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.
187 responses so far ↓
Aaron J // February 27, 2009 at 7:52 am |
My favorite authors are GK Chesterton & Flannery O’Connor….guess I’m a hipster! ;)
Although, I enjoyed “Wild at Heart” and Braveheart…I thought I had a fairly good idea of what a “Christian hipster” is, but I’ve never heard of this stipulation! ha
keepfishing // February 27, 2009 at 9:25 am |
So, being British, I didn’t really have much idea of what a hipster was. I thought it was more about wearing clothes from American Apparel.
Turns out I’m a hipster too! Although I thought that not liking Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson was mostly common sense.
Being Scottish though, I’m in love with Braveheart!
Shawn // February 27, 2009 at 10:11 am |
Oh, I love me some O’Connor…and those cathedrals, too…but, no piercings or smoking…
Andrew Walker // February 27, 2009 at 11:59 am |
All it seems you are doing is creating a new moniker/category despite that labels like evangelical left and evangelical right still apply just fine.
Christian Hipsters=Obama followers.
Tim Coe // February 27, 2009 at 1:18 pm |
I’m confused as to why liturgy, incense, lectio divina, Lent, and timeless phrases like “Thanks be to God” or “Peace of Christ be with you” are specifically Catholic, with the caveat even if they are thoroughly Protestant. The Protestant Church is filled with liturgy, incense, et al., and has been since the reformation: This whole ‘low church’ thing is a fairly recent development. Do Lutherans, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, several Methodist congregations, etc. etc. not count as Protestant anymore?
Travis M // February 27, 2009 at 2:08 pm |
Oh my goodness, that’s me down to a T! Should I seek help?
Chris Martin // February 27, 2009 at 2:16 pm |
Here’s my problem.
You don’t have to be a “Christian Hipsters” to recognize that things like TBN, 700 Club, and mimes suck pretty bad.
You don’t have to be a “Christian Hipster” to read theology, philosophy, and all around good writing.
I’m probably a Christian Hipster to some degree, and I know some who definitely are not “hip” in any way, who would fit into the second list better than the first.
This is difficult.
mattsara // February 27, 2009 at 3:10 pm |
Sounds dead on to me, Brett.
I’m looking forward to the book.
Rios // February 27, 2009 at 3:19 pm |
“Or maybe you are, and you’re just intrigued by the whole thing (like I am!).” Are you admitting to something here? I knew it!
Joel Mayward // February 27, 2009 at 6:06 pm |
Crap…I’m about 97% of the characteristics you’ve listed. I guess I’m a Christian hipster, whether I like the label or not.
We also like independent coffee roasters, fine wine, microbrews, Leo Tolstoy, and modish beards. We also hate Walmart and everything it stands for, but to distinguish a “Christian” hipster from a “secular” hipster, we hate Walmart for theological reasons. And by we, I mean me.
John // February 27, 2009 at 6:37 pm |
So pretty much if you’re not a fundamentalist, you’re a hipster?
It seems “hipster” has lost all meaning if used in your context. My grandfather would be considered a hipster by this definition.
You might be a Christian hipster « Tangzine // February 27, 2009 at 9:27 pm |
[...] HERE for the complete list of characteristics. Here’s an abbreviated idea of what he’s [...]
Zach Smith // February 27, 2009 at 9:44 pm |
Yea I guess this makes me pretty dang close to a Christian hipster. I was all there until the last paragraph, which I suppose is the most “out there” or “hip” part of the list. So maybe I’m almost a hipster.
I would argue with the comment that “Christian hipster=Obama follower” How so?
redison // February 28, 2009 at 2:39 am |
Some of them like smoking a lot of different things.
Haha! Very funny.
…… I love how everyone is admitting to being hipster. Which makes me wonder, would an actual hipster care enough about their hipsterishness to ever blatantly admit to being one? Or is it only those who aspire to being hipsters (in some sort of woeful search of an ‘identity’) who rush at the chance to proclaim they are one, when in fact the very proclamation negates itself? I’m not accusing anyone of this, just mulling it over in Starbucks with my C.S. Lewis book at my side. How hipster of me. Ba-dum, cha!
I’m really looking forward to your book, Brett.
JakeT // February 28, 2009 at 3:41 am |
Ooo…cloves. I could go for some of that right now.
By this definition, I’m certainly a Christian hipster (although, like, I suspect, most other Xian hipsters, I talk about liking a lot of those books a lot more than I’ve actually read them), but the down I live in (Decatur, IL) is not a very hipster kind of town.
I went to a Jeff Tweedy show recently. I began to hate myself for having a beard and a drivers cap like those dudes (the hipster vibe was nearly overwhelming).
barbara // February 28, 2009 at 4:39 am |
hahaha this rings true in many respects. i’m a recent wheaton grad (dec ‘08); these types are a dime a dozen there. i am guilty as charged on some counts. however, i must say it’s definitely no longer hip to dig “St. Clive” there.
hipsters of the wheaton breed also like: existential crises, vinyl records, moleskine journals, photography classes, feminist theology, belmont area of chicago, breaking the covenant…
Der&K // February 28, 2009 at 1:10 pm |
Clever Christian hipsters drop Sufjan Steven’s name in tag lines to attract other’s without actually mentioning Sufjan Steven. That’s hip…
gilliebean // February 28, 2009 at 6:23 pm |
I’m so far beyond hipsterdom that I’m not even gonna comment.
P.S. Christian hipsters like irony.
Anthony // February 28, 2009 at 8:09 pm |
David Sedaris? The man is a brilliant comic but I have yet to read anything he’s written that is “ancient and/or philosophically important.”
What about the super-conservative hipsters who belong to mega churches?
Brett T // March 1, 2009 at 3:20 am |
“they could do without weird and awkward evangelistic methods including…sign language…”
I have a deaf cousin. She is rather unable to do without sign language. Most of our family would find it far more weird and awkward to exclude her by omitting her language from the conversation, evangelistic or otherwise, and we would certainly never do so because of someone else’s judgment about the hipness or un-hipness of the way some people have used sign language.
Written this way, these likes and dislikes seem to be another way of finding a line to draw between one group of people and another in order to create an in-group who gets it and an out-group who doesn’t. This doesn’t seem like a way to celebrate different gifts as much as as a way to elevate a different group.
Alec // March 1, 2009 at 5:00 am |
I get this definition, though it seems a bit like a remix of the “emergent” Christian label.
I hope Christian hipsters truly are more sincere and idealistic than their secular counterparts, since so much of what drives hipster culture is an obsession with trends and fads. It’s a race to see who can come up with the latest and greatest style, taste, and beliefs.
Keith Allen // March 1, 2009 at 9:41 pm |
I’m surprised that nobody has asked the question: Would Jesus Christ have been labelled a Christian hipster during His mortal ministry? Or am I just being overly serious?
