ya i'm glad you all feel the way i do. it just makes me feel awkward. but i think that more crazy is that this book will obviously be a hit in the christian world and it will cause a lot of dissension among christians and even worse, will give every non-christian neatly little wrapped fodder for stereotypes and mockery. i totally know how you feel matt by getting worked up by this and then feeling weird and almost guilty for it but who gives a shit man. its just us on here, lets talk about this because i think that this has implications that are very dangerous. it seems to me, from his little excerpt, that he only knows "christian hipsters" to be people who've stepped outside of the christian safety bubble and are trying to make sense of a real God in a godless world. being somebody who works at Biola and seems ( from what i can see) to have earned a meager little buzz in the christian world ( which it also seems that he spends too much time in) i have a hard time not just chalking this up to some perverted type of inbred self-realization that is both self destructive and simple-minded. i would also like to pre-dismiss the argument that this is simply a social observation. saying that not being a fan of pat robertson and james dobson is a trendy thing is not scientific observation, it is an emotionally loaded comment. (personally i am surprised that there are young, literate people who ARE fans of roberston and dobson! hahaha sorry that was mean) that did make me think of a good t-shirt idea though... "Pat Robertson is Satan's way of punishing Christians." back to the christian hipster... this has nothing to do with cool or trends, it is just where people our age have found themselves. it is like saying that anyone in the 60's who liked rock and roll were just trendy sell-outs. it is a matter of being a part of your culture. it is being involved and testing the waters of your piers. it seems to me that people who love to throw around the term hipster do it from either an insecure place or a malicious place. everyone is searching for definition but no one wants to come across as unoriginal. the reason why people shudder at the sound of the word is that, "hipsters" are simply artistically-minded people. because the main goal of the artist, in a sense, is self-glorification through the discovery of originality (im not saying that this is necessarily negative in a worldly sense), calling this person a hipster is essentially saying that they are nothing but a sell-out to whatever is popular and completely lacking of originality or self. here is my big but though, the action of calling someone a hipster is, in itself an act of insecurity and trying to define yourself as original by setting yourself in contrast to what is popular. i don't think that i should keep writing because i think it is making me go a little crazy. so for now i will just say this, enjoy the fact that people in such high volumes are searching in such a positive way. i mean i used to get annoyed when i would drive by hordes of rich orange county kids on these pristine, thousand dollar track bikes but then i realized, ITS JUST FUCKING BIKES!!! it is a healthy, nonpolluting, non-harmful hobby. i should be supporting this before i start to make fun of people for recycling because 'everyone is doing it.'
that being said, i just saw the pre-view for 'bandslam' and i think i might secretly go see it.
i'm sick of hearing myself now. good night. hi ho
3 comments:
I think the comment about rock in the 60's is a good analogy D. Reading that article gave me the same feeling I felt when the most annoying skinny souled person I know said, "I know the way you feel man, I love Bob Dylan too." Well, there are people who listen to Dylan and their are people who will get in a fist fight to prove he is the best american road poet to date or who cant help but tear up a bit hearing "last thoughts on Woody Guthrie". Its not the same, no matter how much overlap there may seem to be on the surface.
I am a pastor, I preach in a robe, I read my prayers, Aposltes Creed, bread and wine every week. I smoke 'em if I got em, I have a kegerator full of the finest micro brew in San Diego about two feet from my dining room table. A few feet from that is a book shelf with the Works of O'connor and volume 10 of Chestertons works that I read to my 4-12 year old kids. But then there is Wodehouse too, and no hipster would have a clue why that matters. They also wouldnt be able to tolerate Flannery as she really was, she was a "Dylan fan" who meant it (if you can handle the anachronism dashed with mixed metaphor). Talk trash about the Sacraments, she would be ready to go fist to cuffs. No hipster has that kinda metal in their spine.
The difference is a hipster is a modern, slightly turning post modern (a modern with some dolled up "doubt") and the other is an old soul, one who gets why tradition matters...and is willing to be a servant to it. A hipster likes tradition because its cool, until it tells him to obey or says something uncool...then he'll decide if that makes his "hipster" list.
And that is where the people they supposedly read would shake their heads in disgust. It's not a list you can make, its a life to be lived and it wont be a different list in 10 years, its not your idea, the "list" is already written and not by you.
Sorry the rant is scattered but I sit at a table with 3 boys celebrating eggs and red hot...its hard to take the internet too serious when that which is really serious is unfolding before your face.
From an apologetic former youth pastor who wishes he could have given you more then...
Jesse
PS Kegerator is always full so if you are near Temecula or just need free beer give us a call
jpirschel at verizon dot net
seems to me like this author is writing about his idea of certain people, and it is just a waste of time to even pay attention to or talk about because we should be coming together regardless of styles, denominations, likes and dislikes, under one Gospel and caring for people in need. pop culture is pop culture, God and His Word never change.
i even feel annoying saying anything, but that is problem with this whole issue! i guess i think if christian hipsters are saved and sharing Christ with others, more power to them! the hipster part is irrelevant, i think.
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