Tony Jones (1) (1968–)

This book is being heralded as one of the first seriously scholarly studies of the emergent church movement in the USA, and is the lightly edited text of a doctoral dissertation from Princeton - which is GOOD NEWS, because it means that what Tony Jones is saying has been tested robustly and intelligently. He is also well-known from within the movement itself - and that, too, is good news, because it means he writes with enormous hands-on experience and understanding of the nuances of the show more subject.
The focus of this study is what he calls 'practical theology' as a framework within which to make sense of 'emergence', and also through which to help it articulate and structure itself plausibly if it is to become more than a transient protest movement against the doctrinaire evangelicalism of much of the dominant American Protestantism. He notes, for example, the hope expressed in one of the eight emergent congregations which he takes as case studies, that 'we don't become so much about nothing that we're not really providing anything helpful or useful for people'; another quotation from within the movement expresses what might be one of the main themes of the whole study: 'We were really kind of sad that people were hearing the good news as bad news, basically, in a nutshell'.
Having characterised the eight congregations (that is too 'churchy' a word in itself: these understand themselves as 'communities of faith'), Jones explores the key practices which typify their activity - communion, worship, preaching, community; also more open-ended practices of hospitality, theology, art, priesthood of all believers, and sacred space. Much of this is innovatory - although one of the findings of this survey is that these are not simply 'innovating communities' - there is also a great deal of appropriation of the contemporary into existing understandings of 'church', and a very significant amnount of 'reclamation' of deep tradition: the emergent church movement is far from simply a parachurch or contrachurch or postchurch.
All of this Jones goes on to map against a thorough exposition of the ecclesiology of Moltmann - chosen partly for the resonances which already exist between his work and the kinds of ideas being explored in and through the emergent movement, but also - strikingly - in conscious view of his repudiation of a great deal of the abstract and hieratic nature of western Christian theology (since the Latin Patristic period - practically since the beginning) in favour of the 'relational' theology of the Eastern, Greek heritage. This is a whole world which will be well-known to many non-evangelicals, but which it is hugely interesting to see post-evangelicals beginning to explore as a reaction against legalism and formalism within their own tradition - and against phenomena such as hypocrisy and judgementalism. In particular Jones identifies at the core of this a theological vision which is Trinitarian, Creation-focused (ecological), and open to the indwelling of God (eschatological) - to use technical terminology: 'pneumatological' and 'inter-penetrative' in its understanding both of God and of God's relation to the rest of us.
It is hugely important to Tony Jones (and to the movement of which he is a part and which he describes and hopes to challenge) that this theology is practical - it helps us make a difference for good. So his 'theology', in a properly critical dialogue with Moltmann, is also heedful of the 'ethical' focus to be found in thinkers such as Alasdair MacIntyre, Jeffrey Stout, and Pierre Bourdieu: it is not a journey for the intellectually faint-hearted; it is intelligent (and intelligently self-critical) in its survey of current ideas about 'virtue' and moral 'habit', and not only 'postmodernism' and 'theology'.
In conclusion, Jones proposes a theological basis which will help the emergent churches to recognise and affirm the sacredness of the whole world, to embody egalitarian and democratic patterns of life, to foster trust, and to engage in dialogue, all of which sounds very zeitgeisty - which is why he is so keen to undergird it with rigorous theological foundations (maybe 'aspirations' would be a better word). 'Emergence' will begin to come of age, he thinks, when these patterns of thinking and relating begin to be adopted instinctively by more and more of the members of 'traditional' networks (including theology faculties), although he also foresees the need for a degree of institutionalisation within emergence itself if it is really to achieve anything lasting.
I found intriguing (I think exciting) echoes of Levinas, and of his derivation of our understanding from ethics rather than metaphysics; there are obvious echoes of John Zizioulas and of that whole school in contemporary Orthodox theology; and, in particular in Tony Jones' identification of 'friendship' as a theological category which will help guide us reliably into better discipleship, I think there is a fruitful echo of older Eastern theology, for example from Vladimir Soloviev or Pavel Florensky. These are all sources beyond the zone of Jones' own references, but if generating more open and fluent conversations about all of this is part of his aim, these are conversation partners with whom, surely, extremely productive dialogue might take place.
It is a fascinating, careful and measured, thoughtful and illuminating book - and I recommend it strongly. show less

This book - more of a booklet, really - was more of an interesting introduction to the author's personal tableau of doctrines than anything else. It seems pretty clear that this work started out as a series of blog posts rather than as a book proper. What that means is that the emphasis is more on a conversational tone at the expense of being patient and comprehensive. Theological ideas and propositions are tossed out there for your consideration and you are casually invited to consider how show more the implications affect each other, without being offered a comprehensive treatment of the author's preparing. In other words, most of the thinking is left as an exercise to the reader.

That's not necessarily good or bad, it's just a function of expectations. Personally when I go to read something I'm likely to disagree with, I like to see the author do his/her homework, lay some groundwork, and make a serious attempt to convince me. I would have perhaps liked to see the words "sketch" or "introduction" in the title to set the reader's expectations to match the booklet's quick, broad outline mode of presenting the ideas.

Some compelling examples and arguments were made in this book, nearly all from church history rather than the scriptural text. His main argument seems to be that moral depravity was the invention of Augustine and later augmented by Calvin et. al. While noting the beliefs of early Christians (and modern-day Orthodox) certainly has some weight, the author almost ignores the greatest and most obvious *scriptural* arguments that are usually offered in opposition to his ideas.

For example, when the booklet shifted into a discussion of penal substitution atonement, the first thing that came to mind are verses that specifically use the word "propitiation" which strongly suggests a PSA interpretation. Nowhere was this addressed or even mentioned.

Ultimately the booklet gave me enough material to consider these "alternative" ideas about atonement and moral depravity, but left the vast majority of my questions unanswered. I am glad he wrote it, however; I find it best to think of it as basically one round in an ongoing discussion, and a very civil one at that. show less

Every Christian should read the Didache (DID-ah-kay). Every one. You can read the whole thing in twenty minutes, so you have no excuse.

Didache simply means teachings. By our best guess, this is the earliest Christian literature not in the Bible. It probably predates one or more Gospels, and may be made up of about four separate writings. The opening portion appears taken directly from the Q source. So early are the teachings of this Didache community that they show no indication of show more familiarity with any Pauline writings.

The Didache is not a book about believing, but about living. It’s not about evangelizing, but about being a neighbor. It’s a guidebook about how to share the Eucharist, how to give alms, how to baptize, how to appoint elders and treat prophets, and more. You won’t read anything about miracles, the twelve disciples, the crucifixion, or the resurrection. It’s just about how to be a Christian.

Jones relates the words of the Didache, provides a short, inspirational analysis, and relates how a group of Christians he knows has taken its teachings and humbly formed a community determined to return to the simple, compassionate teachings of the early church. show less

A nice idea, but the result is twenty-some voices in the conversation each trying to be original and nearly all saying almost the exact same thing. It felt like reading two hundred pages of blogs, and I just couldn't finish it. There were a couple of good chapters, but your really have to sift through the rest to find them.