Becky // March 2, 2009 at 1:02 am |
phew. I’m glad this was done with humor. Otherwise, as am empathizer with the “hipster” label(hahaha), I might be flustered at the assumption lists can be made about categories of people. but, no. poking fun will do.
Becky P // March 2, 2009 at 6:08 am |
If by “modern dance” you mean dancing with scarves in figure-negating tunics… Real modern dance, on the other hand, would be quite at home in many hipster churches.
graceshaker // March 3, 2009 at 4:07 am |
its hip to bash hip.
gracertwoo // March 3, 2009 at 2:45 pm |
We like Sparks too.
orlando // March 3, 2009 at 3:02 pm |
how about we focus more on loving Christ and less on being cool. Paul never was about being hip, but had a greater desire to change the world for Christ in a far greater way than smoking pipes and dressing goth is ever going to accomplish
Nick // March 3, 2009 at 3:47 pm |
You forgot the one where Christian Hipsters hate to be pigeon-holed in any way, and find it to be a bit ridiculous that we have to be labeled.
worshipcity // March 3, 2009 at 5:53 pm |
Haha! This is awesome!
I’m pretty sure I’m a hipster!
But no mention of an affinity towards online churches/campuses? That’s not an indication of the hipster? I’m also surprised the modern equivalents like Don Miller and Rob Bell aren’t mentioned? Maybe I’m not a hipster :)
Aaron // March 3, 2009 at 6:12 pm |
So… Christian hipsters are basically post-modernists who like to sample trends and traditions from various other (often contradictory) belief systems? By very nature, wouldn’t that make them NOT Christians?
While I see the attempt at irony and humor in the article, the truth is overwhelmingly disappointing: “hipsters” do not actually follow Christ Himself, who denied himself and served others to the extent that it cost Him His life.
Heavy // March 3, 2009 at 6:42 pm |
This is just a natural progression of post modern religious thinking and the post modern ego working to motivate people to be different and cool, which might be topic of interest to you, but it would be a shame to distill it down to a label like hipster.
Hipster is a put down because it’s usually used in a superior context… as if to say I know you’re a hipster, but you don’t see it–so let me tell you about you. That’s why people don’t like being called one. If you want to get a boner over labels, here’s one: meta-hipster, someone who goes around identifying hipsters.
Mark Trueblood // March 3, 2009 at 9:48 pm |
You’ve made an admirable attempt at defining what a Christian Hipster is, but what is your definition of a Christian?
Brett // March 3, 2009 at 11:43 pm |
Mark- Christians are people who believe and live this.
Atheist Hipster // March 4, 2009 at 12:26 am |
I think I can sum this up more quickly: A Christian hipster is a Christian you encounter about whom you don’t instantly think “What an asshole!”
Tim Coe // March 4, 2009 at 12:43 am |
So… Christian hipsters are basically post-modernists who like to sample trends and traditions from various other (often contradictory) belief systems? By very nature, wouldn’t that make them NOT Christians?
While I see the attempt at irony and humor in the article, the truth is overwhelmingly disappointing: “hipsters” do not actually follow Christ Himself, who denied himself and served others to the extent that it cost Him His life.
I’m pretty sure Brett is making a cultural distinction, not a philosophical and epistemological distinction. Your assertion that Christians can’t be hipsters because of their social mores applies equally well to anyone belonging to any cultural demographic.
Missa // March 4, 2009 at 2:07 am |
So.. I’m still trying to convince myself that you’re being sarcastic about this whole thing. And I’m hoping you don’t go further in your effort to create another lame-ass label pedestal that “hipsters” can hop on top of and look down on all of us “normal people” who don’t follow the incoming and outgoing trends that would give us hipster status.
And besides. This Christian hipster malarky will only provoke more ostracism from Christians, hipsters, (and now) Christian hipsters. There’s already enough of that.
Davo // March 4, 2009 at 4:59 am |
Wow… it’s like you followed my friends and I around for a month and then wrote about us. God, I swear you did.
BagOfNothing.com » Bag of Randomness // March 4, 2009 at 11:01 am |
[...] I just might be a Christian Hipster. [...]
Tish // March 4, 2009 at 2:40 pm |
The Hipster Handbook by Robert Lanham was published in 2003.
I was raised in the church – a church trying to be “relevant”, maybe even “hip” – and they were constantly trying to jump on bandwagons that had left them in the dust years before. The problem with Christians trying to copy mainstream culture – or in this case indie culture – is that they never manage to do it as well. Give up on the book and quit while you’re ahead…or perhaps while you’re not yet so far behind.
Stefan // March 4, 2009 at 2:55 pm |
Dearest Brett,
I have silently admired your writing – enlightened by your perspective and finding that I agree with so much of what you have to say. Its refreshing.
I know that this is only an excerpt, a humorous one at that (so I’m not sure how serious I’m supposed to take it). I’m starting to think that ‘Christian Hipsters’ take cultural image too seriously… must we be so deliberate in trying to seem ‘hip’?
Kyle T. // March 4, 2009 at 5:02 pm |
I must be one, although I still don’t really know what a hipster is, I just know what they like and don’t like.
mpt // March 4, 2009 at 5:42 pm |
You forgot one thing, Brett: we aren’t fond of the words “Christian” and “hipster.”
:) Can’t wait for the book. Hope you are doing well, man.
mpt
jhimm // March 4, 2009 at 6:53 pm |
“They are, on the whole, a little more sincere and idealistic than their secular hipster counterparts.”
if christian hipsters are only a -little- more sincere and idealistic than secular hipsters i’d suggest that christian hipsters are fairly useless. secular hipsterism is constructed entirely around the notion of being utterly insincere and cynical about as many aspects of your life as possible. i would hope that a christian hipster would have more or less nothing in common with them.
GirlTalkRulz // March 4, 2009 at 7:00 pm |
Lame.
Jacob // March 4, 2009 at 7:19 pm |
So if a “Christian hipster” would never read this post, then why are all these comments by people claiming that very title?
Angry Sam // March 4, 2009 at 10:05 pm |
If the Mars Hill Church in Seattle is any indicator, Christian Hipsters also don’t think women should have jobs.
Tom Woolf // March 4, 2009 at 10:11 pm |
Sadly, the first signs of NOT begin hip are:
– Making a list of things that make people hip;
– Thinking that you qualify based on that list.
But then, the first thing I thought of when I read the phrase “Christian Hipster” is Kramer’s “Hipster Doofus”.
E.D. Kain // March 4, 2009 at 10:24 pm |
Fantastic!
Gustav // March 4, 2009 at 10:34 pm |
There must be a 12 step program to solve this problem.
