Mapping "Emerging" and Drawing Lines
Scot McKnight beat me to the punch and has initiated a dialogue about Michael Patton’s recent “map of emerging.”
Patton describes his motivation for creating the map: “I was recently identified as an emerger (which was news to me) by some of the more antagonist anti-emergers at a Bible conference. More importantly, I was placed along side of McLaren and Pagitt as a significant influence in the emerging movement. I did not see the connection at all.”
So to distinguish himself from Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, and others (as some EV blog readers may be feeling pressure to do, as well), Patton has created this chart:
One initial response that stands out for me, so far: “I think it reveals a lot about Patton’s own biases that he puts ‘Evangelicalism’ squarely over the center of ‘Orthodox Christianity’” (Mike Clawson, in the comments on Scot’s blog).
Read the rest of the comments and post your thoughts/reactions on Scot’s blog
UPDATE 2/25/2008: Andrew Jones has posted one of the most forceful (yet in his inimitably gracious tallskinnykiwi kind of way) critiques of Patton’s maps. Jones writes, “When the Trusts and Foundations, who are mostly USA based and are supporting global mission efforts through the emerging church movements, see charts like that, [it] creates dissonance because I said they are ORTHODOX and Patton has placed them right of orthodox. This not only makes me look stupid, unreliable, uninformed and potentially dishonest, it also threatens future funding to these groups and their leaders, many of whom have no idea who these ‘emerging’ and ‘emergent’ men are, and may not have read any of their books, even if they do speak English.”
He goes on to share two specific situations where Patton’s charts could have very negative consequences for people/groups who are trying to do missional ministry in Europe and the U.S. Read the whole response from Andrew.
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Wow. I just can’t see the value in drawing literal lines (or circles) and naming who’s in and who’s out.
Maybe that just means I’m out.
When I was in seminary, professors ridiculed the medieval church for debating how many angels could stand on the head of a pin. This map makes that discussion seem very sophisticated by comparison. Besides, whatever happened to good old labels like “liberal?” This is the same soup warmed over for a new audience. Not helpful, plus it leaves out everybody else in the church universal—if you believe in such a thing. —Chuck
Might as well rename the Roadtrip “Church Basement Roadshow- to hell” cuz I guess you guys are out.
I’m puzzled, surprised that such categorization is drawing so much interest.
I’m kind of with Adam. With all due respect… who cares? I guess its human instinct. When we come across new labels we feel the urge to place them on a spectrum.
And I think Matt is right. You guys will be lucky to get in the church parking lot now! Maybe rename it the Empty Lot Next to the Church Roadshow?
But don’t worry, even if it’s in the empty parking lot I’ll still be there… I may be the only one now that you’re officially not speaking on orthodoxy. :)
I’d be interested to know how Patton arrives at the “sphere” of orthodoxy? Evangelicalism is technically speaking an aberation from the earliest orthodoxy in that it progressed, added, and dropped off certain litmus markers of orthodoxy.
Hey Sam, I do deal with this to some degree in this series on the emerging church. You can see it here: http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2008/02/16/what-is-orthodoxy/
For his part, I actually think Patton’s done a decent job (and I think I just opened myself up to criticism) but I wrote a ditty on it in my blog.
When I saw Michael’s lines from a distance at first I appreciated it for his artistic abstraction. But when I realized that there were words I appreciated it for his cognitive sharpness. Thank you Michael for expressing and exposing those deep areas of your soul in a fine artistic and propositional display
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Thanks for posting this. One of the things that I said in the post was that placing D.A. Carson in the middle was not meant to say that he is more orthodox than say Dan Kimball, but just less emerging. The context is meant to show a relationship between evangelical and emerging and where emerging might fit in the broader scheme. Hope that makes sense.
Thanks again for posting it.