Emerging Africa

We had a rather (to use a new phrase of Matt Stone's) "pluriform" representation amongst the contributors, which is what was wanted. From measured Reformed exposition, to unbridled Gnosticism, from Emergent Chaos mongering to Evangelical Order management, from Explicit Patriarchy to The New Feminine Divine, a fairly wide range of views has come into view.

And although there were as few tentatively "guilty of heresy" charges, and gratuitous use of the newly in focus "H" and "O" words, the overall tenor was conversational, not judgemental. No-one resorted to mudslinging, and everyone was at pains to "express the hope that they hold". I salute all, those posting and those commenting!

OK that’s the feel good stuff out of the way: what were the criticisms?

Well, once again there was not a single female contributor, nor (from what I can remember) any female commenters. Nor any other cultural representation beyond the male, and the Eurocentric, (albeit a self-styled African variant). This is the blogosphere, technical, cerebral and wordy, but one would hope for a wider representation.

A strong POV came our way from Deacon Steve Hayes, who said

• I was a bit disappointed that in this synchroblog so many seemed to simply accept … “orthodoxy” as being solely concerned with correct doctrinal expressions."

My reply to this was I was disappointed with the fact that many detractors of “heresy”, or upholders of "orthodoxy", saw no redemptive irony in its use. There was little acknowledgement of the creative edges of spirituality, and a generally rather defensive attitude towards various evangelical myths of Christianity.

Quotable notes and notable quotes:

• If we tend to think of systematic theology as "orthodoxy", and then believe that our systematic theology grasps G-d fully, we've set up an ideology which the Bible would denounce as idolatrous.
• What we have in evangelicalism is more often than not a lager mentality, the call to protect our doctrine at all costs.

So what about the current readership? What are your top quotes/notes from the synchroblog; what did you learn; what are you reservations?