A friend forwarded me a link to this blogpost from Brett McCracken (who has now been added to my GoogleReader). It’s incredible and I’ve come to the conclusion I’m a Christian hipster. I’ve bolded everything that’s true of me. This is funny and very telling of many of us.
Enjoy…
Are You a Christian Hipster?
As you know, I’m writing a book about Christian hipsters and “cool
Christianity.” It’s coming along, but many people have asked me: what
exactly is a Christian hipster? Am I one? Are you one?
Well, first of all: it’s just a funny label, and we all know that
hipsters hate labels. So if you are still reading this post, eager to
know what it all means, chances are you are not a Christian hipster. Or
maybe you are, and you’re just intrigued by the whole thing (like I
am!). In any case, the following is an excerpt from the last chapter I
completed (Ch. 5: “Christian Hipsters Today”), and perhaps it will give
you a bit of a better sense as to what Christian hipsters are all about…
Christian Hipster Likes and Dislikes (By No Means Exhaustive… Just a Sampling)
Things they don’t like:
Christian hipsters don’t like megachurches, altar calls, and door-to-door evangelism. They don’t really like John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart or youth pastors who talk too much about Braveheart. In general, they tend not to like Mel Gibson and have come to really dislike The Passion for being overly bloody and maybe a little sadistic. They don’t like people like Pat Robertson, who on The 700 Club famously said that America should “take Hugo Chavez out”; and they don’t particularly like The 700 Club
either, except to make fun of it. They don’t like evangelical leaders
who get too involved in politics, such as James Dobson or Jerry
Falwell, who once said of terrorists that America should “blow them all
away in the name of the Lord.” They don’t like TBN, PAX, or Joel
Osteen. They do have a wry fondness for Benny Hinn, however.
Christian hipsters tend not to like contemporary Christian music
(CCM), or Christian films (except ironically), or any non-book item
sold at Family Christian Stores. They hate warehouse churches
or churches with American flags on stage, or churches with any flag on
stage, really. They prefer “Christ follower” to “Christian” and can’t
stand the phrases “soul winning” or “non-denominational,” and they
could do without weird and awkward evangelistic methods including (but
not limited to): sock puppets, ventriloquism, mimes, sign language,
“beach evangelism,” and modern dance. Surprisingly, they don’t really
have that big of a problem with old school evangelists like Billy
Graham and Billy Sunday and kind of love the really wild ones like
Aimee Semple McPherson.
Things they like:
Christian hipsters like music, movies, and books that are
well-respected by their respective artistic communities—Christian or
not. They love books like Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ron Sider, God’s Politics by Jim Wallis, and The Imitation of Christ by
Thomas a Kempis. They tend to be fans of any number of the following
authors: Flannery O’Connor, Walker Percy, Wendell Berry, Thomas Merton,
John Howard Yoder, Walter Brueggemann, N.T. Wright, Brennan Manning,
Eugene Peterson, Anne Lamott, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Henri
Nouwen, Soren Kierkegaard, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Annie Dillard,
Marilynne Robison, Chuck Klosterman, David Sedaris, or anything ancient
and/or philosophically important.
Christian hipsters love thinking and acting Catholic, even if they
are thoroughly Protestant. They love the Pope, liturgy, incense, lectio
divina, Lent, and timeless phrases like “Thanks be to God” or “Peace of
Christ be with you.” They enjoy Eastern Orthodox churches and
mysterious iconography, and they love the elaborate cathedrals of
Europe (even if they are too museum-like for hipster tastes). Christian
hipsters also love taking communion with real Port, and they don’t mind
common cups. They love poetry readings, worshipping with candles, and
smoking pipes while talking about God. Some of them like smoking a lot
of different things.
Christian hipsters love breaking the taboos that used to be taboo
for Christians. They love piercings, dressing a little goth, getting
lots of tattoos (the Christian Tattoo Association now lists more than
100 member shops), carrying flasks and smoking cloves. A lot of them
love skateboarding and surfing, and many of them play in bands. They
tend to get jobs working for churches, parachurch organizations,
non-profits, or the government. They are, on the whole, a little more
sincere and idealistic than their secular hipster counterparts.
