One week ago the Akron/Canton Emergent Cohort had it’s second conversation, and I think it was a good time for everyone. We met at Muggswigz in downtown Canton, which was pretty busy but still had enough room for us all. The next meeting will be Friday, March 9th @ 8:00 pm, and I believe it will be at Rico Latte in the Falls, with Tim leading. Now I’m going to attempt to summarize our last meeting as best I can.
A couple weeks before the meeting I posted an essay with some questions related to how we can best talk to and/or work with those who see the world, and Christianity in particular, differently than we do. Do we try to gently convince others that there is a better way? Do we let them see things and do things their way and simply partner with them as much as possible? How can we appropriately respond during those times that we feel like screaming in anger and frustration at the bad impression of Christian faith being left on those who are not Christians? These questions and many similar ones were tossed around that night.
One of the things that I love about this cohort is that it is full of really sensible people, which helps to balance me out. 
Everyone seemed to agree that there are some conversations that should be avoided, particularly those with people who cannot converse in a respectful way. There are also times when we begin to dialogue with someone and only then do we see that the discussion is becoming too heated and being unfruitful, and in such cases it is probably best to try to end the discussion. On the other hand, many people are able to have conversations where there is a lot of disagreement in a respectful way, and these can have very positive results. Ultimately, I think that a common sense approach to conversation was the consensus.
We also asked the question of whether or not the opposition of many church leaders to all things emergent is an issue of power, with many of us feeling that this is sometimes the case. That’s not to say that all church leaders who are critical of Emergent/the emerging church are only interested in preserving their own power which they feel to be threatened, it’s just that we believe that this power dynamic is sometimes involved. There seemed to be agreement that in actual encounters where this is perceived, we should stand up to those in power in the way that Jesus did. In serving and empowering others the unjust use of power is exposed.
I also introduced the cohort to Peter Rollins’ book, How (Not) to Speak of God, which is an absolutely incredible book! Brian McLaren is a “raving fan” and said that it “is one of the two or three most rewarding books of theology I have read in ten years.” Tony Jones raved about it as well, even saying that he would no longer respond to critics of Emergent who haven’t read it. One of the ways that Rollins’ book was germane to our discussion was that it messes with the language that we use to talk about God, showing us that while we must never stop speaking of God we also must realize that our language always falls short of God. The whole book is an argument for iconography over idolatry, even in conceptual space. So, when we talked about how it angers us that some Christians speak and act in ways that unnecessarily turn people away from God and from Christ, we were able to ask if they were really turned away from God Himself or Christ Himself, or if rather they were turned away from a distorted caricature of both. If the latter is true (at least some of the time), then it makes me less angry and better able to keep my cool in addressing those who I see as giving us a bad name.
Hmmmm… did I cover everything? Probably not, but it’s the best that I can recall. Anyone who was there feel free to add to this or correct me. Like I said, I think it was a really good time and I hope to see everyone next month!
