'Emergent' is a word I see gets thrown around a lot. Is there any definition to what is and what isn't emergent? - Is it a catch-all for certain points of view? - Are there people out there that actively identify themselves as 'Emergent'? - What are, or what is considered to be the main tenets and/or beliefs of the Emergent Church?

In many evangelical circles I hear people use the terms liberal, progressive and emergent quite a bit, especially recently. Do these all refer to the same categorization of groups or of thought? Or do these have a more precise meaning?

Despite the fact that the emergent/emerging Church is a fairly nebulous and [relatively undefined](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-are-the-main-tenets-and-or-beliefs-of-the-emergent-church) concept, without a centralized organization or structure, they chose the term terms emergent/emerging to describe the movement. What does that the Emerging church see itself as emerging from?

I'm just wondering if there is any other way of looking at the whole "I and the father are one" issue, and all that is this hugely important passage of the Bible. As per the comment, I'll spell it out. Traditionally and in most Biblical commentaries, the passage is Jesus telling those around him that he is God. To quote the ESV commentary: > Jesus’ claim that I and the Father are one (i.e., one entity—the Gk. > is neuter; cf. 5:17–18; 10:33–38) echoes the Shema, the basic > confession of Judaism, whose first word in Deut. 6:4 is shema‘ (Hb. > “hear”). Jesus’ words thus amount to a claim to deity. What I'm interested in are other viewpoints. Anything from Panenthism (see 10:34) or otherwise (i.e. extending the idea of the Logos within Sufism). Anything from the Emergent Church group would also be great.