Russell Moore is the Dean of Theology and Senior Vice President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He also serves as executive director of The Henry Institute which is described as "a think-tank devoted to equipping churches and church leaders to engage the culture from a biblical worldview perspective."
In his March 11th commentary he takes on the emergent movement in an article titled, "Bugs Bunny Meets Brian McLaren: Christianity, Pop Culture, and the Quest for Hip. Here are some quotes:
It seems to me that the ÄúLoonaticsÄù phenomenon is not all that far removed from the Äúemergent churchÄù fad sweeping American Christianity at the moment. Many good critiques of the Äúgenerous orthodoxyÄù of Brian McLaren have been offeredÄînoting everything from the movementÄôs embrace of a faulty view of truth to its flirtation with understandings of salvation that reject the necessity of explicit faith in Christ. But even beyond the specific doctrinal crises in the emergent movement, there is the sad fact that this really isnÄôt all that new.
ThatÄôs because the problem is not simply with the postmodern fuzziness of Brian McLaren and his devotees. The problem instead is that American evangelicalism long ago sold out to cultural accommodation to the consumerist, therapeutic ethos of contemporary American society. Now that side of evangelicalism is as ÄúlameÄù in the eyes of the culture as a Looney Tunes cartoon from the 1960s. And so, evangelicalism ÄúreinventsÄù itselfÄîin the image of a brooding, angst-ridden twenty-something coffeehouse culture.
Thanks to Reformissionary www.stevekmccoy.com for finding the article. Read the full article here >
