Tony Jones, author of The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier and theologian-in-residence at Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis, MN, recently began calling himself an “incarnational Christian.” In making the declaration, he suggests that others who use the term should understand it is not about being evangelical and the term should not be capitalized, politicized or commoditized.
In a second blog post that explores the theology behind the term, he writes:
to say that I am an incarnational Christian means that I 1) emphasize the miracle of the incarnation, and 2) attempt to incarnate the gospel in my own life every day.
So What?
Many know Tony Jones as a key leader in the emerging church movement and of his years as the National Coordinator for Emergent Village. Far fewer know he is currently completing his doctoral dissertation at Princeton Theological Seminary on the relational ecclesiology of the emerging church movement.
In a post-Christendom world, Christianity must find new ways of understanding its identity in the larger culture. Do you find the term “incarnational Christian” to be helpful in this new environment? Why or why not?