Spring 2010 · Vol. 39 No. 1 · pp. 106–112
Recommended Reading
The Emerging Church: A Select Bibliography
The following bibliography is limited largely to North American writers, a few U.K. authors being the exception. I have tried to include works by all the significant Emerging authors but undoubtedly some have been missed. In any case, the following titles should give readers a good sense of the type of writing coming out of the Emerging Church, as well as the sort of concerns other Christians have raised about it.
The bibliography is somewhat artificially divided into five sections: Emergent/Emerging, Missional Church, New Monasticism, Postconservative Theology, and Critical Assessments. Some works could have been included in more than one section, but I chose not to duplicate. Most of the entries are less than ten years old. A few Internet sites are listed as well.
The conversation among Emerging writers—as well as that between Emerging writers and others—has its peaks and valleys but shows no signs yet of abating. It is my hope that this list will make its own small contribution to the respectful exchange between Emerging Christians and more traditional believers for which most contributors to this issue of Direction are calling.
EMERGENT/EMERGING
Anderson, Ray S. An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006.
Bell, Rob. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.
Bell, Rob, and Don Golden. Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008.
Brandt Gareth. “Strange Bedfellows: Anabaptism and the Emergent Church.” Mennonite Brethren Herald, October 2008, 11–12.
Brewin, Kester. Signs of Emergence: A Vision for Church That Is Always Organic/Networked/Decentralized/Bottom-Up/Communal/Flexible/Always Evolving. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007.
Burke, John. No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a Come As You Are Culture in the Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005.
Burke, Spencer, ed. Out of the Ooze: Unlikely Love Letters to the Church from Beyond the Pew. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2007.
Conder, Tim. The Church in Transition: The Journey of Existing Churches into the Emerging Culture. El Cajon, CA: Youth Specialties, 2006.
Gibbs, Eddie and Ryan K. Bolger. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005.
Jones, Tony. The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008.
———. The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005.
———. The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community. Brewster, MA: Paraclete, 2009.
Keel, Tim. Intuitive Leadership: Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor, and Chaos. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007.
Kimball, Dan. The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.
———. Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004.
———. They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007.
McKnight, Scot. “Five Streams of the Emerging Church: Key Elements of the Most Controversial and Misunderstood Movement in the Church Today.” Christianity Today 51 (February 1, 2007): 34–39.
McLaren, Brian. Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007.
———. Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008.
———. A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished Christian. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004.
———. The Last Word and the Word After That: A Tale of Faith, Doubt, and a New Kind of Christianity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005.
———. More Ready Than You Realize: Evangelism as Dance in the Postmodern Matrix. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002.
———. A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001.
———. A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith. New York: HarperOne, 2010.
———. The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006.
———. The Story We Find Ourselves In: Further Adventures of a New Kind of Christian. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003.
McLaren, Brian and Tony Campolo. Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture-controlled Church Neutered the Gospel. El Cajon, CA: EmergentYS, 2003.
Myers, Joseph R. Organic Community: Creating a Place Where People Naturally Connect. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007.
Pagitt, Doug. A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in Us All. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008.
———. Church Re-Imagined: The Spiritual Formation of People in Communities of Faith. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005.
Pagitt, Doug and Tony Jones. An Emergent Manifesto of Hope. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008.
Rollins, Peter. The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief. Brewster, MA: Paraclete, 2008.
———. How (Not) to Speak of God. Brewster, MA: Paraclete, 2006.
———. Orthodox Heretic: and Other Impossible Tales. Brewster, MA: Paraclete, 2009.
Samson, Will and Lisa. Justice in the Burbs: Being the Hands of Jesus Wherever You Live. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007.
Sweet, Leonard. The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives. El Cajon, CA: Zondervan, 2003.
Sweet, Leonard, Brian McLaren, and Jerry Haselmayer. “A” is for Abductive: The Language of the Emerging Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.
Taylor, Steve. The Out of Bounds Church? Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005.
Tickle, Phyllis. The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008.
Tomlinson, Dave. The Post-Evangelical. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.
Webber, Robert E. The Younger Evangelicals: Facing the Challenges of the New World. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2002.
Yaconelli, Mike. Stories of Emergence: Moving from Absolute to Authentic. El Cajon, CA: EmergentYS; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.
MISSIONAL CHURCH
Barrett, Lois Y., ed. Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004.
Driscoll, Mark. Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006.
Frost, Michael. Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2006.
Frost, Michael and Alan Hirsch. ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2009.
———. The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the Twenty-first-century Church. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003.
Gibbs, Eddie. ChurchMorph: How Megatrends are Reshaping Christian Communities. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009.
Hirsch, Alan. The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2006.
Guder, Darrell, ed. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998.
Minatrea, Milfred. Shaped By God’s Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004.
McNeal, Reggie. Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009.
Roxburgh, Alan and M. Scott Boren. Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become One. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2009.
Stetzer, Ed. Planting Missional Churches. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2006.
Van Gelder, Craig. The Ministry of the Missional Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007.
Van Gelder, Craig, ed. The Missional Church and Denominations: Helping Congregations Develop a Missional Identity. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008.
NEW MONASTICISM
Bessenecker, Scott A. The New Friars: The Emerging Movement Serving the World’s Poor. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006.
Claiborne, Shane. The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006.
Claiborne, Shane and Chris Haw. Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008.
Claiborne, Shane and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers: Prayer for Ordinary Radicals. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2008.
