“No one is better placed than Tony Jones to offer an insider’s view of the emergent conversation in the United States. His clear and engaging writing style, his wide-ranging and incisive mind, and his extensive personal involvement make him the ideal person to tell this story and invite others to be part of it. The New Christians is instructive, inspiring, enjoyable, and a milestone in the development of this important young phenomenon.” ─Brian McLaren, author and speaker (brianmclaren.net)
“This is an insider’s journal of the journey called emergent Christianity, and it is the book I have been looking for. If you want to know what emergent Christianity is, buy this book, read it, talk about it and then give it to someone else. But don’t leave it around, someone will swipe it!” ─Scot McKnight is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies North Park University, author of A Community Called Atonement, and an avid blogger ( http://www.jesuscreed.org)
“There is indeed new life arising from the compost of Christendom. Tony’s book lets us see it, smell it, and touch it. The challenge with a book like this is neither to be overcome by the smell of the poop, nor stupified by the beauty of a flower — more than anything we must see this book as an invitation to get our hands dirty, break a sweat, get messy outside the air-conditioned walls of comfort, and not just read more books on gardening.” ─Shane Claiborne, author, activist and recovering sinner
“Lots of people have questions about just what this Emergent Church thing is all about. Tony Jones has the answer for them here. A great starting point for understanding a significant movement.” ─Christian Smith, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame and author of Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers
“The New Christians shows how the influence of Jesus of Nazareth is moving among a new generation hungry for something real and desperate to move beyond simplistic polarities inherited from the past. Tony Jones stands at the crossroads of theology, philosophy, and culture, tackling the issues facing this ’emergent’ generation with the depth, humility and grace, only a sojourner intimately familiar with the journey could provide.─Jim Wallis, Author of God’s Politics; President of Sojourners/Call to Renewal.
“Tony Jones pulls no punches in calling for new ways of being church–and after reading this book I have a few bruises to show for it! But it was well worth the scuffle. This is a challenging and engaging call to think new thoughts about what it means to be faithful to the Gospel in our present context.”─Richard J. Mouw, President and Professor of Christian Philosophy, Fuller Theological Seminary
“In the tradition of all great apologists, Jones has written both a reasoned explication and a deeply personal explanation of emergent Christianity. Every thinking Christian should read this book either for the explication or the explanation. Wise ones will read it for both.”─Phyllis Tickle, compiler, The Divine Hours
“I devoured this book! Like A New Kind of Christian gave words to the experiences and thoughts of so many, early in this decade, The New Christians provides language, theology and a nudge toward a path out of our bi-polar morass of left vs. right, liberal vs. conservative, mainline vs. evangelical. It cuts sideways across all the rhetoric, entrenchment and warfare-positioning of modern-day Christianity. I’m confident Tony’s book will provide definition for many, helpful disequilibration for others, and best of all new hope for those who cannot (or refuse to) continue trudging numbly along the cattle paths of the American church.”─Mark Oestreicher, president, Youth Specialties
“What Tony Jones has done in this book is to deliver a gift. His insight, perspective and prophetic story telling will serve many in finding hope in God’s activity among the New Christians. The New Christians is the story of alive-and-well faith in our day. This book will encourage those inside and outside emerging church circles to understand why so many people find a Christianity worth believing in this dynamic movement.”─Doug Pagitt, author of A Christianity Worth
The Emergent Church, which Tony Jones describes for us in this book, must be taken seriously. Offering both hope and challenges for the rest of us, this postmodern version of Christianity will certainly change the face of the religious landscape.”─Tony Campolo, Eastern University
“No one I know is better equipped than Tony Jones to write an insider’s history of emergent churches. Tony brings to his work deep, intuitive first-hand observation. His bright intellect and inherent goodness and fair-mindedness make him an especially appropriate advocate and critic. The New Christians is a joy to read. It both challenged and inspired me. It made me miss old friends and caused me to re-cherish Emergent’s vision ‘to follow God in the Way of Jesus.'”─Todd Hunter, National Director, Alpha USA, and former President, Vineyard Churches USA
“Tony Jones relentlessly and rightly challenges us to examine what Christianity means in our historical context. The more you might have questions or possible disagreements with Tony or Emergent ideas, the more you need to read The New Christians.”─Bruce Ellis Benson, Professor of Philosophy, Wheaton College
“This is the book to read to get the actual insider’s view of all things emergent.”─Dan Kimball, author They Like Jesus but not the Church
“There is simply no way to think about the future of the church without knowing of the emergent journey. Tony will give you an all-access tour from the inside.”—John Ortberg, author and pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church
“Reading these words you feel things bursting back to life inside of you. It is some kind of re-enlightenment; an awakening in the most noble and holistic sense of the word, a thing coming to take hold. Tony’s writing is generous and clear.”—David Crowder, singer, songwriter, leader of the David Crowder Band
BUY The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier