With a combination of good humor and firm conviction, Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck have written an insightful critique of the emergent church movement. From the nature of truth to the identity of Jesus Christ himself, many emergent leaders have articulated an understanding of Christianity that is in desperate need of a thoughtful, even-handed, and biblically-grounded response. This book is a great place to start.

~ R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, Kentucky

 

Two thoughtful young guys with different styles, Kevin DeYoung (the pastor-theologian) and Ted Kluck (the journalist), have teamed up to write Why We’re Not Emergent. The result is a fair-minded, biblically grounded, insightful book. It’s clear that DeYoung and Kluck are not motivated by the desire to criticize, but rather by their love of the church as the body of Christ. This is now the first book I’d give someone who asks the question, “What is the emerging church?” Highly recommended!

~ Justin Taylor
Project Director, ESV Study Bible; blogger (Between Two Worlds)

 

This book is a pleasure to read, not least because it pricks so many pretensions. While it deals with an important subject, it manages to sustain a breezy style that draws you in. The subtitle tells you the stance of the authors: the emerging church movement, which taught an entire generation to rebel, is now old enough to find growing numbers of people learning to rebel against the rebellion.

~ D. A. Carson
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

 

Why We’re Not Emergent crashes into the emerging conversation in a voice which hears “them” and talks back! This is a book we’ve been waiting for. With careful observation, faithful handling of Scripture, and an eye for the ironic and absurd, DeYoung and Kluck have given us a feel for what attracts some to emerging churches and thoughts about why that’s sometimes a very bad thing. Buy and read this book. You’ll enjoy it. And it could help you and the people you’ll tell about it.

~ Mark Dever
Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church
Washington, DC

 

Fifteen years ago, in No Place for Truth, David Wells reminded us all that in our time, those who seem most relevant are in fact most irrelevant, and those who seem most irrelevant are in fact most relevant. That, as Gandalf would say, “is a very encouraging thought.” Indeed, as I encounter what has been called the “young, Reformed awakening,” for every young Christian who is convinced that in order to engage the culture that the church must embrace the emergent paradigm of truth and church, there are nineteen who understand (because they really care about what the Bible says) that faithfulness is relevance. DeYoung and Kluck tell you why.

~ Ligon Duncan
Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi