Amen Andrew.

It seems (from my limited, distorted and partial position) that most new books tagged with the label 'emerging' have some very broad theological brushes. In the case of introductory books (like McLaren's 'New Kind of Christian' trilogy), that's perhaps not a bad thing. But we can't keep on painting these big pictures, which differ significantly from what conservative evangelicalism has proclaimed as 'gospel' for a few decades, without engaging the criticisms that have been levelled against the emerging church conversation. One of these criticisms (the one Andrew seems concerned about here) is a failure to really engage the biblical text. And so 'emerging' authors make all sorts of claims about what Scripture really says, or what Jesus really meant, but those claims come without the full weight of proper exegesis. It'd be good (and I take it this is Andrew's primary frustration) to see a book published from within the emerging church conversation that takes seriously the need for a close reading of Scripture. This is what COSM was, and I can empathize with Andrew's feelings of loneliness in doing this kind of work. For the emerging church to be Christian, it must be biblical, and too few of us are making the effort to be just that.

For what it's worth Andrew, I see a tension between what the emerging church wants to be (viz. a conversation that includes) and the theology that it desperately needs (viz. a theology closely informed by solid biblical scholarship—which requires 'experts'). How (if?) that tension will be resolved remains to be seen…

Cheers,

-Daniel-