I spent last night with a group of new friends from the Northeast. We spent the night talking about “emergent” and what it is, what it might become, what it needs to become and also spent some time in one-on-one conversations…
Something i brought away from last night is similar to what Jake blogged about today in is martin luther king jr.-esque post. I very much enjoy sitting around and talking theology and talking theory. I probably enjoy it most because i am not naturally inclined towards those discussions and it definatly pushes my thinking and challanges me to grapple with subjects, theories, thoughts that i am not naturally drawn to.
There is an intersting make up of the group. Some of us are pastors, “in the trenches” as i think it was described. Then, there are those in the acedemy. Those who basically can sit around and think. There is a striking difference to me in the way these two groups think and also the motives behind what why we think what we think. The “acedemics” can sit around and think, deconstruct and toss out ideas with very little to worry about besides maybe a poor grade or whatever. (this is a nice luxery by the way). but, those of us who are pastors have a little more at stake, in my mind at least. i love deconstructing things as much as the next guy. but, when the rubber meets the road, i’ve got about 70+ people who i’ve got to head back to try and shephard towards following Christ. We’ve found that sometimes its really healthy to reconstruct some of your deconstruction.
This is nothing new. I am one just one of those guys who wants to see a lot of this “theory” played out in the real world.
at the same time, that “theory” and “theologizing” provides such a needed and necessary framework (i won’t say foundation because, after all, we are beyond foundationalism) for the real world.
ah, whatever. last night was a good night…i look forward to our next conversation…