Authentically Emergent: In Search of a Truly Progressive Christianity

by R. Scott Smith

Are Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and Rob Bell "yesterday's news," as many evangelicals seem to think? Truth and the New Kind of Christian (2005) tried to provide a balanced assessment of McLaren's and Jones's views. But, they seem to be right about much more that is affecting evangelicals than was realized then. Also, that book misunderstood one of their core everything is interpretation. Moreover, their views have developed over the years, e.g., ethically about colonialism, its influences, and how we should live now. They also have advanced several further claims about the gospel and traditional doctrines. To what extent should Christians embrace their views? Are these the ways to go forward toward a more authentic Christianity, one that is morally better, and a better fit, for our times? Like Truth, this book gives careful attention to their thought. It also offers its own portrait of major shaping influences on Western, Americanized Christianity. But, there remains a root issue that keeps the Western church, whether progressive emergents or evangelicals, in its "Babylonian captivity." It is liberation from that root that will lead to an authentically emergent Christianity. "R. Scott Smith is one of the leading thinkers in Christian circles on the emergent church movement and a biblical assessment of it. His evaluation, rooted in solid theology and philosophical rigor, offers a positive contribution to the discussion." --Barry H. Corey, President of Biola University and author of Love Discover the Power of a Forgotten Christian Virtue R. Scott Smith is Professor of Ethics and Christian Apologetics at Biola University's MA in Christian Apologetics program. He is the author of Truth and the New Kind of Christian (2005), Naturalism and Our Knowledge of Reality (2012), and In Search of Moral Knowledge (2014).

310 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 12, 2018

About the author

R. Scott Smith is Assistant Professor of Ethics and Christian Apologetics at Biola University in California. He is the author of Virtue Ethics and Moral Knowledge. Dr. Smith has lectured and presented numerous times on his specialty, postmodernism, and he is also the secretary-treasurer of the Evangelical Philosophical Society.