From Which Well Are You Drinking? This is the title of a new 44-page booklet that has just been released, subtitled Exposing the Dangers in the Emerging Church Movement.
This is the most excellent resource that we have seen on the subject of the Emergent/Emerging Church movement. It is a “must-read” for Herescope bloggers.
The book begins with the simple premise: from which wells have these teachers been drinking?
“If a Christian teaching is seriously troubling and appears unbiblical, we must examine the various wells from which the teacher draws and constructs his belief systems, his paradigm, his rules of reality, his philosophy.”
“Let’s briefly look at the wells of influence that our Lord speaks about in His earthly ministry. We will look at the wells of the Emerging Church movement writers; and then we will examine some of the wells of influence from which they have drawn their waters of discourse to develop their belief systems.”
This booklet is a remarkable snapshot of the history of various philosophies overt the past 100+ years and how the ideas were transmitted down to our current Emergent era. The list below is impressive for its sharp focus:
Brian McLaren
Tony Jones
Steve Chalke
Stanley Hauerwas
Brad J. Kallenberg
Dan Kimball
Stanley Grenz
John R. Franke
Nancey Murphy
Alasdair MacIntyre
Richard Rorty
Jacques Derrida
Michael Polanyi
Lesslie Newbigin
David Jacobus Bosch
Oscar Cullmann
Karl Barth
Robert E. Webber
The historical philosophers who came up with new ideas about man and God are included in this concise overview:
Immanuel Kant
Soren Kierkegaard
Friedrich Nietzsche
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Martin Heidegger
Michael Foucault
From Which Well Are You Drinking? summarizes “18 Dangerous Issues Arising Out of the Emerging Church,” which includes excellent material describing modernism, postmodernism, and inconsistencies and heresies in doctrine and practice.
If you’ve had trouble sorting out all of this Emergent “stuff,” this handy little booklet is the ticket to biblical sanity. You’ll “get it” after reading this book. It isn’t written too intellectually, but it is also not too simplistic. You’ll become educated about Emergent/Emerging in a way that will help you to articulate the problems to others — particularly so that you can sound a clear warning of the dangers.
The cost is also affordable. This is the perfect kind of semi-tract short booklet that you can stock up on and give away to pastors, friends, young people, Bible studies, etc. And is is very professionally done with a beautiful full-color cover and easy-to-read print.
J. David Winscott, PhD is the author of this booklet. He attends the Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, California. The booklet is a project of the Calvary Chapel Outreach Fellowship.
How to obtain a copy of this booklet:
You can order From Which Well Are You Drinking? from Discernment Ministries, PO Box 2535, W. Lafayette, IN 47996, or phone: 903-567-6423 or 765-583-4799 (credit cards accepted). The suggested cost is only $4.00 per booklet, $3.50 for 5 or more.
The Truth:
Scripture warns of those who “have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray” — “These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.” (2 Peter 2:15a, 17)
Scripture promises believers: “Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” (Isaiah 12:3)