pat loughery

I ran into a Calvary Chapel pastor’s blog post that referenced the article I write for Next-Wave a while back. It’s a fun blog to read, as I think that the author thinks he and I are way more different in our theology and our practices than I suspect we are (even though I also “overuse the bromidic catchphrases like missio dei, neo-monastic, and incarnational” ;-))

In fact, it’s funny to me that I found that article not ego-surfing for links to the Next-Wave article itself, but in a Technorati search for the word “monastic”. I set up a few such searches a while back to notify me when people are writing about topics I’m interested in (and most specially, topics that may be helpful to me in doing my doctoral dissertation on spiritual formation in the suburbs).

The greatest learning from the article though, was the author’s approach of making sure to read from people that he disagrees with. As a critic of the emerging church movement, he still reads it, but not for why you might think:

1. To fight the natural tendency towards provincialization in thinking that happens when one drinks from his own bathwater, intellectually speaking, and, close on the heels of the first reason:

2. To be challenged in my thinking. I already agree with myself; because it’s simple human nature to have blind spots in our thinking, and by definition we can’t see our own blind spots, it’s a great habit to get into to read/listen to/interact with as broad a range of thinking as possible to constantly challenge your presuppositions, and hopefully thereby identify and deal with those blindspots.

Being that I’m no friend of Emergent, I specifically choose to read as much of their stuff as possible (by the way – not for the purpose of proving them wrong; if that’s the motive, stop; you’re not thinking, you’re reacting – and besides, the ECM is hugely self-defeating anyway), and one of the ECM sources I like to read is the Next-Wave e-zine.

That posture of learning is a wonderful thing, no? I happen to think that the wisest of people spend time learning from those they disagree with. And although I don’t really consider myself “part of Emergent” in particular, I think that any church or Christian which seeks to live the Gospel of Christ in a shifting, postmodern culture would do well to listen to a wide variety of voices.