Hey Andrew,

I have read your review of the book with some interest. Having not read it yet it makes me want to avoid it! Which I'm sure wasn't your intention. I wonder how much of the books narrrow perspective comes from an American centerdness (I am not anti-american) or the lack of interaction with academics due the pragmatic focus within the emergent church? It is interesting how you singeled out Brian McLaren in this matter. He perhaps exceplifies the reverse of both. He has spent much time in Africa trying to understand what an emerging church (try leave some of the Western terminology baggage of the term) would look like. He has made several trips to South Africa and Uganda that I am aware. In fact he is there at the moment (Uganda). I wonder if this openess in trying to understand the African context is seeing a shift in his theology which you hinted at? He has been in a close relationship with a Proffessor of mine from South Africa Prof.Hendriks which I think has been influencial. Hendriks is in fact with him in Uganda at the moment. You can read his session on the Growth of Christianity in Africa at the following link http://www.futurechurch.co.za/?query=future+church&amount=0&blogid=10

It contains some interesting sociological information on what is happening on the ground. So what could an African perspective on the emerging church offer us. It would help create a broader international perspective. It would also shake the emergent church out of its Western approach (whether modern or post-modern). And here is where I think its greatest help will be. In an appreciation for the biblical narrative and how to live in it. African cultures are holistic in there approach to the bible. There communities for thousands of years have learnt to live in stories and define their community by that story. With the arrival of the bible and its translation into the local dialects they were able to make an easy connection (taking into account some of the missionaries cultural exploitation) with the story of the people of God and the hope that it engenders, having more in common with the cultural context than much of the Western world. The African churches although being experiential live in the biblical text and seek to understand it. Of course much of this has been tainted by modernism and modern evangelicalism. Yet as Lamin Sanneh notes it was in fact the translation of the biblical narrative which helped preserve much of Africa's cultural identity. It is this cultural identity and its interaction with the biblical narrative which I think would add immensly to the limited nature of the emergent discussion which Andrew picked up on in the book and to which Brian McLaren seems to be beggining to engage with.

Brian