{"id":1737,"date":"2014-05-20T10:56:24","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T14:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/billykangas\/?p=1737"},"modified":"2014-05-20T10:56:24","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T14:56:24","slug":"reviewsday-tuesday-the-age-of-the-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/billykangas\/2014\/05\/reviewsday-tuesday-the-age-of-the-spirit.html","title":{"rendered":"Reviewsday Tuesday: The Age of the Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Over the weekend I read through Phyllis\u00a0Tickle\u2019s\u00a0new book\u00a0The Age of the Spirit.<\/em>\u00a0For those who don\u2019t know Tickle, she is considered by many to be the godmother of the emergent church movement. She has traveled the country preaching that the church is in the midst of a new epoch which she has called \u201cThe Great Emergence.\u201d This book is a continuation and deepening of her previous work on this subject. In this book Tickle traces seeks to look back at church history to try to make sense of where we are today.<\/p>\n

This is where the book shines.<\/p>\n

Tickle manages to paint a picture of the church\u2019s 2000 year theological history which is both\u00a0engaging\u00a0and educational. We are introduced to the Christological controversies that formed the landscape of early\u00a0Christianity. We are led through the political, social, and theological hallmarks of the\u00a0filioque<\/em>\u00a0controversy. We are introduced to\u00a0medieval\u00a0mystics and\u00a0renegade\u00a0sectarians. We are drawn into the story of how a small group of American Protestants began a\u00a0Pentecostal\u00a0movement that has shaken the world.<\/p>\n

I loved it.<\/p>\n

Even as someone who has\u00a0studied\u00a0this history deeply, I found that I found myself entertained and excited at every page turn. This book shines as a\u00a0brief\u00a0overview of some key chapters in the history of the church.<\/p>\n

Where the book struggles is in its attempt to be prophetic. Tickle has been\u00a0writing\u00a0about the changing tides in Christianity for the better part of a decade. While I have personally found many of the ways that she explains things to be helpful\u00a0conceptual\u00a0foils, there is a tendency to put too much emphasis on these pedagogical tools. I feel that this happens in this book when Tickle\u00a0attempts\u00a0to articulate the epoch\u2019s of history into ages. This quasi-dispensationalist\u00a0approach is borrowed from\u00a0Joachim of Fiore. She describes his theory in the following words.<\/p>\n

Joachim\u2026\u00a0determined that the very structure\u00a0of the world, its history, and God\u2019s way of working in it would move through these three stages:<\/em><\/p>\n