About the "emerging" or "emergent" church

One of my daily reads is the weblog run by World Magazine, and one of my favorite "sub-web-logs" is that run by Anthony Bradley. He's a fellow of the Acton Institute, and champions the cause of the "emerging" or "emergent" church, churches specifically catering to young people afflicted (my word) with postmodernism.

(N.B.; Anthony sometimes uses and allows language and links which would seem out of place in a typical fundamental church. He also gets posters--Anthony is African-American--from time to time who say things that prove that racism is sadly alive and well in America and abroad.)

He's got a lot to say if the N.B. doesn't bother you, IMO. Especially good are many of his critiques of modern churches, which generally follow the lines of "we're not getting down to the business of loving our brothers."

One interesting thing, however, with his site is that there is an implicit assumption that the difficulties of young people are completely different than those who went before them. Somehow I don't think that's true. We face the "new" difficulty of Internet pornography today--but does that really differ so much from what Paul faced in Corinth? We see postmodern "thinking"--but is that so much different from Pilate asking "what is truth?"

Ecclesiastes is right; there is really nothing new under the sun.