"Every five hundred years, the church cleans out its attic and has a giant rummage sale."
Phyllis Tickle is founding editor of the Religions department of Publishers Weekly. She is the author of more than two dozen books, and one of the most respected and sought after speakers alive in regards to Religion (especially Christianity).
In this masterpiece Tickle takes a look at where Christianity has been and where it seems to be going. She shows how throughout the history of Christianity the Church has a semi-millennial "attic cleaning" and how in each of these scenarios something new and beautiful has emerged (and even the old is transformed in a positive way).
So if we go back five-hundred years from our place in history we find ourselves on the cusp of the Great Reformation, all though the title "Great" was bestowed in hindsight. Five hundred years before that we find ourselves at the Great Schism. Five hundred years before that the rise of monasticism under Gregory the Great. And of course the greatest of all of these Emergence's is the emergence of the Christian Church out of Judaism that occurred in the first century in the aftermath of what I call the "Jesus event". (Interestingly enough if you go back into pre-Jesus Judaism you can actually observe a similar 500 year pattern.)
Tickle critically examines each of these movements. She shows what conflicts, questions, and social and technological shifts that led to each movement. She examines the effect each had on it's own period of history. And she explores how these movements effected the immediate and long-term future of the Church.
Then finally she looks at the current Emergence that is taking place in the church, and how it has showed up right on schedule. She looks at some of the conflicts, questions and shifts that have led up to it and she paints a convincing picture of the direction it seems to be moving. But most importantly she shows how it is not something to be feared or dreaded, but in fact something that is necessary to the life of the Church.
This book is without a doubt one of the most important books in regards to the conversation of the Emerging Church. And I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in (or scared-to-death of) Emerging Christianity!
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