Two books appeared in March 2008 that both claimed to address movements that are attracting younger generations of Christians, while shaking up institutions, denominations, and churches along the way. The books are Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists by Collin Hansen and The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier by Tony Jones. Hansen is an editor-at-large for Christianity Today and Jones is the national coordinator of Emergent Village. I am several chapters through Hansen’s book and am finding it to be excellent (but you may have already guessed which camp I’m in….).
Christianity Today hosted a great dialog between Hansen and Jones, given the similarities and differences between their books. CT notes:
The books and movements share a number of themes: reaction against entertainment-driven church life, desire for transcendence, rediscovery of tradition, and a need to answer common misconceptions about the movements. Christianity Today invited Hansen and Jones to read each other’s books and discuss how the rise of one movement might illuminate aspects of the rise of the other. Are both movements scratching the same itch? Are there internal tensions in one movement that also appear in the other?
The interaction consisted of a five-part dialogue:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Check them out.