Click the post title to be taken to the source.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4, NASB)

Phyllis, Please Tickle Our Ears…

In ”The Great Emergence: A Reformation Every 500 Years” Roger Oakland of Understanding the Times tells us, “Phyllis Tickle is a best-selling author and the founding editor of the religion department at Publishers Weekly. She is also a friend of the emerging church.” (Online source) These days, who isn’t, eh. From the Lighthouse… also points out:

Emergent church leader, Phyllis Tickle, likens Brian McLaren to Luther who helped to bring about a reformation. Tickle says McLaren might be instrumental in bringing about a “new reformation” through the emerging church. The comments were made at the “joint annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the American Academy of Religion (AAR),” in which Tickle and McLaren were speakers. (Online source) 

You know, as fast as evangelicalism is apostatizing before our eyes she might just be right after all about Emergent Church Swami Brian McLaren. But this all seems to explain why at the Emergent Village website in a post called ”Phyllis Tickle To Write Book For Baker/Emersion” we’re informed that:

Phyllis Tickle, founding editor of the religion department at Publishers Weekly, will write a book on emerging Christianity for Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. The book, whose current working title is The Great Emergence, will be the seventh in Baker’s ēmersion series, a partnership between Baker Books and Emergent Village, intended to provide a practical, positive vision of the church as it steps into the future. (Online source)

And in that same post Emerging Church Pastor Doug Pagitt also lavishes high praise for Tickle and her book The Great Emergence (TGE):

“Phyllis Tickle is the best friend the emergent movement could ever have,” said Doug Pagitt, series editor for ēmersion. “She’s a keen observer of the American church scene. She’s also gracious and wise. Her books, from The Divine Hours to her memoirs, are essential reading. We look forward to the release of The Great Emergence with much anticipation.” (ibid.)

Over at his website Pagitt is then encouraging us “to attend The Great Emergence Event December 5-6 in Memphis. It is going to be an excellent event” (Online source). As we follow the link to The Great Emergence Event (TGEE) we’re enlightened:

‘The Great Emergence’ refers to a monumental phenomenon in our world, and this book asks three questions about it. Or looked at the other way around, this book is about a monumental phenomenon considered from the perspective of three very basic questions: What is this thing? How did it come to be? Where is it going?”

So begins Phyllis Tickle’s extraordinary new book, The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why. In this much-anticipated book, Tickle brings her encyclopedic knowledge of American religion to bear on the current shifts in the Christian landscape. Paired with her Southern wit and charm, The Great Emergence promises to be the bellwether book in emerging Christianity.

The Great Emergence National Event is a unique and freshly designed event built on innovative adult learning techniques including interaction, participation, and inspiring content on the current state of and future possibilities for Christianity. Around the four main sessions with Phyllis Tickle, participants will also enjoy the daily office—thrice daily times of prayer—based on Phyllis Tickle’s bestselling book, The Divine Hours, in the majestic and historic Cathedral of St. Mary in Memphis, Tennessee, which will be bedecked with Advent greenery. (Online source)

So quite obviously there’s no little excitement around Emerging Church circles about Phyllis Tickle as well as her new book poised to tell them what they want to hear. This piece is not designed to be exhaustive as here we are only pointing you to some information in order to introduce you to Phyllis Tickle. This way you can see for yourselves that not a few of Tickle’s association are rather questionable (at best). Concerning Tickle’s TGE at her website we read the following endorsement from an apostate Episcopal “Bishop”:

“Phyllis Tickle offers a creative and provocative overview of multiple social and cultural changes in our era, their relation to previous major paradigm shifts, and their particular impact on North American Christianity. This is an immensely important contribution to the current conversation about new and emerging forms of Christianity in a post-modern environment—and a delight to read!”
—The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori,
Presiding Bishop and Primate,
The Episcopal Church (Online source)

Scratching The Surface Of Tickle’s Quite Questrionable Spiritual Associations

 Then in Tickle’s “About” section we’re informed that Phyllis Tickle is:

founding editor of the Religion Department of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, the international journal of the book industry, is frequently quoted in sources like USA TODAY, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NY TIMES, as well as in electronic media like PBS, NPR, THE HALLMARK CHANNEL, etc., Tickle is an authority on religion in America and a much sought after lecturer on the subject… Tickle is currently a Senior Fellow of Cathedral College of the Washington National Cathedral. A founding member of The Canterbury Roundtable, she serves now, as she has in the past, on a number of advisory and corporate boards. A lay eucharistic minister and lector in the Episcopal Church,… (Online source)