Holly // March 4, 2009 at 10:55 pm |
Hipsters need to move beyond navel-gazing generalizations about their “culture” into concrete practices of faith, justice and solidarity. We are not that special.
DB // March 4, 2009 at 11:08 pm |
As a former student of Stanley Hauerwas, I can only reply along the lines of what I imagine his response would be….” ‘Hip’ is not a theological category.”
And I do find it more than ironic that Yoder’s (as well as some of the others listed) call for the Church to be counter-cultural is now, in fact, culturally acceptable!
Go ahead and call us “post-counter cultural hipster Christians.”
You’ll sell more books if you do (which, of course, is the ultimate irony given that the goal of writing such a book is not to speak truthfully, but to sell as many as possible for the purpose of making a profit!)
Bravo!!! Your wish to embody Foucault is now complete.
Exit stage left, please….
a. d. litfin // March 4, 2009 at 11:24 pm |
how did you manage to parlay writing clueless music reviews for the wheaton college record into an equally clueless yet exponentially more pretentious blog?
sadeyedartist // March 4, 2009 at 11:42 pm |
Maybe the “hipster” trend isn’t about making a (corporate) statement or starting a trend. Maybe a number of Christians simply saw flaws in the Christian subculture in which they were raised and sought (independently and without labels) to change it in themselves. Personally I think that Christians should be ashamed of the quality of most of their “art” (etc.) and since I have gone to art school, I happen to be more aware of (and interested in) what’s out there. Does that make me “hipster”? I don’t know. I also think that people judge too hard by what people are wearing. I have always liked the gothic look (even in my preppy Christian school–though I was too scared to wear it there.) and so now I wear it… because I like it. Does this make me “hipster” too? Maybe Christians are simply learning that ITS OK to take your personality with you when you get saved. Tagging us “hipster” just gives the media a convenient title. That way no one has to take us seriously or think about why we’re doing what we’re doing.
is it alt 2 b christian? « Big Rock Candy Mountain // March 4, 2009 at 11:47 pm |
[...] it alt 2 b christian? Some dude identifies my demographic: They tend to be fans of any number of the following authors: Flannery [...]
Joe // March 5, 2009 at 12:13 am |
Guilty as charged, but, does this mean I have to go buy the hipster’s trademark white belt and move to Portland, OR?
eliacin // March 5, 2009 at 12:17 am |
You seemed to described a lot of Anglicans as hipsters, but they are quite far from it.
Alicia K // March 5, 2009 at 12:18 am |
Brett, I say this with the utmost concern for you as a person and as a writer: Fuck. This. Shit. You can do waaaaaaaaaaay better than this book.
photosens // March 5, 2009 at 12:44 am |
I came here because I was so pissed off that Andrew Sullivan was putting a label on me.
I’m mostly nailed, but I’m not into high church ritual (the opposite). I don’t attend a club meeting. And the last paragraph sounds like people in search of an image. Back in college I may have been there, but not now. But I am involved in compassion and justice work with nonprofits.
And I prefer “Jesus following” hipster, but only if you’re snarky about it.
Am I a Christian Hipster? « Of City Streets and Falling Leaves // March 5, 2009 at 1:13 am |
[...] March 5, 2009 by urbanfall Uh-oh. Guilty as charged. [...]
neuronoid // March 5, 2009 at 1:21 am |
5 People who are Christian Hipsters or Christian Hipster icons, in no particular order;
1)-Link Wray, badass guitarist, inventor of distortion, only person to have an instrumental banned (“Rumble”)
2-Jack White of the White Stripes
3-Bo Diddley
4-John Coltrane (his “A Love Supreme” is arguably the apotheosis of modern jazz)
5-Al Green (the only preacher cool enough to have been covered by Talking Heads)
Michael // March 5, 2009 at 1:32 am |
I’m curious what such a deconstruction of the Charismatic Renewal/Jesus Movement of the 1970’s would look like?
I guess I’m building along the lines of sadeyedartist’s comments. Perhaps these ‘hipster’ trends are driven by a genuine dissatisfaction with the current ‘church establishment’ and a hunger for an authentic meaningful experience of Christ (i.e. exactly what the Jesus Freaks were doing).
Christian Hipster? « Bede’s Blog // March 5, 2009 at 1:38 am |
[...] a recent post that sheds light on what he’s talking about. I’m happy to know that this exists but I [...]
Credo // March 5, 2009 at 2:07 am |
Bleh. This is so tiresome. Every youth group has a few cool kids that sit at the back and make fun of the rest.
Christ did not die to make men hip. In fact, the very notion of hip is antithetical to the life of holiness Christians are called to. It is the very definition of the “false self” that C.S. Lewis wrote about. You have been deceived.
thomas // March 5, 2009 at 2:21 am |
uhm, so i got here via some blog on the atlantic monthly website. hi all.
i didn’t read all the comments and something like this must have been said, but…
contemporary evangelical christianity *is* something of a huge mess. that young people sometimes want to distance themselves from it; that they may be somewhat charmed by the more austere, less lowbrow catholic culture; that they’d rather read flannery o’connor than tim lahaye… well, i don’t know what’s so darn reprehensible about that, you know?
it’s easy to be cynical about hipsters. it’s the done thing. bashing hipsterdom = beating a dead horse. the web abounds in articles — some years old — meticulously deriding the culture.
hipsters can be a little ridiculous, sure; christian hipsters moreso, as this “christian + any subculture” deal tends to be.
whatever. one’d rather be above this incredibly silly “hipster vs. mainstream” dichotomy, i guess. but if i had to choose, why, i can’t say the mainstream is terribly appealing either.
i’d surely rather listen to sufjan than the latest hot ccm band. sorry if that makes me a little obnoxious.
thomas // March 5, 2009 at 2:30 am |
i’m typing from the far, chilly southern reaches of brazil, btw. not many christian hipsters proper down here. there’s churches with surf boards atop the pulpit and gimmicks like that, but it’s no megachurch jesusland i guess.
having been raised by evangelicals, though — which isn’t tragic, but can have a few small unfortunate implications –, i’ll always be a little sympathetic to disgruntled youth group hipster kids (a little).
thomas // March 5, 2009 at 2:56 am |
(i’m on a commenting spree, sorry, but: i was glancing at the sidebar and noticed the blogger himself seems to be something of a hipster. which probably means the post isn’t meant to be as derisive as i thought. oh well.)
Are you a Christian hipster? « BaptistPlanet // March 5, 2009 at 3:24 am |
[...] you a Christian hipster? Brett McCracken says Christian hipsters don’ like: . . . megachurches, altar calls, and door-to-door evangelism. They don’t really like John [...]
