Emerging church and orthodoxy...

Scot McKnight has recently written a number of excellent posts in which he looks at the primary impulses within the emerging church movement and its understanding of and relationship with orthodoxy.

Emerging and orthodoxy 1

Emerging and orthodoxy 2

Emerging and orthodoxy 3

Emerging and orthodoxy 4

I identify with many aspects of the emergent church movement. I think the missional impulse that seeks to authentically incarnate and witness to the gospel in culture is one of the main currents with which I resonate. I appreciate the voices within the movement that model an irenic spirit of conversation within the church and with culture (as opposed to the Fundamentalist tact). This space for conversation...paying attention to seismic shifts in culture...engaging culture with the gospel in non-defensive/reactionary/militant ways...all of these are healthy impulses.

This question that Scot McKnight addresses is one that I have been asking on my journey. It is a question of ecclesiology. What is the center of the Christian church? What is the prism through which we worship God, read Scripture, and interact with our culture? What is the relationship of the emerging church with the Creeds of classical Chrisitianity? The commentary and analysis by McKnight are helpful in connecting a few dots.