Book Review: Why We’re Not Emergent

Just finished a book by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck called Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys who Should Be for my Ministry in a Cultural Context seminary class. In the book, authors DeYoung and Kluck seek to provide a comprehensive analysis and rebuttal of the Emergent Church movement. Unlike other critiques of the movement, this book is not written by a scholar or older pastor. Rather, the authors are two young, culturally relevant Christians. They are guys who should be the poster boys for the Emergent movement (or, as the subtitle states, “two guys who should be [Emergent]”).  As they state in the book several times, there are aspects of the Emergent movement the authors appreciate. However, they have some very serious issues with the movement, thus the reason for the book.

The book’s main goal is to point out contradictions and fallacies in the emergent argument. The movement’s big guns (McManus, McLaren, Bell, etc.) claim they are just part of the discussion, yet they lead via conferences, books, and dialogues. The movement is against dogmas and set beliefs, yet they are dogmatically against the current “modern” church. Emergent churches say they are focused entirely on Jesus, yet they fail to preach discuss the Gospel, resurrection, and salvation. Although the emergent church movement claims to have the key to proper Christianity in the 21st century, post-modern culture, it is actually a repackaging of the liberal theology found in the early 20th century. Some of these traits are ones I have seen in my ministry setting, but had not yet identified with the emergent church movement.

Even though this book served as a critique of the emergent church, it was an easy and enjoyable read. The authors (especially Kluck) are able to inject just enough humor to keep it entertaining. The chapters were relatively short and easy to digest. And, even though the book came down very hard on the emergent church, the authors made sure to point out where they agreed with the movement. This was helpful to me, since it made the book feel honest and “balanced.”

Overall, I felt that this book presented a concise argument against the emergent church. It provides a clear rebuttal to the flaws and errors of the movement. However, this is only one side of a two-sided argument. I would be interested in seeing what the emergent community has to say about this book. I would imagine most of the movement’s leaders would agree with parts of the book. This could even pave the way for a critical discussion between the emergent and evangelical circles. Rating: 4.5/5