Yesterday, I finally made it to a session, "What is Emergent?" Brian McLaren, Phyllis Tickle and Pete Rollins (pictured above) led a lively and packed discussion about Emergent and its role in the church and in theological discourse. The day before, a friend asked me why Emergent still needs to have seminars entitled "What is Emergent?" He said, "You know, all you guys have to do is put out a Press Release and then you can move on!" To some degree, I agree. Since I've been involved in this conversation for around 3.5 years, it does start to get a little 'old' to go to sessions that seem to rehash much of the same things...but as was clear yesterday, there are still plenty people who are either just getting wind of Emergent or still have many basic questions to ask about it.

At any rate, Phyllis Tickle gave a wonderful introduction to Emergent and its place within the history of Christianity. She talked about how every 500 years, the church has gone through a dramatic revolution and reformation (1517: Protestant Reformation; 1054: East/West Split; 500...something about popes...I was never great with history). She believes that Emergent is the new movement of reformation for this 500 year period. She also is so bold to say that Brian McLaren is to this new reformation what Martin Luther was to the Protestant Reformation. Bold claim. Of course, Brian is so humble he just shakes his head.