Erin // March 5, 2009 at 3:46 am |
I feel like the term “Christian hipster” just kills itself. Before I read this blog I figured I’d fit the description – but little of that was accurate for me. I’m just a regular old artsy type college kid, trying to fit in and not fit in at the same time, and also trying to figure out where my faith fits into that. So basically, if you write a book on the topic (which I definitely think could be really cool), I would be sure to address the difference in the stereotypical “Christian hipster” that you just described – who, by the way, does not sound like someone I would ever want to hang out with – versus a possible hipster who happens to be a Christian.
p.s. You should also definitely read Donald Miller’s book Blue Like Jazz…it’s amazing, you’d probably love it AND I think it would fit your hipster profile haha
Mark // March 5, 2009 at 3:52 am |
It is decidedly uncool to have to write a blog post describing how cool you are. I am unconvinced.
Mike // March 5, 2009 at 3:58 am |
Your description of the christian hipster sounds awful superficial. But that might more reflect you own superficial understanding of other people and their beliefs.
Sad.
Kyle // March 5, 2009 at 4:26 am |
I was reading through the comments and got about halfway through and found the approximate time (March 3 @ around 5:00 p.m.) when this post was linked to by a decidedly non-hipster-friendly blog…
Paul Mantz // March 5, 2009 at 4:43 am |
I’d volunteer that the concept that you’re all grasping at is that “hipsters” (an ill-defined term by any means) are more concerned with substance than self- or group- identification, which makes the idea of marrying that with a positive identification completely moot. You will never find someone who fits the hipster stereotype who will call himself one.
Would Jesus wear skinny jeans? // March 5, 2009 at 5:59 am |
[...] “emergent” means but you can’t explain it to anyone over the age of 35, you might be a Christian hipster: They don’t like evangelical leaders who get too involved in politics, such as James Dobson or [...]
Christian hipster : Prof. Pam’s Religion Blog // March 5, 2009 at 7:35 am |
[...] description is new to me. It’s certainly provocative. The list of who shaped McCracken’s faith (I [...]
eunhyekim // March 5, 2009 at 8:04 am |
I defnitely agree with some of the points. I agree up to the 5th paragraphs. I don’t even know what’s up with acting Catholic, but for the most of it, this made me laugh. quite cool you are. the two paragraphs at the end… made me doubt your definition. but.. oh well.?
Martha // March 5, 2009 at 8:14 am |
Hmm…I don’t think I am. I’m just me. But I’m glad I was curious enough to read this and look at some other stuff. I like your blog, the quotes & sources, movies mentioned, general approach.
Ach! « Those Who Shot Andy Warhol // March 5, 2009 at 8:33 am |
[...] My head hurts, and reading the “Christian Hipster” blog post just made it hurt even [...]
westcoastutc // March 5, 2009 at 8:37 am |
Absolutely not!!! Now I know you may not approve this comment, but here it is anyways.
WHAT IN THE WORLD??? No, literally!?! What in the world? I read the whole blog but you lost me at “…don’t like door-to-door evangelism…alter calls…”
Really? Does it matter what you like or dislike? Do these “hipster’s” care more about the new secularistic church than the “church” that Christ is trying to unite through men who these hipster’s don’t like?
Honestly, this is just flat out craziness! This is how you know it is crazy when “christians” (who at least profess to be), don’t want to be called “christians” but “christ followers.” “Yes…I would not like to be called an ‘American’ but ‘A Person who lives in America’ please!” WHAAAATTT?
If you are even reading this blog on the internet you could be a “hipster.” You shouldn’t be reading this. You are tooo hip. Really? Seriously? C’mon! I think “hipster’s” should get hip to the Word of God before getting “hip to their respective artists” and what not.
Steve // March 5, 2009 at 12:25 pm |
You might also add Christian Hipsters are seemingly innately full of themselves, I mean I took from this article hey, look at us we like Jesus but we’re not those crazy bible thumping nuts and at the same time we are deep and fascinating people because we read poetry and watch certain films and read these books but not these. Anyone who has to profess that they are hip automatically nullifies themselves from being so.
I define myself as agnostic with Daoist leanings though I find aspects from various religions which I like and have woven into my own spiritual belief system, like Shintoism’s ikadakimasu. I take a Jeffersonian view of Christianity, that churches have basically screwed up the greatest moral message ever delivered to man by trying to wrap the deliverer in the divine and feel you should aspire to be as moral as Jesus but at the same time keep your relationship with God personal and private.
I take this passage from Micah to heart:
“And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8
In the end, God really doesn’t care what books you read.
Silas Morgan // March 5, 2009 at 1:08 pm |
You are talking more about an generationally confined ex-evangelical cultural movement that you are a hipster category. Its much more of a sociological phenomena than you describe and is more of straw-person of the 18-30 somethings than a true cross section of this ‘religious’ demographic.
CFKane // March 5, 2009 at 1:16 pm |
Christian Hipster also share the characteristic lack of a logic center that allows them to devote their lives to the supernatural protagonist of a 2,000 year-old novel.
In other words, a Christian Hipster is like a Star Trek Hipster, but is further detached from reality in misunderstanding their fictional fetish as being real in someway.
sarah brown // March 5, 2009 at 1:18 pm |
This is actually true of most of my friends and i am not in the 18-30 age group category but am 52. this kind of revolves around certain tastes (or lack of it from time to time.) but its also about finding your way without compromising your ideals or your politics or your common sense.. And being able to hang out with people who are not christians ( or whatever you can say there) without seeing them as potential converts, or thinking they have nothing to speak into your life just because they aren’t ‘christian’.
however, having said all that useless stuff, i laughed really hard. we do tend to form little lemming groups, don’t we.
gerardo // March 5, 2009 at 1:20 pm |
Thanks for this post and looking forward to the book. I used your article as a base for a blogpost today.
http://praxishabitus.blogspot.com/
Would enjoy keeping in touch.
Tran Zigader // March 5, 2009 at 1:26 pm |
Hi there!
Why not just keep it really real and question Benny Hinn, who is a liar, a cheat and a crook. I love Jesus, but I have a huge problem with Benny Hinn, and that is a normal combination.
Also, you don’t have to label this category, because then it is too easy to define for people who don’t want to think. I think you should just go with the long explanation of who you are and lose the title, because it empowers people who don’t think, allowing them to say “Oh, you’re one of those”.
Alan K // March 5, 2009 at 2:01 pm |
I’m a middle-aged, balding, poor, overweight mainline pastor and you’ve described me to a T. I never knew that I was “hip”. Following Jesus Christ into the places where the world is at pain and/or broken is anything but cool or romantic. Are you sure the kingdom needs your book?
