Why We're Not Emergent | Reformed Theological Seminary

You can be young, passionate about Jesus Christ, surrounded by diversity, engaged in a postmodern world, reared in evangelicalism, and not be an emergent Christian. In fact, I want to argue that it would be better if you weren’t.

The Emergent Church is a strong voice in today’s Christian community. And they’re talking about good things, like caring for the poor, peace for all men, and loving Jesus. They’re doing church a new way, not content to fit the mold. Again, all good. But there’s more to the movement than that. Much more.

Kevin and Ted are two guys who, demographically, should be all over this movement. But they’re not. And here’s why—they do life founded upon orthodox beliefs about God, propositional truths about Jesus, and the authority of Scripture.

In Why We’re Not Emergent, Kevin and Ted diagnose the emerging church from both a theological and an on-the-street perspective. They pull apart interviews, articles, books, and blogs, helping you see for yourself what it’s all about.

Provocative yet playful, this book seeks to show you why being emergent isn’t the only, or even the best, way to be passionate about Jesus Christ.

This book is a pleasure to read, not least because it pricks so many pretensions. While it deals with an important subject, it manages to sustain a breezy style that draws you in. The subtitle tells you the stance of the authors: the emerging church movement, which taught an entire generation to rebel, is now old enough to find growing numbers of people learning to rebel against the rebellion.

D. A. Carson
Cofounder, The Gospel Coalition

Why We’re Not Emergent crashes into the emerging conversation in a voice which hears “them” and talks back! This is a book we’ve been waiting for. With careful observation, faithful handling of Scripture, and an eye for the ironic and absurd, DeYoung and Kluck have given us a feel for what attracts some to emerging churches and thoughts about why that’s sometimes a very bad thing. Buy and read this book. You’ll enjoy it. And it could help you and the people you’ll tell about it.

Mark Dever
Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church

Fifteen years ago in No Place for Truth, David Wells reminded us all that in our time, those who seem most relevant are in fact most irrelevant, and those who seem most irrelevant are in fact most relevant. That, as Gandalf would say, “is a very encouraging thought.” Indeed, as I encounter what has been called the “young, Reformed awakening,” for every young Christian who is convinced that in order to engage the culture the church must embrace the emergent paradigm of truth and church, there are nineteen who understand (because they really care about what the Bible says) that faithfulness is relevance. DeYoung and Kluck tell you why.

Ligon Duncan
Chancellor and CEO, Reformed Theological Seminary

Two thoughtful young guys with different styles, Kevin DeYoung (the pastor-theologian) and Ted Kluck (the journalist), have teamed up to write Why We’re Not Emergent. The result is a fair-minded, biblically grounded, insightful book. It’s clear that DeYoung and Kluck are not motivated by the desire to criticize, but rather by their love of the church as the body of Christ. This is now the first book I’d give someone who asks the question, “What is the emerging church?” Highly recommended!

Justin Taylor
Blogger, Between Two Worlds

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