It's interesting.... I wasn't sure while I was reading whether or not the author was for or against 'christian hipsters'. He seemed a little critical, and I am not sure why. I don't think that the ideals expressed by the hipsters of our generation are that bad in most cases.
Maybe we have a new interpretation of Christianity, maybe we are trying to make it real to us again...
Yeah, I think Christians love to make fun of their own, to a fault, perhaps. I remember talking to a Texan woman a couple years ago about her view of her own country and state and she said, "Its almost like we're taught to hate ourselves." I think the same is true for evangelical Christians.
I do think though that its good to be critical of Christianity, to constantly evaluate whether or not we're on track or not. Its also good to try to see what it is we do that is cultural, to try to figure out what in our personal or collective faith is us just getting on some sort of Christian-culture bandwagon and what is us genuinely following Christ. And sometimes the Christian-culture bandwagon is not such a bad thing either - but we shouldn't just accept it blindly. I don't think that's too much of a problem for our generation though... since so many Christian-bashing books by Christians are published and happily read. Shane Claiborne, Donald Miller and Mark Driscoll come to mind as popular Christian authors who like to bash other Christians. "Bash" might be too harsh a word, but definitely they like to criticize.
Though we all fall short regardless of our efforts. Its rather frustrating. Thank goodness for God's grace. But should we extend that grace by being less critical of ourselves, or other Christians who don't totally agree with our points of view?
It's interesting.... I wasn't sure while I was reading whether or not the author was for or against 'christian hipsters'. He seemed a little critical, and I am not sure why. I don't think that the ideals expressed by the hipsters of our generation are that bad in most cases.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we have a new interpretation of Christianity, maybe we are trying to make it real to us again...
(anyways.. thanks for the thoughts Gloria:)
Yeah, I think Christians love to make fun of their own, to a fault, perhaps. I remember talking to a Texan woman a couple years ago about her view of her own country and state and she said, "Its almost like we're taught to hate ourselves." I think the same is true for evangelical Christians.
ReplyDeleteI do think though that its good to be critical of Christianity, to constantly evaluate whether or not we're on track or not. Its also good to try to see what it is we do that is cultural, to try to figure out what in our personal or collective faith is us just getting on some sort of Christian-culture bandwagon and what is us genuinely following Christ. And sometimes the Christian-culture bandwagon is not such a bad thing either - but we shouldn't just accept it blindly. I don't think that's too much of a problem for our generation though... since so many Christian-bashing books by Christians are published and happily read. Shane Claiborne, Donald Miller and Mark Driscoll come to mind as popular Christian authors who like to bash other Christians. "Bash" might be too harsh a word, but definitely they like to criticize.
Though we all fall short regardless of our efforts. Its rather frustrating. Thank goodness for God's grace. But should we extend that grace by being less critical of ourselves, or other Christians who don't totally agree with our points of view?