Brandon W // March 5, 2009 at 2:01 pm |
Perhaps, you should change it to anything sold at the Family Christian store.
sadeyedartist // March 5, 2009 at 3:42 pm |
To “Westcoast” and “Steve”
You are making cruel accusations. Not every “hipster” is TRYING to be “hip”. I am the epitome of uncool. This has always been true of me. I couldn’t be cool, even if I tried. Do I read real literature and like art to be “hip”? No way. I do those things because those are my genuine interests. I’ve been “hip to the word of God” my whole life… and I’ve wondered why more people who are “Bible believing Christians” don’t have genuine interests beyond raising a family and flower arrangements. If I’m hip, trust me, its accidental. I think its unfair to say that people who like things that HAPPEN to be in vogue are “trying to be cool.” (If so, my dad is the hipmeister, because he was into philosophy LOOOOOONG before it was cool. Maybe he was the trend setter.)
David Broyles // March 5, 2009 at 4:04 pm |
Not ALL Christian Hipsters like Sufjan Stevens, however. I have found the biggest gap between me and others that fit into this category to be musical. Almost none of the people you describe listen to the same stuff I do. That could be due to a number of different factors, though.
I only intersect with this description in certain ways…I think many of these people are just looking for things to latch on to that are more real (which is something megachurches and flag-waving James Dobsons are NOT).
Teddy // March 5, 2009 at 4:05 pm |
I’ll have to second Credo’s comments above. Then, I’ll have to point out that Falwell and Dobson are vastly different, and that vile quote was made by the former and should have been much more distanced from the latter in the article.
The Story So Far… » Blog Archive » About Right // March 5, 2009 at 4:06 pm |
[...] wandered over to This Post, Are You a Christian Hipster? And scanning his blog page, and down the right hand column where he lists the artists and [...]
Taylor Marshall // March 5, 2009 at 4:40 pm |
So if I’m Catholic who likes Sufjan, am I de facto a Christian hipster?
max // March 5, 2009 at 5:37 pm |
It seems like people are trying to be ‘cool’ or ‘ironic’ or what-have-you because there is a sense of shame at holding traditional Christian beliefs. Either that, or it is the same superficial Evangelical/nondenominational repackaged in its newest marketing gimic.
C // March 5, 2009 at 6:15 pm |
I’m trying but can’t see how this book is going to be helpful or challenging in the way you propose. And I don’t say that with any angst or sarcasm. Just as a genuine statement of questioning.
It doesn’t do any good to paint with so broad a stroke and reduce people down to their external loyalties and activities. Why a person may prefer one thing is hardly obvious by comparing it to, or grouping it with, everything else that person likes. Nor is it helpful to draw conclusions of this sort based on the shared likes and interests of other individuals.
There’s nothing especially hipster about most of the things you list. Liturgy, drinking from the common cup, the burning of incense, icons, etc., are the heritage shared by all Christians (though not embraced by all today, obviously). These threads run through the history of the Church and only in the low-evangelicalism and modern Protestant innovations have these things given way to simpler, unadorned forms. And, not that it fits with these items, as you’ve placed it, the poetry readings thing is really just a stereotype, a caricature. Any that I’ve been to weren’t filled with what some would call hipsters.
It’s awfully assuming of you, Brett, to think that any of the list items in this excerpt are pursued by so-called hipsters–or anyone, for that matter–simply because they believe such things will make them cool, or because those things are cool in themselves. How could you possibly know why a person might distance himself or herself from any of the don’t-likes you mention? I ask the same about the do-likes. Unless you’re allowing for this categorization to include the 50+ crowd (and I don’t think you are), the name “Christian hipster” doesn’t mean a whole lot. I’m sure there’s a good number of both men and women well beyond their 20s or 30s that you’ve described perfectly who are in no way “hip” in the way you imply (as some of the comments here suggest). Doesn’t that indicate a flawed premise?
The number of possible reasons for the “Christian hipster’s” preferences, I’m sure, are as numerous as the people you’d like to sweep into this category. Why one person may like Eastern Orthodox churches could be very different from another who also likes smoking cloves, listening to Sufjan, or reading Thomas a Kempis. That’s obvious enough, isn’t it? A person may be “acting Catholic” and admire the Pope, and may only remain “thoroughly Protestant” at present because he hasn’t yet decided whether or not he will convert for family reasons, or because he is, as yet, still unsure about a few points of Roman Catholic doctrine. You never know.
Mainly, what you have decided is Christian hipsterism, so it seems, appears to be a group of people looking for substance, lack of gimmickry or paltry imitations/adaptations of what’s going on “out there” in the secular world; perhaps they’re people looking to transcend a too-small view of God that acts as if His kingdom could only come through clever marketing and politics and faith-based entertainment.
The issues behind all of the choices you’ve collected are more complex than it seems a book of this kind can do justice to. The trouble is that you’re making observations about all different kinds of “whats”–music, film, Church preference, and whatever else you come up with–and you’ve decided that the main “why” is that these things bring coolness or already embody it.
I can see that you’re trying to put some heart in this and make a difference. But, again, I have to ask, how is this going to help anyone? I just can’t see it. Lastly, I have to ask how you know that Christian hipsters are only “a little more sincere” than their secular counterparts? Who are you to say?
jmj // March 5, 2009 at 7:01 pm |
This just got picked up by Paste magazine’s daily email. (Via conversantlife.com)
Jill // March 5, 2009 at 7:04 pm |
C,
Brilliant observation. I read the post, wondering why a label like “hipster Christian” even existed. And then I wondered why it mattered.
It’s my first time at this site, so I’m curious to see more about this “cool Christianity.” So far, I agree with C in that this mostly seems to be a labeling exercise, not something that talks about the whys and how it could possibly be shaping the religion.
hipster1 // March 5, 2009 at 7:16 pm |
are you being a Christian douche? If you were attempting to be funny, you failed. If you were attempting to be ironic, you may want to look up the word.
So, get me straight, if you like things outside the mainstream CCM Christian ghetto you are a hipster. You are following trend to trend while the rest of the world and its Christian subculture is not?
Find a better word. The brush you paint with is so broad that it loses its effect. It would be a good observation if you did not just grab assorted stuff that many people like because it is of higher quality than the drivel spoon fed by the church machine.
Sad from a good blog. I won’t be getting that book.
E.D. Kain // March 5, 2009 at 7:19 pm |
It strikes me that hipster is the wrong term entirely, and so is Dreher’s spin “radical” which quite unintentionally implies fundamentalist (at least to my mind.)
Perhaps “Christians of the Earth and Ages” though that is long-winded. Of the Earth, because rather than isolating ourselves in the superfluousness of Christian music and culture, we recognize that Christianity was always meant to be a part of the wider world. Isolation from the secular world is not so much defeat, or defense, but certainly denial of a vast swath of existence.
