The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity

by Gerardo Martí, Gladys Ganiel

Winner of the Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

The Emerging Church Movement (ECM) is a creative, entrepreneurial religious movement that strives to achieve social legitimacy and spiritual vitality by actively disassociating from its roots in conservative, evangelical Christianity and "deconstructing" contemporary expressions of Christianity. Emerging Christians see themselves as overturning outdated interpretations of the Bible, transforming hierarchical religious institutions, and re-orienting Christianity to step outside the walls of church buildings toward working among and serving others in the "real world."

Drawing on ethnographic observation of emerging congregations, pub churches, neo-monastic communities, conferences, online networks, in-depth interviews, and congregational surveys in the US, UK, and Ireland, Gerardo Marti and Gladys Ganiel provide a comprehensive social-scientific analysis of the development and significance of the ECM. Emerging Christians, they find, are shaping a distinct religious orientation that encourages individualism, deep relationships with others, new ideas about the nature of truth, doubt, and God, and innovations in preaching, worship, Eucharist, and leadership.

Genres: Religion

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2014

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thorough work of qualitative sociological research on a major religious movement in the United States. Although my reading of the book is about seven years after publication, the book still describes the characteristics and qualities of a new Christianity that has continued to emerge, regardless of the fact that few refer to the Emergent Church Movement today.

The thick description of the various facets of the ECM was first-rate, and you can be assured this is a definitive study. Although there is analysis along the way, the final chapter offers some good summary analysis and is provocative for ongoing discussion on topics like institutionalized individualism and how what is sacred is a much more diverse experience than the confines of religious bodies that may nevertheless claim the sacred world as their exclusive domain.

I'm hoping to go in search of anything the authors have offered elsewhere in terms of their analysis of recent developments such as the continued increase of those not claiming religious affiliation, the growing deconstructionist movement, and the questions around white Christian nationalism.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just wasn't sure as I read this book. My experience with at least some Emerging Christians is that they are very Evangelical--just not as committed to calling people out for "improper" morals as their Evangelical peers. The authors also suggest that one of the main features of the ECM is individualization of the sort described by Bellah in "Habits of the Heart," years ago. Maybe so. But in this the ECM is extremely modernist, rather than deconstructionist. On one page it even mixes up individuation with individualization. Deconstruction (in philosophy--and the authors are sociologists) is usually about listening for the other in texts, siding with the other in social situations and structures, and listening for the voices that have been erased in texts. I don't think ECM is that at all (though it may be a popularized version of that.) The ECM people I know are not to happy about quite of few of the authors mentioned here: Rollins, McLaren, and Bell, for example. So in sum, I think they've mixed up some events that look similar (the ECM "church" gatherings) with several counter-cultural movements that share some things in common, but not others. Having said all this, I was deeply intrigued by Marti's description of ECM gatherings, personalities, and priorities--mostly because my very liberal, mainline congregation is thinking about how to add to its successful but plateaued morning community with something that challenges those who worship in the morning and speaks to those who would never or only rarely come in the morning. This book provided lots of points to ponder.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marti and Ganiel have added a thoughtful and thick analysis to the literature on the emerging church. More rigorous and sociological than Gibbs and Bolger and more focused on religious themes than Packard's book, they put deconstruction at the centre of their examination of these congregations. Lots of rich ethnographic material as well as orienting references to theory. The best book on the emerging church, including the books written by emerging leaders on themselves (and there are many).

[Gerardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting, immersive look at "Christians" in US and UK who've walked away from much of modern Christianity. Lots to digest.