I am not qualified to respond to this post, but I have a couple thoughts, so I will share them.

First, the emergent church must be open to criticism.  Hence the conversation we are having is a good one.

Second, the emergent church cannot let itself be controlled by past thinking.  Mind you, it must be (and necessarily is) informed by tradition, but to have someone telling us that certain (not that heretical) views are a priori off limits, well… that’s simply not helpful.  Do we trust that the Holy Spirit has been at work in Church history?  Absolutely!  Do we believe that humans can be stiff-necked and hard-hearted?  Absolutely!  This is why we cannot let 2000 years of soul-searching end today.  The soul searching must continue.

Perhaps from a historical perspective a Christian who cannot give intellectual assent to the proposition that ‘Jesus is God’ is an oxymoron—but I thought a Christian was quite literally a Christ follower.  A disciple of Christ.  Granted, one’s views about Jesus will shape how he is followed, but I cannot agree that rejecting the ‘Jesus is God’ equation makes one ‘not a Christian’.

The hope that  the "emerging church’s confrontation with the real, historical branches of the New Testament Church will force emergents out of their spiritual lethargy and into a real struggle for the salvation of their souls" strikes me as somewhat interesting…  Those of my friends who think of themselves as ‘emergent’ are in fact the least lethargic Christians I know.  Perhaps my American evangelicalism is clouding my eyes, but too many ‘Christians’ I know have clung so tightly to the ‘truth’, that their discipleship has gone down the drain (Kierkegaard would roll over in his grave)!  Also the ‘salvation of their souls’ terminology sent me for a little spin.  I’m not convinced the ‘historical branches of the New Testament Church’ have always been as gung-ho about our immaterial souls as we seem to have become in the past few centuries.  The true Christian believes in life before death.  Ah but I am no scholar.

"When something as precious as truth hangs in the balance, there needs to be more than cordial discussion - there needs to be a serious stand that rejects all other claims."  Truth is important yet.  As is humility.  But you know what I think is more important than truth?  Goodness.  Now, I believe that an appropriation of the truth will lead to goodness, and I also believe that goodness leads to truth.  But the one I’m most concerned about spreading isn’t ‘truth’.

Blessings in our Lord and in the Savior of our lives,

-Daniel-