Of the Ages, because we recognize the long history and tradition of the faith. This may be why these “hipsters” are drawn to Catholic worship or the Pope, or candles and icons. “The New Monastics” as they’ve been termed. This is also why many of these hipsters are, in fact, Catholic…
MWorrell // March 5, 2009 at 7:50 pm |
That post was surely one of the most accidentally hilarious things I have ever read in my life. As if no one who goes to a megachurch or liked “Fireproof” reads Chuck Klosterman.
What a nervous tightrope walk each day must be for someone so self-conscious.
Are You a Christian Hipster? « Blackadder’s Lair // March 5, 2009 at 8:49 pm |
[...] More. Based on this list, it sounds like another word for Christian Hipster would be “Catholic.” Or at least “Catholic who didn’t like The Passion.” [...]
Christian Hipsters: A Tool For Self-Diagnosis « The American Catholic // March 5, 2009 at 11:20 pm |
[...] rest of the post is here. I have a number of thoughts about the Christian hipster label and its content as described above, [...]
Eustacio // March 6, 2009 at 3:08 am |
Nothing like (poorly and inaccurately) ripping off “Stuff White People Like.”
Boo.
» Blog Archive » Hipsters Would Never Try So Hard // March 6, 2009 at 5:47 am |
[...] onward. On February 27, 2009, Brett posted an article on his blog called, “Are you a Christian Hipster?” It is a witty blog post about things ‘Christian Hipsters’ like and do not [...]
Hipsters?! « City of God // March 6, 2009 at 2:58 pm |
[...] Hipsters?! 2009 March 6 tags: hipsters by Dan I have a suspicion that a few readers/writers on this blog might cringe when reading this post. [...]
Dress Down Friday | She Walks! » gathering in light - “Do not go gentle into that good night.” // March 6, 2009 at 3:23 pm |
[...] you a Christian Hipster? (HT: [...]
Jessica Fuller // March 6, 2009 at 3:38 pm |
I’m afraid I like Mega-Churches and James Dobson.
But I did get my nosed pierced and I can’t stand the term “non-denominational”…
Oh what am I??? hehe probably not quite a “hipster”
Jesse Phillips // March 6, 2009 at 3:40 pm |
great article. I don’t fit all of these – unfortunately I think the reactionary parts of this is TOTAL NONSENSE like being into catholicism and unbiblical crap like that.
Anyway, I really just stopped by to say that I sent you 428 clicks to this blog via my owly link on Twitter! You’re welcome.
Joanthan // March 6, 2009 at 5:23 pm |
http://thepillcomic.com/tattoo.html
Mel Ancholy // March 6, 2009 at 6:11 pm |
I’m not a weirdo after all. I agree with most of what you said. Not a big fan of poetry readings… I would rather read books by Brennan Manning or listen to Rich Mullins.
Sigs // March 6, 2009 at 6:26 pm |
Awesome list! I’m definitely a Christian hipster (and of course now don’t want to be). Another sign: Lover of independent music. I think most hipsters can’t deal with popular radio or CCM.
Thanks for the fun idea!
Andy // March 6, 2009 at 6:44 pm |
Christian Hipsters do not like Tolstoy, Joel Mayward. I think I speak for the entire Christian Hipster community when I say that Tolstoy was a hack. The first sentence of Anna Karenina is a lie. And you know he is one of the only famous writers in history to hate Shakespeare? He wrote pamphlets about it. What a creep!
Anyway, it’s Dostoevsky all the way. He should have been on the list next to Kierkegaard.
Also Christian Hipsters have really strong opinions.
I am a Christian hipster » JakeBouma.com // March 6, 2009 at 8:01 pm |
[...] see all posts filed in the Digressions category, click here. According to Brett McCracken, I am a Christian hipster. “They love poetry readings, worshipping with candles, and smoking pipes while talking about [...]
Alex // March 6, 2009 at 8:14 pm |
Word. I love Braveheart though.. and i dont smoke or care for the pope but i do work in a church, hate mega churches (unless they are done well)… i do play for a band and like music, movies, and books that are well-respected by their respective artistic communities… like Lil Wayne.
Random Nerdy Music Thought « Quite Contrary // March 6, 2009 at 8:32 pm |
[...] and your Moment of Zen today: Are You a Christian Hipster? bahaha… [...]
dave may // March 6, 2009 at 8:40 pm |
This blog is disgraceful.
I comment only because my conscience compels me to say that “Christian hipsterism” is just the pendulum swung to the other side, friends. Jesus is the center. Why not talk about him? He has done way more awesome things than (insert newly rediscovered mystic) or (insert French existentialist writer) or (“countercultural” new church planter with a new church and 7 books about how great it is).
When it comes right down to it, Christian hipsters are douchebags just like non-Christian ones are. J
Jesus matters, and this dishonestly self-indulgent blog doesn’t.
dave may // March 6, 2009 at 8:46 pm |
Ok, maybe “douchebag” is a bit innapropriate. Insert whichever synonym you like.
Chris Smith // March 6, 2009 at 8:53 pm |
Hilarious… thanks!!!
I riffed off this post in my new review of the new Flannery O’Connor bio by Brad Gooch…
——
A recent viral internet post has declared Flannery O’Connor among its list of “Stuff Christian Hipsters Like.” While I can understand why such Christian Hipsters would be attracted to her dark, grotesque stories of sin and redemption, I am more convinced than ever – after reading Flannery, Brad Gooch’s authoritative new biography – that there is little in Flannery herself that such trendy folks would find “hip.” A sheltered, southern woman from an aristocratic family, with “medieval” sensibilities and a cultural racism (334) befitting her situation in mid-twentieth century Georgia, she hardly fits the bill. Gooch, however, spins an engaging narrative that is sure to draw in all its readers – hipsters or not.
… http://www.englewoodreview.org/?p=246
Prestin // March 6, 2009 at 8:58 pm |
why write a book about this though?
hip master // March 6, 2009 at 10:44 pm |
I hope in your book you will devote at least one chapter to the Christian hipster’s arch-nemesis, the Christian bro. Several distinguishing characteristics:
1. Lists “The Bible” as the first, if not only, book on his/her facebook profile.
2. Only reads other books if they’re written by John Piper.
3. Quite possibly authors a blog, which frequently features quotes from John Piper’s books and sermons, and posts links to all of Mark Driscoll’s youtube videos.
4. Thinks he/she understands irony, but really doesn’t.
5. (Frequently, as a result of #4) Posts polemical comments on hipster Christians’ blogs that may include colorful language (which both hipsters and bros think is cool–a rare point of agreement), but only if said colorful language is written in utmost sincerity. I.e. bros only say “damn it” if confronted by a particularly damnable heresy on a hipster’s blog, and only call a hipster a “douchebag” if the bro believes–quite sincerely–that the hipster is ontologically equivalent to a bag of shit.
