The Christian Manifesto

GENRE: CHRISTIAN LIFE/SOCIAL ISSUES

PUBLISHER: IVP BOOKS

PUBLICATION DATE: 2008

Nutshell Version:

Futurist Tom Sine’s book The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time comes highly recommended by a veritable who’s who of Christian writers, thinkers, and theologians, ranging from new monastic proponent Shane Claiborne (who writes the foreword) to Jim Wallis. While I think there are certain truths that can be garnered from this work, my theological sensibilities find some of what is said here worrisome. Overall, The New Conspirators is an interesting and even important read. Readers will have to separate the wheat from the chaff, but the wheat is really palpable stuff. The pros and cons are almost in perfect balance, though. So, tread carefully.  

Full Version:

Futurist Tom Sine’s book The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time comes highly recommended by a veritable who’s who of Christian writers, thinkers, and theologians, ranging from new monastic proponent Shane Claiborne (who writes the foreword) to Jim Wallis. While I think there are certain truths that can be garnered from this work, my theological sensibilities find some of what is said here worrisome.

Normally, I do not like emergent writing, but one of the things the “emergent conversation” highlights better than evangelicals have done in the past is the need for social justice. Evangelicals have a tendency of going quietly about social justice, while Emergents tend to work towards social justice while also questioning the system that has caused many of those social ills. I think this is an important distinction that mindful evangelicals ought to consider.

The book is divided into five “conversations,” which speaks the language of most of the people who will be approaching this book in the first place. This could be a positive or a negative, truth be told. Emergents will instantly resonate with it. Evangelicals may or may not take it into consideration based solely on this word choice, expecting more of the same rhetoric. Be that as it may, these five conversations reflect on what it means to take “the new conspirators” seriously, take the culture seriously, take the future of God seriously, taking turbulent times seriously, and taking our imaginations seriously. The final section’s title was a bit worrisome and gave me pause, but the content was stellar.

The first section basically lays out the four different streams of thought that run through the Emergent camps and how they each conceptualize social justice. This is an appropriate primer for those who are oblivious to what the emergent movement is, what it looks like, and who its major proponents are. Sine does a good job of laying these streams out for the reader, though attempting to categorize emergent streams and leadership is like trying to grapple a greased pig, and not everyone will agree with Sine’s assessment. Still, it is a valuable resource.

The second section explains to the reader the culture in which we live. Sine spends time hear lifting the veil of problems brought on in our increasingly globalized world—the richest and poorest culture, the most secure yet most fearful.  

 Coversations Three and Four are where I had the most difficulty, and rightly so. The writing in these sections are Emergent to their core, relying heavily on the reinterpretations and liberation theology of such writers as Brian McLaren and the more troublesome teachings of N.T. Wright (though I do have a measure of respect for Wright). Here, the book asks the question, “Is it possible that the imagery of God’s new order, which the Bible tells us we will one day come home to, has implications for spiritual, social, economic, and political transformation of our world today?” It is a good question to ask, but the answer comes at the expense of orthodox Christian teaching, at least, that is how it feels. As a futurist, Sine’s language is sometimes used differently than I had believed they were being used.

The final section looks at how modern Christians can become involved in social action in a truly redemptive manner. Here, the book reads not unlike every other social action title that is on the market. Neither the impetus behind good works or the implications for the church and society at large are any different than you will read in any other Christian literature. This, I feel, is the book’s strongest selling point. As C.S. Lewis might say, this is more about reminding people than it is telling them something new. It is the new fangled ideas that cause more harm than help—which makes me wonder why Sine has aligned himself with those in the emergent camp in this writing.

Overall, The New Conspirators is an interesting and even important read. Readers will have to separate the wheat from the chaff, but the wheat is really palpable stuff. The pros and cons are almost in perfect balance, though. So, tread carefully.