Kinda Christianity

What would Christianity look like if we were all college sophomores? That is the question Ted Cluck and Zach Bartels try to answer. Their answer? Kinda Christianity. The first book published from Ted and Zack's newly formed Gut Check Press, it it setting the pace for the kinds of books they will be publishing (many of them being aimed at men). This first book get's the laughs at every page. With so many people declaring the death of the Emerging church movement, it had to happen that someone would take a funny look back at the movement that gave us such phrases and ideas as:

-Chastised Epistemology

-Greco-Roman Bound Set Theory

-Glocal

-Post-Evangelical

-Village_____ Church

I read through the book today and it is FUNNY! Read it with this warning in mind:

“We know that the late emergent church movement® is pretty much dead. But if emergent taught us anything, it’s that nostalgia sells. Hence this book, which is a guide to emerging, but is also a nostalgic look at a movement that shaped at least six years worth of evangelical history. Let’s remember it together. This is a humble, generous, incarnational, missional, community-based, grassroots guide to becoming emergent. So roll up the sleeves of your intentionally distressed Dickies work shirt, made entirely out of recycled cardboard, and enjoy!”

As you can tell, this isn't a book to seriously discuss at your weekly group at Starbucks or in your incarnational community. It's just a good chuckle. It even comes with a free and equally hilarious study guide.

To be honest, I think we need this kind of book. Some subjects deserve mockery, and ECM is not immune. More so, part of the reason we don't see more books liek this is because people are afraid to poke fun at what clearly deserves to be made fun of. No subject is spared. Starbucks, Post-Modern feminist Theory, and Warehouse churches get taken to the woodchipper. It also includes such subjects as:

Fashion Personal Grooming Finding the Right Workspace Choosing an Emergent Vehicle Naming Your Church Acheiving the Right Atmosphere

Everyone from Brian Mclaren to Che Guevarra and even D.A. Carson (who is strangely made to look like the Joker) show up and get a little pounced on. Though some get more pounced than other's. If you're in the mood to laugh, I can't recommend this book enough.

Hopefully I'll be putting up an interview with the author's soon.