6. Secretly wishes the hipster would post equally polemical comments on his/her blog in order to dialogue further, and is always disappointed, since the hipster is simply too busy being hip to bother with such “petty” theological disagreements.
Daniel K // March 6, 2009 at 10:44 pm |
The list was fun to read, but left a weird taste in my mouth. The comments made me realize why.
I am a little disturbed by many of the people here expressing their half-masked delight at fitting into the category of hipsterdom, “speaking on behalf” of the hipster community, and ____. Brett, you probably summed it up by calling it “cool Christianity” in the intro. It appears as though we youngish folk are more eager to please others and look/sound/dress cool than to follow God. I don’t want to aspire to be in the “cool Christian” club.
I want to read Lamott, Nouwen, and Lewis because I believe they help me to understand God and our existence better. I want to be disappointed at Falwell and Robertson because I believe they are hurting the church. I want to read liturgy, practice lectio divina, and explore spiritual disciplines because I believe they are profound and spiritually enriching. I want to pierce my ears because the Bible says… just kidding.. I just want to pierce my ears to express myself.
But I don’t want to do these things to find my identity in the Christian hipster label. Please count me out.
John Wright // March 6, 2009 at 11:24 pm |
If you are a Christian hipster, you might like our website, http://churchsignrevival.com. Sorry for the blatant promotion. Oh and one other thing: why are Christian hipsters necessarily more sincere than secular hipsters like myself. I am not sincere, ha, but a lot of my atheist hipster friends are and I think it just depends on the individual. Ok, now I sound all pissy.
John Wright // March 6, 2009 at 11:26 pm |
Whoops wrong url there: churchsignrevival.tumblr.com.
www.new-right.org » News Briefs // March 7, 2009 at 3:30 am |
[...] Are You a Christian Hipster? [...]
saskia // March 7, 2009 at 11:33 am |
We really need another label? so someone is in and someone is out. please. we need to do away with divisions not emphasize them.
The Dyce // March 7, 2009 at 1:28 pm |
Ooh, I like this! Although a lot of the things you cite, I think, are from the USA, I do recognise some of them and generally understand the concept. Getting really excited at the thought that I might be somewhere approaching being a Christian Hipster ;-) I shall have a go at reading the other stuff you’ve blogged and…..here comes the blatant advert, please come and visit my blog about How to be Rubbish (mainly at being a Rubbish Christian). Thnks for a great read. The Dyce.
Kieran // March 7, 2009 at 3:14 pm |
Oh My Lord.. I can’t believe it – but other than the whole Roman Catholic/Orthodox thing – and Thomas Merton – I guess I am a Christian Hipster! Scary and sort of wonderful at the same time.. since it’s good to know that in addition to the fact that “I am not alone” with regards to being a bad mixture of TCK and CCK…I have a lot of “brethren” out there… Is it inappropriate for me to use “brethren” when I mean to include the “sisters” too? I have three “mother-tongues” – so that’s my excuse.
E.G. // March 7, 2009 at 4:03 pm |
I do dislike most of the “dislikes”. But I don’t identify with many of the “likes”.
Does this make me half hip?
The Dyce // March 7, 2009 at 8:03 pm |
Just realised I spelt ‘thanks’ ‘thnks’ – appalling on my part! ;-)
Nino // March 7, 2009 at 8:18 pm |
they like Sermon on Mount, electronic music and to read Dietrich Bonhoeffer…..
Billy Pierce // March 8, 2009 at 12:07 am |
You had me, right up until the point where you said they, “love thinking and acting Catholic, even if they are thoroughly Protestant. They love the Pope, liturgy, incense, lectio divina, Lent…”
Nope. I have a thorough dislike for just about all thinkgs Catholic. Sorry folks. Just too much wasted pomp and circumstance, too much Dogma, not enough Bible. Too much tradition, not enough Biblical evidence.
And it just went downhill from there. You made it out to sound more like a “Christian Socialist” than a Christian Hipster…
Joel Mayward // March 8, 2009 at 4:25 am |
@Andy, perhaps I should have simply wrote “Russian authors with Christian undertones in their writing.” And I disagree with your Tolstoy assessment, but I too like Dostoevsky and your comment made me smile, so well said.
Also, to all the folks who are writing long diatribes about the uselessness of Brett’s book or even this conversation: Christian hipsters don’t take themselves too seriously.
Slipping Away « Why I’ll Never Be Famous // March 8, 2009 at 7:02 am |
[...] of hipsters. A lot of the people I spent time with in college were budding hipsters, and the term “Christian hipster” definitely describes an even more frightening majority of them. While Stuff White People Like has [...]
Slipping Away | Tvn24h // March 8, 2009 at 7:57 am |
[...] of hipsters. A lot of the people I spent time with in college were budding hipsters, and the term “Christian hipster” definitely describes an even more frightening majority of them. While Stuff White People Like has [...]
Kyle // March 8, 2009 at 8:55 am |
I think I’m half hipster. It’s fun how hipsters are into breaking taboo’s, but all the hipsters I know including myself are too into themselves breaking taboo’s. We think we are so cool
Fernando’s Desk » From Around The Blogosphere This Week // March 8, 2009 at 9:17 am |
[...] Are You A Christian Hipster? (HT to Wess, via twitter) – It’s a partial list for sure, but still fun to read through. I guess my question is about substance versus appearance. Some of these hipster trends are not just about fashion, but substance. By contrast the phenomenon of “cool Christians” certainly pre-dates the emergent/missional movement. I certainly saw a lot of it in 80s evangelicalism and youth groups. [...]
San Fran or Bust « [a creative writer's] life, uncensored // March 8, 2009 at 8:05 pm |
[...] This guy pegs the definition of Christian hipster. He’s from L.A., so he knows Christian hispter. Topics [...]
Jeremy // March 8, 2009 at 11:29 pm |
Christian hipsters write books about christian hipsters :)
dave may // March 9, 2009 at 12:40 pm |
From “Why the Hipster Must Die” from Time Out! New York, May 2007 (Christian Lorentzen)
“Under the guise of “irony,” hipsterism fetishizes the authentic and regurgitates it with a winking inauthenticity. Those 18-to-34-year-olds called hipsters have defanged, skinned and consumed the fringe movements of the postwar era—Beat, hippie, punk, even grunge. Hungry for more, and sick with the anxiety of influence, they feed as well from the trough of the uncool…
Of course, hipsterism being originally, and still mostly, the province of whites (the pastiest of whites), its acolytes raid the cultural stores of every unmelted ethnicity in the pot… these aesthetics are assimilated—cannibalized—into a repertoire of meaninglessness, from which the hipster can construct an identity in the manner of a collage…”
—
It’s no surprise that so-called “hipster culture” has found root in the church. In the same way that secular hipsters “cannabalize” trends to amalgamize their “defanged” aesthetic, so Christian hipsters subsume all that they perceive as “cool” about the historic church -and with similar result. Go to the local rescue mission in your city (I do) and look for a Christian hipster. At least in my city, you won’t find one. Where you will find him is at the Prince Street Cafe, sitting by a window by himself with his Macbook and his TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS t-shirt and a copy of “Rich Christians In An Age of Hunger,” blogging about how unhip everyone else in the Church is.
