Sep 14 2006
Emerging to the Immanent Eschaton
Um, yeah. Okay.
Actually, “immanentizing the eschaton” is what Brian McLaren and the rest of the “emergent church” are trying to do - create heaven on earth. The problem is that want to manage it without Christ.
Alan at Theosebes does a great job deconstructing one of the patron saints on the post-postmodern church movement. The first paragraph is from a Washington Post puff piece on McLaren’s latest work and the rest is Alan’s commentary.
[WP writes:] McLaren, 50, offers an evangelical vision that emphasizes tolerance and social justice. He contends that people can follow Jesus’s way without becoming Christian. In the latest of his eight books, “The Secret Message of Jesus,” which has sold 55,000 copies since its April release, he argues that Christians should be more concerned about creating a just “Kingdom of God” on earth than about getting into heaven.
[Allen writes:] There is nothing more insidious than Christianity without Christ (or is that Christ without Christianity?) and salvation without heaven. This is nothing more than Eric Voegelin’s definition of liberalism, ‘immanentizing the eschaton’, that is trying to make heaven on earth. To be somewhat more charitable, it is the old nineteenth century post-millennial approach, which sought to establish a perfect society–the Millennium–in order to hasten the return of Christ. Of course, these people aren’t really interested in Christ returning. Christ is only relevant as a selectively edited starting point for their preconceived notions of social justice.
The central message of the New Testament is the redeeming death and life-giving resurrection of Jesus. Jesus said many vitally important things, but those teachings are relevant only if Jesus died and was raised again. In other words, the teachings of Jesus are only critical insofar as they are linked to salvation and resurrection. If you sever that tie, then Jesus is not a good teacher, he was a liar or madman.
Paul was very clear about that point when he wrote to the church at Corinth, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Cor 15:17-19, NIV)
This is the dangerous trap that McLaren, Andrew Perriman, Donald Miller and the rest of the emergents fall into - they seem to hate “the Church” and seek to recreate it in the shape of a social organization solving the social ills of society, unencumbered by a risen, atoning Christ or the need for Christlikeness.
As a wiser man than I once said, “Church-less Christianity is like sex-less marriage—it can only last one generation.”
September 15th, 2006 at 00:16 am
How well you have presented man’s arrogance, my brother Steve. And, some day soon, they have a rude awakening coming; or, should I say a sudden death at the brightness of Christ’s coming? Yeah, the latter is more to the point.
This reminds me of man claiming to be able to repair the ozone tear; yet, all he did was make it drastically bigger. Still, everything is going according to God’s great plan. Like John, I say, “Nevertheless, come, Lord Jesus, come!” I am so ready for all this madness to end.
Thank you dear one for posting this AND for playing the tag word game.
More words have been added. LOL! Oh! By the way, just noticed your “Our Comments Policy.” Way to go; but, has it done any good? 
Much love and hugs, SisBon
http://bonnieq.wordpress.com
September 15th, 2006 at 00:18 am
Uh, sorry about the reference to the word game. I had you confused with another Steve. Still, you are my brother in Christ.
Just consider that I have a blond, dyslexic brain that frequently short circuits. LOL! 
SisBon
October 16th, 2006 at 08:50 am
Steve, this is all very confused.
The emerging church is not attempting to immanentize the eschaton - at least, not as I see it. The eschaton that the emerging church has focused on is the vision at the end of Revelation of a creation made new - new heaven and new earth - and it argues that it is this ultimate hope (not the escape from being-in-creation to heaven) that should frame the life and mission of the church. This eschaton cannot be realized in the present but it can be anticipated, as we seek to represent in ourselves, the potential of humanity redeemed; and it can be revealed prophetically to the world. What we say, in effect, through words and actions, is: this is something like God intended humanity to be, and how it will be when the whole of creation is made new.
The emerging church places considerable emphasis on justice, etc., but the people of God has always been called to act justly and came under judgment when it failed to do so. This is fundamentally biblical, and I don’t think it has changed. The church should seek to be a just people under the reign of God on earth. It is emphatically not the same as creating heaven on earth. It is about living obediently as his people. It is a matter of being (imperfectly and by God’s grace) ‘new creation’ on earth.
Where does this ‘Christianity without Christ’ come from? I can’t speak for others and perhaps I’m being a bit naive, but I see no evidence that the emerging church wishes to deny that the people of God was forgiven and renewed through Christ’s self-giving death, that the path of faithful obedience that he chose was vindicated by his resurrection from the dead, and that he now reigns at the right hand of the Father. I personally don’t think we have properly understand the language of the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven (see The Coming of the Son of Man, but that is a matter of biblical interpretation - it does not reflect a concern to marginalize Christ.
Salvation without heaven is another matter. As I said, I think that the eschaton is not us going to heaven but the renewal of creation and a coming of God to be with humankind.
I find the suggestion that I ‘hate’ the church absurd. I attend church. I work for a church-planting organization. Concrete communities of believers are central to how the people of God fulfils its calling to be blessed and be a blessing in the world. And by church I mean i) a community under the lordship of Christ, that celebrates his atoning death for God’s people through communion, that is shaped and empowered by the Spirit of God, that understands the power of grace, that announces to the world that God reigns; ii) a community that demonstrates the possibility of a humanity that has the creative God at its centre, that models just social relations, and that fully respects the beauty and integrity of the created world of which we are a part; and iii) a community that catalyzes transformation in the world and holds up the hope of a world made new.
But I would argue that we are a people before we are churches, and that a people expresses itself and organizes itself in far more diverse ways than regular Sunday morning church attendance.