltmanns social gospel theology
of hope. He said that was too
connected to the here and now in
building the kingdom of God on Earth.
Cauthen proposed that Moltmanns
ideas needed a cosmic and
utopian aspect that would give
people a magnificent vision of an
ideal future with a
new consciousness that would
prove to be more sensuous,
ecstatic, erotic, earthy, bodily
oriented, festive, playful,
feminine, idealistic, utopian,
mystical, sacramental, hedonisticin
sum, a quest for joy in the
wholeness of body and spirit (p.
150). Amazingly, this is a pretty
accurate picture of the modern
Emergent Churchs quest
for a
better future.
To be
continued….
The Truth:
“Who is there among you
that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his
servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let
him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.”
(Isaiah 50:10)
*Part 5 is excerpted from
the
Discernment Newsletter,
July/August 2009 (Vol. 20, No. 4). Herescope will post the
entire article as a series this week. The Herescope version
will include additional documentation in the form of links
added to the text and its quotations.
Endnotes:
1. See these Herescope posts:
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2009/05/emerging-church-circa-1970.html
&
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2009/05/early-experiential-emergents.html
&
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2009/06/retro-emergent.html
&
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-thing.html
2. It is because of the documentation you will find in these
posts that we can freely interchange the term Emergent and
Emerging when discussing this movement:
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2005/11/marketing-emergent.html
&
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2005/11/how-leadership-network-created.html
&
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2006/01/leadership-network-spawns-emergent.html
&
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2006/01/leadership-network-and-terra-nova.html
&
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2006/01/how-leadership-network-established.html
3. See
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2005/10/christian-leaders-go-on-expedition.html
&
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2008/05/earth-old-story-new-story.html
&
http://www.leadnet.org/epubarchive.asp?id=30&db=archive_explorer
&
http://www.leadnet.org/epubarchive.asp?id=33&db=archive_explorer
&
http://www.leadnet.org/epubarchive.asp?id=84&db=archive_explorer
&
https://www.leadnet.org/libarchive.asp?id=110&db=archive_champsupdate
4. Heaven Is Not Our Home: The bodily resurrection is the
good news of the gospeland thus our social and political
mandate, N. T. Wright, Christianity Today, 3/24/08,
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/april/13.36.html
See also:
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2008/02/creating-heaven-on-earth.html
which discusses this article.
5. Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, Lausanne
Occasional Paper No. 30: Globalization and the Gospel:
Rethinking Mission in the Contemporary World, 2004,
http://www.lausanne.org/documents/2004forum/LOP30_IG1.pdf,
states: Gospel, or euvangelion, is understood in its fullest sense as
the good news that Jesus Christ, the King of Heaven, has
come, not only to save individuals from hell, but to restore
his kingdom which is nothing short of the entire world and
all of creation. As we shall see, globalization leads us
to consider anew the words of the Lords Prayer: Father,
thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. The mission
of the church, accordingly, is to be a living sign to the
world that its King has indeed come to restore his kingdom.
In the words of the New Testament scholar, N. T. Wright, we
are to be for the world what Jesus was for Israel and, we
are able to carry out our mission because of what Jesus did
for Israel and the world. Understood this way, we are to be
the Kings heralds announcing throughout the cities and
outposts of the kingdom the good news that he has come, he
has defeated the rebellious powers of sin and death, and
through the power of his Spirit, and he is working through
the church to put his world to rights.
6. See the articles with documentation at
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/07/secret-mission.html
&
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2008/04/tinker-with-theology-tinker-with-man.html
&
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2008/02/creating-heaven-on-earth.html
&
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/07/cultural-mandate.html
7. See the article posted at
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/07/redeeming-cultures.html
where the Transform World Covenant states: “Scope of the
Gospel: As Creator, God is Lord of all, and, therefore, his
redemptive concern is comprehensiveseeking to heal and
restore ‘all things’ by means of Christ’s atoning sacrifice
on the cross (Gen. 1:31a; Rom. 8:18-23; Col. 1:19-20). The
churchs calling is to witness to the kingdom of God in its
fullness (Matt. 4:23; Mark 1:15; Luke 4:18-21). To be
faithful to the gospel the ministry of the body of Christ
must be holisticencompassing the whole personspiritual,
physical, and social, and all human relationshipswith God,
with others, and with the environment (Gen. 1:26-28).
Anything less than concern for all spheres of life is to
misrepresent the all-encompassing Lordship of Jesus Christ
over the world.”
8. See the article posted at
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/07/cultural-mandate.html
and note that C. Peter Wagner ties this to Dominionism.
Also see
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/07/proposing-new-theology.html
and the accompanying quotations that connect this
eschatological worldview with the Manifest Sons of God cult.
9. See this article and note the Hermeticism evident in the
as above, so below feature of this eschatology of building
heaven on earth:
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/07/as-in-heaven-so-on-earth.html
10. What does Converge mean? Jerry Sheveland,
ConvergePoint, Vol.
1, No. 3, April-May 2009, p. 12.
11. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the French Jesuit
philosopher/priest, proposed that just as man had evolved
from monkeys, there would be a new species of man that would
EMERGE, which he called homo noeticus. His evolutionary beliefs form the
foundation of the New Age movement. As nearly as we can
tell, he was the first to use forms of the word emerge to
describe the spiritual formation of this new species.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teilhard)
accurately summarizes his beliefs as follows: In his
posthumously published book, The Phenomenon of Man, Teilhard
writes of the unfolding of the material cosmos, from
primordial particles to the development of life, human
beings and the noosphere, and finally to his vision of the
Omega Point in the future, which is pulling all creation
towards it. He was a leading proponent of orthogenesis, the
idea that evolution occurs in a directional, goal driven
way. To Teilhard, evolution unfolded from cell to organism
to planet to solar system and whole-universe (see Gaia
theory). Such theories are generally termed teleological
views of evolution. Teilhard attempts to make sense of the
universe by its evolutionary process. He interprets mankind
as the axis of evolution into higher consciousness, and
postulates that a supreme consciousness, God, must be
drawing the universe towards him.
© 2009 by Discernment Group
Source article:
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2009/07/emergence-towards-convergence.html
* *
*Index to other articles by Discernment Group
See
Part 1,
Part 2,
Part
3,
Part 4,
Part 5,