We note first that Tickle’s “currently a Senior Fellow of Cathedral College of the Washington National Cathedral.” The Cathedral College website gives some background concerning its “interfaith” message:

Washington National Cathedral is a church for national purposes, an Episcopal cathedral welcoming to people of all faiths and none. A unique blend of the spiritual and the civic, the Cathedral is a voice for a generous-spirited Christianity and a catalyst for reconciliation and interfaith dialogue that promotes respect and understanding. We invite everyone to become partners with us and share in our commitment to create a hopeful and just world. (Online source)

So you can see that this is Cathedral College is indeed an extention of the blackhole of liberal theology known as Washington National Cathedral. Its website gives us the lowdown on their sacred circles, labyrinth, and Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage where, but of course, we can learn more about “Prayer and Contemplation,” which is referring to Contemplative/Centering Prayer:

Located on the crypt level of the Cathedral. Open for quiet prayer and meditation. The center invites you to explore its diverse offerings of spiritual growth through communities gathered in prayer, devotional practices and reflection.

Contemplative Prayer
Fourth Saturdays, 10–11 am
The Cathedral Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage offers a community gathering with contemplative prayer. Gatherings are led by the Rev. Milo Coerper, Cathedral chaplain.

Benedictine Life and Prayer
Mondays, 6 pm in the CCPP
Explore the principles of living a balanced life, and learn more about the ecumenical cathedral-based Community of Reconciliation. Each gathering concludes with Centering Prayer.

Centering Prayer
Tuesdays, 6–7 pm; Wednesdays, 8–8:30 am
Open your entire being to God’s presence during this time of silent prayer as you move beyond thoughts, words and emotions into a quiet communion with the Divine. The Tuesday sessions include a time for teaching and discussion in addition to a time of silence

Christian Meditation: Silence, Stillness, Simplicity
Fourth Saturdays, 10–11 am
Experience a rhythm of contemplative prayer that includes a reading from one of the great contemplatives, a period of silent meditation, and time for sharing and reflection. (Online source)

Frankly, there’s just too much spiritual chicanery going on in the Cathedral of Compromise for me to even share here. Returning more specifically to Phyllis Tickle we find even more questionable associations under the ”RELATED ACTIVITIES/CURRENT” of her resume. Not the least of which was her being part of the ”Board of Advisors, The Mary Baker Eddy Library, emerita” (Online source). For those who may not know Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of the non-Christian cult of Christian Science, which was neither Christian nor science striking out on both accounts.

As one trained in counter-cult evangelism I would have to say that this is certainly a rather odd association for a Christian and one which is not in line with 2 Corinthians 6:14-15. So being charitable my guess is Tickle’s also into liberal/progressive theology. This would also seem to be confirmed from one other thing found in the ”RELATED ACTIVITIES/CURRENT” section of Tickle’s resume. Without a doubt her involvement on the “Editorial Board” at Explore Faith (EF) is a smoking gun.

From the “About Us” section website of EF we meet the rest of this Editorial Board and among them we see “Progressive Christian” Marcus Borg (Online source). In the Apprising Ministries post Marcus Borg Vs. Jesus you’ll clearly see by his own words that he has as much affinity with the genuine Christian faith as I do with Buddhism. And as we check out who’s listed among their “Saints, Prophets and Spiritual Guides” we have very serious reason to question just what kind of “faith” it is that we’re exploring here: 

On the following pages, explorefaith.org offers a subjective look at some of the spiritual teachers who have shaped our lives. These essays are by no means comprehensive. Numerous Web Sites catalogue different saints and spiritual guides in great detail (and we will provide links to a few of the best).

Our coverage is intended to show what these people can mean to us now, how they can help us envision new realties in which a relationship with God is the core from which all thoughts and actions spread. Here our explorefaith writers have mused about the spiritual teachers in their lives who continue to give them guidance and help them discover new avenues of devotion deep within. It is our hope that their essays may kindle thoughts of those spiritual teachers who have molded your life, and perhaps spur you to explore a few you might not have known. (Online source)

Men and women, the “spiritual teachers” listed there who supposedly ”can help us envision new realities” literally reads like a who’s who of unregenerate pagans such as Guru Ram Dass, Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh, Sufi Muslim Rumi, and heretical so-called “Christian” mystics like Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila and Thomas Merton. Thinking back to when we began, Doug Pagitt tells us that “Phyllis Tickle is the best friend the emergent movement could ever have”.

Well, I find myself wondering: Just what kind of Christian faith is it that Phyllis Tickle has Pagitt and the Emergent Church so excited about?