Truth & The New Kind of Christian, Summary

Truth & the New Kind of Christian is an excellent book. It often feels like an easier-to-read version of Carson's "Becoming Conversation with the Emerging Church". With valuable insights, Smith further sharpened my understanding of post-modernism and its effects on the church. This book was most helpful in processing through 'Beyond Foundationalism' and also gave me a great book to recommend to 'post-modern' thinkers in the context in which I serve.

'Beyond Foundationalism' challenged me. I could see what they were saying. I have to admit, I came to different conclusions about what Grenz and Franke were saying. I trust Smith as he is much more educated than I am. So, I defer to his reading. Upon reading this book, Smith shows the error of what they were saying. If they had put their view as simply as he did, I think I may have seen the error, but as it were, I missed it. I am thankful for Smith's careful reading and help in guiding me back to a more orthodox position on theology. I want, however, to go back and re-read what they said to see how I react in light of the new information I have gained in reading this book.

What is also helpful about this book is having something I can hand to believers who are influenced by post-modern thought. While I loved Carson's book, it is too heady for the average reader. Smith is more accessible and would be great for some of the college students I serve. I wrote a while back that I am relatively unaffected by the emerging church, but I am realizing that they do not need to identify themselves this way to be emerging. So, with that, I can see emerging themes arising even in my own congregation and have some clear ways of addressing them.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and found it to be a helpful assessment of post-modernism and the emerging church.