From Associated Baptist Press
By Hannah Elliott
“[T]here is a strong contingent — in the emergent church and elsewhere — that has begun a sort of Mary renaissance. Mary is on the rise, perhaps even part of a full-fledged movement, McKnight said. He wrote his book to add to the momentum and encourage lay people to have an ‘image of Mary.’
“It’s something evangelicals arguably have never had.
“‘I think there was a real aversion to any kind of robust interest in Mary as a great saint of our faith,’ said Tony Jones, who grew up among evangelicals and now is a leader of the emergent-church movement.
“‘In the emergent church, we are much more open to a broad ecumenical Christianity that charitably views all of our brothers and sisters in Christ from all around the globe and in any denominational background,’ said Jones, one of the movement’s budding theologians.
“‘The emergent church — with its eclectic, ancient-future worship and low-key evangelism — could be credited with prompting evangelicals to be ‘more open and broad,’ said Jones, national coordinator of Emergent Village, the network of young Christians at the center of the emergent-church movement. (emergentvillage.com)
“‘One of the things we have done is tried to have a more generous brand of Christianity…’ Jones said.” Click here to read this entire article.
