The winds of reconciliation have been blowing through the halls of Christendom of late.
It’s being reported that John MacArthur and Brian McLaren will co-author a book together to be released on the new Emergent Village / Baker imprint Fundamergent.
“With the winds of reconciliation blowing so hard,” MacArthur said when reached at his home this afternoon, “I felt led to approach Brian in a spirit of correction significantly less stringent than I had previously employed. There was a moment there, as we were posing for our picture together, that I almost caught myself saying – out loud – that he might be a Believer… but cooler heads prevailed.”
In response, McLaren was equally effusive in his praise of MacArthur. “John is not such a bad guy,” McLaren said, “He and his kind really do have something to add to the conversation, even if it is just to tell the rest of us how wrong we are.”
The book, currently being written with a working title of “The War on Velvet Heterodoxy”, will feature alternating chapters written by McLaren and MacArthur, with McLaren writing first and then MacArthur picking apart verb tenses and textual voice intonation, keeping an eye on McLaren’s particular word order.
The book is slated for release April 1, 2012.
Also found in the rumor mill, a joint effort between John Piper and Rob Bell with a working title of “Desiring Love, God Wins”
(Happy April Fools Day everyone)
Tony Jones Finds Audience, Loses “Religion”
Since blog posts questioning gender roles and the doctrine of original sin have been so popular, Jones has decided it’s time to “question everything.”
“The change in the demographic of my audience has allowed me to explore just how deep the rabbit hole goes,” Jones said this morning when interviewed on the front steps of Solomon’s Porch, the “church” whose “pastor” is Doug Pagitt, a co-Emergent and close friend of Jones. Pagitt’s take on Jones’ plan was predictably affirmative: “Listen, all Tony and I are trying to do is show people what A Christianity Worth Believing looks like.”
Jones, a pioneer and central figure in what is known as the “Emerging Church” movement, stepped down as National Coordinator of Emergent Village late last year amid fears that one person coordinating a national organization might lead to too much organization – a predicament those in the Emerging Church movement are keen on avoiding.
“Mark Driscoll can have the New York Times and Nightline – I’ll take Beliefnet over those shows any day!” Jones added with some swagger, making reference to former Emerging Church kingpin Mark Driscoll, who has made two high-profile appearances in the national media in the last month.
(FYI – this is a satirical examination of events, some of which are fictional…)