The Great Emergence

1. Christianity's Cyclical "Rummage Sales" Reshape Faith

“The Great Emergence” refers to a monumental phenomenon in our world, and this book asks three questions about it. Or looked at the other way around, this book is about a monumental phenomenon considered from the perspective of three very basic questions: What is this thing? How did it come to be? Where is it going?

Recurring pattern. Christianity experiences profound, cataclysmic transformations, akin to "rummage sales," approximately every five hundred years. These periods are not merely minor adjustments but fundamental upheavals that redefine the faith's structures, practices, and understanding. We are currently living through one such "Great Emergence," a pivotal moment of both challenge and opportunity.

Historical precedents. These semi-millennial shifts consistently yield three results: the emergence of a new, vital form of Christianity, the reconstitution of the previously dominant expression into a purer version, and a dramatic expansion of the faith into new geographic and demographic areas. Past examples include:

• 1st Century: Birth of the Church from Judaism, destruction of the Temple.
• 6th Century: Fall of Rome, rise of monasticism, Chalcedonian split (Western, Eastern, Oriental Christianity).
• 11th Century: The Great Schism, dividing Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
• 16th Century: The Great Reformation, birthing Protestantism and renewing Roman Catholicism.

Understanding the present. By examining these historical patterns, we gain perspective on our current upheaval, realizing that such "mess" is not a unique failure but a recurring dynamic in Christian history. This understanding alleviates guilt and allows for a more faithful engagement with the ongoing transformation, helping us identify the flow of our own times.

2. The "Cable of Meaning" Fractures Under Modernity

Looked at as generic rather than personal, religion can be most easily or accessibly described as a kind of cable—a cable of meaning that keeps the human social unit connected to some purpose and/or power greater than itself.

Societal tether. Religion functions as a "cable of meaning," tethering human social units to a purpose or power greater than themselves, providing answers to existential questions like "Why?" This cable is composed of an outer "story" (shared history, ethos), an inner "mesh sleeve" (common imagination, consensual illusion about how the world works), and three braided strands: spirituality, corporeality, and morality.

Simultaneous pocking. The cable remains secure until the outer casing of the "story" and the inner sleeve of the "shared illusion" are simultaneously struck and "pocked." When this occurs, a hole opens directly to the braided strands, allowing them to be pulled out, examined, and re-evaluated by the collective. This process leads to profound societal and religious reconfigurations.

Re-evaluation process. During these periods, society re-examines its core components:

• Spirituality: Internal experiences and values.
• Corporeality: Overt, physical evidences of religion (doctrine, rituals, institutions).
• Morality: Externalized application of values and experiences.
  After intense scrutiny, these strands are re-braided, the sleeve is mended, and the story resealed, leading to a new, albeit temporary, stability that lasts for about 250 years before the next "peri-reformation" begins.

3. Science and Relativity Shatter Old Worldviews

Whether one says that it was Faraday’s work or Darwin’s theory that marks the beginning of the shifts leading to the Great Emergence is of little moment, actually. The two of them together are, without question, the line of demarcation between post-Reformation and peri-Emergence ways of thinking, being, and believing.

Scientific challenges. The mid-19th century marked a critical turning point, with scientific discoveries fundamentally challenging the post-Reformation "story" and "common imagination." Michael Faraday's work on electromagnetism (1851) revealed invisible fields of force creating matter, breaching the realm of mystery and angels. Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species (1859) introduced evolution, directly threatening traditional biblical cosmology and leading to the codification of "the Fundamentals" in conservative Protestantism.

Relativity and uncertainty. Albert Einstein's Annus Mirabilis (1905) introduced quantum theory and special relativity, overthrowing notions of absolute space and time, and demonstrating matter-energy equivalence (E=mc²). This culminated in Werner Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle (1927), which posited that the act of observation changes the observed, destroying the basis for absolute "fact" and fueling literary deconstruction.

Cosmic redefinition. Einstein's General Theory of Relativity (1915-16) further expanded the universe, leading to concepts like the Big Bang and, eventually, human steps on the moon (1969). This literalized the challenge to a flat-earth, tiered-universe cosmology, decentralizing the divine authority of Scripture and rendering literalism unsustainable. Science became the principal agent in splitting the cable of meaning, exposing its braided strands to public view.

4. Psychology and Myth Redefine Human and Divine

It was Campbell who would first successfully challenge and, near the end of the twentieth century, successfully begin to rout them in popular thought.

Unconscious landscapes. Sigmund Freud, born in 1856, unveiled the landscape of the unconscious, introducing models of the mind that demanded further investigation into human interiority. Carl Jung, building on Freud's work, expanded this exploration to a "collective unconscious," using mystical and lyrical language that captivated a broader audience and opened new dimensions of subjective life.

Myth's universal power. Joseph Campbell, profoundly influenced by Jung, became a pivotal figure in challenging "the Christian doctrine of particularity" and "Christian exclusivity." His works, The Masks of God and The Hero with a Thousand Faces, argued for the universality and commonality of religious thought and mythic patterns across cultures.

