Review of Phyllis Tickle, The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008)

by Dr. F. Douglas Powe Jr., Associate Professor of Evangelism, E. Stanley Jones Chair in Evangelism

Tickle in very lay terms helps readers to understand why Christianity continues to change or transform about every five hundred years. Her claim is we are currently experiencing one of those transformations. For individuals in mainline denominations this can be unsettling since a part of the transformation is moving away from strict denominationalism. This book will give readers one perspective of where the church may be headed in the future.

I think this book is helpful for congregations because it helps them to understand where we are today (as Christians) and where it is that we may be headed. It will challenge many in the church who will be uncomfortable with Tickle's perspective of Christianity morphing into something new, but should help congregations to think about their future differently. Tickle writes in a manner that will captivate even her harshest critics.