Book Review: Crossing Boundaries, Redefining Faith: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Emerging Church Movement by Michael Clawson and April Stace, eds.
Robert D. Francis
Vol. 1, No. 1
Spring 2019
Pages: 76-83
DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no1.07
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Abstract
Book Review
Robert D. Francis, Michael Clawson, April Stace, Crossing Boundaries, Redefining Faith, Emerging Church Movement, Ancient-Future, Postmodern, Postcolonial
The Emerging Church Movement (ECM) has attracted a surprising amount of scholarly attention for a phenomenon notoriously resistant to definition and whose impact and size have been challenging to quantify. This edited volume, Crossing Boundaries, Redefining Faith: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Emerging Church Movement, seeks to be a touchstone of the best scholarship about the ECM to date. Across ten chapters with thirteen contributors, the volume succeeds, although it is not without its flaws. Most notably, the relatively small universe of congregations upon which the work in this volume—and broader ECM scholarship—is based raises the question of how to quantify the impact and significance of the movement, something this volume leaves unresolved. Nonetheless, there is little doubt that Crossing Boundaries, Redefining Faith—as a single volume—is the best assemblage of scholarship about the ECM thus far. This book makes obvious sense as a core text for any college or seminary course.