Mass media amplification. Campbell's collaboration with Bill Moyers on the PBS series The Power of Myth (aired after Campbell's death) brought these ideas into millions of American living rooms. This mass media exposure allowed complex scholarly concepts to permeate popular thought, making it difficult for many to maintain traditional Christian claims of exclusivity and particularity, thereby further eroding established theological frameworks.

5. Technology Accelerates Societal and Spiritual Shifts

It would, quite literally, be impossible to exaggerate the central importance to the Great Emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web. By the same token and in absolutely analogous ways, it would be impossible to overstate the importance to the Great Reformation of the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1440 and his subsequent development of movable type and oil-based inks.

Information revolution. Just as Gutenberg's printing press (1440) enabled the rapid dissemination of Luther's theses and popular music during the Reformation, the 20th century saw an explosion of mass communication. The telegraph, radio (1930s), television (1940s), and ultimately the Internet and World Wide Web, transformed how information, ideas, and religious discourse were shared, making theology ubiquitous and public.

Automobile's impact. The affordable automobile (Model T, 1908) profoundly reshaped American life, loosening ties to local communities and churches. It eroded the traditional Sabbath, replacing family gatherings with leisure activities, and diminished the influence of the "Grandmas" who had been the "Archivists and Enforcers" of Protestant biblical literacy and moral codes within multi-generational households.

Family and gender reconfigured. World War II's "Rosie the Riveter" phenomenon (1941) brought millions of women into the workforce, challenging traditional nuclear family structures and gender roles. The subsequent release of the birth control pill (1960) further leveled the playing field, allowing women unprecedented control over childbearing and career, leading to dual-income families and a redefinition of home as a place for regrouping rather than the primary focus of work.

6. "Sola Scriptura" Erodes Amidst Social Upheaval

To approach any of the arguments and questions surrounding homosexuality in the closing years of the twentieth century and the opening ones of the twenty-first is to approach a battle to the death. When it is all resolved—and it most surely will be—the Reformation’s understanding of Scripture as it had been taught by Protestantism for almost five centuries will be dead.

Challenges to biblical authority. The principle of sola scriptura (Scripture alone), foundational to the Great Reformation, faced relentless assaults throughout American history, progressively weakening its unmediated authority. The Civil War (slavery), women's suffrage, and the acceptance of divorce all forced American Protestantism to reconcile biblical interpretations with evolving social norms, often leading to painful internal divisions and a perceived erosion of scriptural infallibility.

Gender and sexuality. The ordination of women to the Protestant clergy directly contradicted explicit biblical injunctions, further challenging traditional interpretations. The ongoing "gay issue" represents the final, most bitter battle for sola scriptura, as its resolution will fundamentally alter the Reformation's understanding of biblical authority. This progression of social changes has decentralized scriptural authority, making it subject to human interpretation and cultural caprice.

Corporeal vs. moral. These challenges are often corporeal issues (how religion takes body and form) rather than purely spiritual or moral ones. While traditional Protestantism defined itself by adherence to codified beliefs (orthodoxy), the inability of sola scriptura to provide clear, universally accepted answers to these evolving social questions has left a void, forcing a re-evaluation of where ultimate authority truly lies.

7. Experiential Authority Rises with Pentecostalism

Pentecostalism, in other words, offered the Great Emergence its first, solid, applied answer to the question of where now is our authority.

Azusa Street's genesis. In 1906, the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, led by William Seymour, ignited Pentecostalism, a movement emphasizing baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gift of speaking in tongues. This event, though rooted in earlier evangelical stirrings, became the acknowledged starting point for a global phenomenon that would grow to over half a billion adherents, second only to Roman Catholicism.

Egalitarian and participatory. Pentecostalism's roots in egalitarianism—embracing all races, classes, and genders in worship and leadership—challenged established congregational structures. Its often loud, musical, and participatory worship style contrasted sharply with the more staid services of mainline Protestant denominations, influencing a broader shift towards more engaging and interactive forms of worship.

Direct spiritual contact. Crucially, Pentecostalism assumes direct, palpable contact between the believer and God, with the Holy Spirit acting as an immediate instructor and commander. This emphasis on experiential authority, where a received message from the Spirit can supersede canonical interpretation or clerical pronouncements, provided a powerful, applied answer to the question of "Where now is our authority?" for many emerging Christians.

8. Global Influences Foster "Spiritual but Not Religious"

The pivot point is that, because of its being nontheistic, Buddhism can insinuate itself, quite innocently even, into the practice of almost any institutionalized religion without abrasion or apparent conflict for that religion’s faithful.

Immigration's spiritual influx. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Services Act opened America's doors to diverse populations, leading to a significant influx of Asian spiritual traditions, particularly Buddhism. This introduced a rich narrative of wisdom, a vocabulary for subjective experience, and practices for incorporating the body into spiritual life, often unencumbered by theism.