Dekar, Paul R. Community of the Transfiguration: The Journey of a New Monastic Community. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2008.
Freeman, Andy and Pete Greig. Punk Monk: New Monasticism and the Ancient Art of Breathing. Ventura, CA: Regal, 2007.
Kauffman, Ivan J. “Follow Me”: A History of Christian Intentionality. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2009.
Perkins, John M. and Shane Claiborne. Follow Me to Freedom: Leading As an Ordinary Radical. Ventura, CA: Regal, 2009.
Rutba House. Schools for Conversion: Twelve Marks of a New Monasticism. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2005.
Stock, Jon, Tim Otto, and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. Inhabiting the Church: Biblical Wisdom for a New Monasticism. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2006.
Wilson-Hartgrove, Jonathan. Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World: From ‘After Virtue’ to a New Monasticism. 2nd ed. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2010.
———. New Monasticism: What It has to Say to Today’s Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2008.
POSTCONSERVATIVE THEOLOGY
Boyd, Gregory A. God at War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1997.
———. God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000.
———. The Myth of a Christian Religion: Losing Your Religion for the Beauty of a Revolution. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009.
Erickson, Millard J. The Evangelical Left: Encountering Postconservative Evangelical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1997.
Franke, John R. The Character of Theology: An Introduction to its Nature, Task and Purpose: A Postconservative Evangelical Approach. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
Grenz, Stanley J. Renewing the Center: Evangelical Theology in a Post-theological Era. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000.
Grenz, Stanley J. and John R. Franke. Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.
Johnson, Gary and Ronald Gleason, eds. Reforming or Conforming? Post-Conservative Evangelicals and the Emerging Church. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007.
Olson, Roger. How to be Evangelical Without being Conservative. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008.
———. Reformed and Always Reforming: The Postconservative Approach to Evangelical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007.
Pinnock, Clark H. Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God’s Openness. Carlisle, Cumbria, UK: Paternoster Press, 2001.
———. The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1998.
Pinnock, Clark H. with Barry L. Callen. The Scripture Principle: Reclaiming the Full Authority of the Bible. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.
Sanders, John. The God Who Risks: A Theology of Divine Providence. 2nd ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Academic, 2007.
Sanders, John, ed. Atonement and Violence: A Theological Conversation. Nashville: Abingdon, 2006.
CRITICAL ASSESSMENTS
Belcher, Jim. Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2009.
Carson, D.A. Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005.
Colson, Charles W. and Anne Morse. “Emerging Confusion: Jesus is the Truth Whether We Experience Him or Not.” Christianity Today 50 (June 1, 2006): 72.
Craigen, Trevor P. “Emergent Soteriology: The Dark Side.” Master’s Seminary Journal 17, no. 2 (2006): 177–90.
DeYoung, Kevin and Ted Kluck. Why We’re not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be. Chicago: Moody, 2008.
Dorn, Christopher. “The Emergent Church and Worship.” Reformed Review (Online) 61, no. 3 (September 1, 2008).
Driscoll, Mark. “A Pastoral Perspective on the Emergent Church.” Criswell Theological Review 3 (March 1, 2006): 87–93.
Freswick, Casey. Postmodern Liberalism: Repainting a Non-Christian Faith; a Christian Critique of Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis and the Emergent Church Movement. Grandville, MI: Reformed Fellowship, 2006.
Henard, William D. and Adam W. Greenway, eds. Evangelicals Engaging Emergent: A Discussion of the Emergent Church Movement. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2009.
Johnson, Gary and Ronald Gleason, eds. Reforming or Conforming? Post-Conservative Evangelicals and the Emerging Church. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007.
Keuss, Jeffrey F. “The Emergent Church and Neo-Correlational Theology after Tillich, Schleiermacher and Browning.” Scottish Journal of Theology 61 (January 1, 2008): 450–61.
Mayhue, Richard L. “The Emerging Church: Generous Orthodoxy or General Obfuscation?” Master’s Seminary Journal 17 (September 1, 2006): 191–205.
McLaughlin, Brian. “The Ecclesiology of the Emerging Church Movement.” Reformed Review (Online) 61, no. 3 (September 1, 2008).
Miles, Todd L. “A Kingdom Without a King? Evaluating the Kingdom Ethic(s) of the Emerging Church.” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 12 (March 1, 2008): 88–103.
Mills, David M. “Mountain or Molehill? The Question of Truth and the Emerging Church.” Criswell Theological Review 3 (March 1, 2006): 51–66.
Penner, Myron B., ed. Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2005.
Smith, James K. A. Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.
Smith, R. Scott. Truth and the New Kind of Christian: The Emerging Effects of Postmodernism in the Church. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005.
Webber, Robert, ed. Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007.
Wittmer, Michael Eugene. “Don’t Stop Believing: A Theological Critique of the Emergent Church.” Reformed Review (Online) 61, no. 3 (September 1, 2008).
ONLINE
http://www.brianmclaren.net — Brian McLaren’s website.
http://www.emergentvillage.com — “Emergent Village is a growing, generative friendship among missional Christians seeking to love our world in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”
http://www.emergingchurch.info — “A constantly evolving collection of recommended stories and reflections.”
http://www.theooze.com — “A website dedicated to the emerging Church culture.”
http://www.thesimpleway.org — Website for a new monastic community founded by Shane Claiborne and Brooke Sexton.
