Stories of Emergence: Moving from Absolute to Authentic (Emergent YS)

Each chapter contains the story of one individual’s journey, mostly from some form of modernist/evangelical Christianity via a crisis of some kind through to a broader, more relationship-based faith. It could have been rather dull; the plot of each story is, essentially, the same albeit with different details. But this is not a book to read at one sitting. I dipped into it irregularly over the course of a few weeks, and found much to ponder.

The book is divided into three sections, grouping the writers by those who had a crisis in ministry, those who had a crisis in worldview, and those who simply had a crisis in faith. Each individual describes openly and honestly how he or she become disillusioned in some way with the church or other belief system of their youth, and how they eventually found a new and vibrant faith that embraced postmodernist culture while staying true to Jesus.

Some of the stories are fascinating, some of the childhood churches staggeringly rigid or oppressive. One writer describes his childhood as a committed Communist, and one as an ardent feminist. They are all careful not to condemn their earlier views or their upbringing, instead explaining how their eyes were opened at some point, usually due to some dramatic circumstances. The writing styles are quite different; I found some a bit heavy-going, others light and more personal. There were things to ponder in almost every chapter.

Out of print and not easy to find second-hand, but I would certainly recommend this to those asking questions about the relevance of the church in the 21st century, and also to those who are suspicious of the 'emerging church' movement. ( )

A collection of stories of people who were “steeped in their beliefs” and their journeys out of those beliefs. It is fascinating to journey with these individuals as they navigate the twists and turns they encounter on the way and to explore with them what they learned about themselves, their faith and their beliefs as they emerged on the other side. One of the fascinating things about the book is the diversity of voices - a former fundamentalist, a former Pentecostal, a former liberal, a former feminist and a whole host of other “formers”. ( )