"Spiritual but not religious." For many American Christians, especially Protestants, traditional church teachings offered little vocabulary or practice for articulating internal spiritual experiences. Buddhism, with its emphasis on meditation, stillness, and a reality beyond illusion, provided accessible tools and a framework for exploring subjective life without requiring adherence to institutionalized religion. This fueled the "I'm spiritual but not religious" mantra, pulling the "spirituality" strand out of the cable of meaning.

Drug age and consciousness. Concurrently, the drug age of the 1960s and '70s, despite its devastating consequences, offered radically different understandings of reality and subjectivity. Initial drug experiments were often framed in religious terms, prompting deeper questions about the nature of consciousness and the non-physical world. This further exposed the barrenness of traditional Christian spirituality in addressing profound internal experiences, contributing to the disorientation about what consciousness is and who "we" are.

9. A "Gathering Center" Forms in North American Christianity

American religion had never had a center before, primarily because it was basically Protestant in its Christianity; and Protestantism, with its hallmark characteristic of divisiveness, has never had a center. Now one was emerging, but what was emerging was no longer Protestant.

Watercooler theology. As Americans shifted from rural to urban living, increased physical and subjective proximity (via mass media) fostered "watercooler theology." Diverse Christians, from Roman Catholics to Evangelicals, began exchanging stories, habits, and opinions on God-matters, leading to a "ubiquitous theology" that was public, shared, and incredibly vital. This interaction began to melt old denominational divisions.

Emergence of a new form. This constant exchange led to the formation of a "gathering center" in North American Christianity, a mélange of "cherry-picked" elements from the four traditional quadrants (Liturgicals, Social Justice, Renewalists, Conservatives). This new form of Christianity, no longer strictly Protestant or any single "thing," began to meet in house churches, pub theology groups, and nondenominational congregations, all characterized by incarnational worship that embraces the body and welcomes all.

Backlash and re-traditioning. While the center gathers, a "backlash" occurs in the outer corners of the quadrants, with 7-13% of Christians pushing back violently against change, becoming "reactionaries" or "purists." Simultaneously, "re-traditioning" Christians seek to renew their inherited churches by updating practices and modernizing structures, while "Progressive Christians" adapt to postmodern realities. "Hyphenateds" (e.g., Presby-mergents) live on the margins, blending old and new, contributing to the dynamic, swirling center.

10. Authority Shifts to a Networked, Relational Model

What is happening is something much closer to what mathematicians and physicists call network theory.

New authority bases. The Great Emergence is grappling with the fundamental question of authority. Traditional quadrants relied on orthodoxy (right doctrine) or orthopraxy (right practice). The emerging center, however, is exploring new bases: orthonomy (correct harmoniousness, aesthetic purity as truth) and theonomy (God alone as the source of perfection). While orthonomy risks the "Keatsian heresy" (truth is beauty), theonomy, often rooted in sola scriptura, struggles with its own limitations in a postmodern context.

Networked governance. The new Christianity is moving towards a system of ecclesial authority rooted in "network theory." The Church is seen not as a hierarchical "thing" but as a self-organizing system of symmetrical and asymmetrical relations between innumerable member-parts. No single part holds the entire "truth"; rather, truth and wisdom emerge from the dynamic interplay and "crowd sourcing" of the network.

Center-set dynamics. This networked approach manifests in "center-set movement," where groups are defined by their shared vision and proximity to a central purpose, rather than rigid "bounded-set" rules. This shifts the paradigm from "believe-behave-belong" (traditional) to "belong-behave-believe" (emergent), emphasizing shared humanity and affinity as entry points, allowing individuals to engage with faith at their own pace and depth.

11. De-Hellenization and Narrative Reshape Theology

If in pursuing this line of exegesis, the Great Emergence really does what most of its observers think it will, it will rewrite Christian theology—and thereby North American culture—into something far more Jewish, more paradoxical, more narrative, and more mystical than anything the Church has had for the last seventeen or eighteen hundred years.

Distrust of Constantine. A significant undercurrent in emergent conversation is a growing distrust of the post-Constantinian Church's precepts and teachings. Constantine's embrace of Christianity in the 4th century, while institutionalizing the faith, also accelerated its "Hellenization," shifting it from Judaism's holistic theology to Greek dualism. This led to doctrine being formalized for convenience, the body being deemed evil, and salvation becoming a ticket to an afterlife rather than living out God's will on earth.

Revisiting foundational assumptions. The Great Emergence is actively revisiting these foundational assumptions, questioning the body-soul split and the nebulous, privatized definition of the soul. This work will impact everything from medical policy and moral theory to evangelism, as society reconfigures its understanding of the self and the "humanness of being in imago dei."

Paradox and narrative. Emergent theology embraces paradox, recognizing its ubiquity as the tension where vitality lives, and distrusts meta-narratives as products of limited human logic. Instead, it champions narrative as the "song of the vibrating network," speaking truth to the heart to inform the mind. This approach promises a theology that is more Jewish, paradoxical, narrative, and mystical, potentially marking a bi-millennial shift in Christian thought.

Last updated: December 8, 2025