If hipsterism is a paradigm which salvages loose bits of marginalized subcultures to create a hodgepodge aesthetic, and if it’s primary purpose is (ironic) self-aggrandizement (evident in the excitement with which most of the respondents to this blog have embraced their label) then the question we should be asking is this: does “hipsterism” have a place in the Kingdom? At the risk of being labeled a “bro” (whatever that means) or worse, NO!
As a future church planter, I even see this trend in the tons of guys that are suddenly “called” to plant churches in the city. And of course, these aren’t going to be like any church you’ve seen before, oh no. Think post-post-modern. Think ancient. Think shoegaze. No meat at this potluck, thanks. And of course what happens is they come in, rent a cool space, talk about ending the war and about acceptance and about egalitarianism, light some candles, and in a few years they are gone. Or worse. Google the topic “emergent/emerging unitarian universalist church” to see what I mean. When you strip the exteriors and the habits and lose the core of the message, that is the remainder. And a lot of people are going to hell (uncool) as a result.
I think that kingdom minded Christians everywhere need to resist becoming empty, fad-chasing narcissists and focus on the gospel, on loving our neighbors as ourselves, and on practicing a simple obedient faith.
It’s not to say that Christians shouldn’t read Nouwen or drink microbrews or download the new Mates of State album or buy local produce at market. Those are fine things. I do all of those things! But my identity is not found in them, and those activities do not intrinsically make me wiser or more mature or more “cultured” than Christians who read Max Lucado and bake cookies for church newcomers. However uncouth I might find a jowly southern TV preacher in a bad suit, I cannot discount his worth to God or the value of his steadfast obedience -however misguided or “culturally irrelevant” I might find his method. I became a believer through the ministry of a man that would be rejected outright by hipster culture. He loved me like a son and placed his priority on being Christ to me and not on trying to act cool, and had it been any other way I probably wouldn’t have given him the time of day from my Urban Outfitters watch.
Wisdom comes from knowing who we are, and knowing who God is, and responding correctly with worship. Wisdom does not come from smoking American Spirits or artfully dangling a bandana out of your back pocket. Wisdom comes from thoughtfully examining our past and learning from the ones who came before us. Widom does not come from namedropping or from creating a caste system of christian culture and placing ourselves at the top.
Am I a Chrstian who listens to indie music and owns a pipe and reads Dostoyevsky and sometimes doesn’t watch his mouth and reads books about social justice etc. etc.? Yes. Does that mean I am part of some fake subculture waiting to appropriate the next faddish style into my cool collage of a life? No.
Resist the label, but more than that resist the temptation to whore yourself out to every trend that comes down the Pitchfork pipeline. Take everything but Christ in moderation, and don’t let anyone tell you you have to do anything but worship him to be an acceptable Christian.
dave may // March 9, 2009 at 12:43 pm |
Note: to all those who are complaining about long responses, polemics, etc., why don’t you pull the bandana out of your right back pocket and dry your eyes? When you put your words into the wide world and make statements that qualify people based on their outward appearance or habits and when you begin attachingthings to/removing things from “acceptable” Christian practice -which is actually precious to some people beyond its novelty- you are going to get a passionate response. You can’t expect to have freedom to voice your thoughts and then deny it to others. That is very unhip. Free Tibet!
Anthony B. // March 9, 2009 at 2:46 pm |
Brett, hipsters only shop at Trader Joe’s if there’s one nearby and eat “organic” food even though they can’t verify that the food is organic and don’t forget the lofty participation in food co-ops.
Laura @ Texas in Africa // March 9, 2009 at 4:30 pm |
Please add felt boards and evangecubes to your list of “weird and awkward evangelism messages.”
Laura @ Texas in Africa // March 9, 2009 at 4:31 pm |
Ooops, meant “methods.”
Bobber // March 9, 2009 at 5:44 pm |
You forgot a few things that set them apart from “regular hipsters” and, by and large, make Christian Hipsters quite congruent with the Jerry Falwell types. Christian hipsters, at least the ones I know, have massive problems with the gay population (although abortion is still top dog). Many do not believe in global warming. Many voted for Bush multiple times and for McCain–and did so because of social issues. In short, they are largely frauds–pretending to be enlightened on one hand, while not deviating from the behavior patterns of their parents that is consistently turning more and more people away from Christianity.
Oh, and about the job thing–why do these types always say they work for a non-profit when they really work for a church or religious organization? Put the word out there, they rest of us aren’t buying that at all.
Mae // March 9, 2009 at 6:41 pm |
I’d say Christian Hipsters are also totally down with the gays. the transfolk too. and are kind of into breaking the gender binary. I’d say Christian Hipsters are all about going back to the basic roots of Christianity of love and inclusiveness. and living simply. but we could be talking regionally?
Kieran // March 9, 2009 at 6:53 pm |
Thanks Dave May/Christian Lorentzen.. for things well said and thought out. Going back to the basic roots – yes… but can those be defined… IF we try to do what some churches think they are doing to get back to basics.. we’d have to get back to living as if we were in the first century. God is infinite and yet chooses to meet us in our finite and linear time frame. Can I hear God through the music on an ipod? I definitely think so. Is this blog causing me to think and to resonate with brothers and sisters from all over …. That is a resounding “YES” coming from me!So – what does back to the basic roots mean?I’d like to know… To do justly and to walk humbly with God? To love my neighbour as myself? To love God with all my heart, mind, body and soul? Possibly…. ? To reach out to all around me in love and inclusiveness? Yes… I think Jesus sets the example.
Kit // March 9, 2009 at 9:11 pm |
This is silly! You’re not talking about hipsters, you’re talking about …
EPISCOPALIANS.
Yup, every single trait can be found in your garden-variety Episcopal church.
Kieran // March 10, 2009 at 3:23 am |
Is there a garden variety “hybrid”? Episcopal-Hipster? Yale is supposed to be Episcopal.I’ve applied there… Maybe that’s next for me…a “transplant”… but I am multi-cultural, “foreign”, etc. Won’t the cold, hard soil, and wasp weather KILL ME?
whiskyprajer // March 10, 2009 at 2:14 pm |
Shouldn’t Barth be on the Xn Hipster’s reading list?
Also, speaking as a spineless Canadian Christian Hipster (with a just a soupçon of Anabaptist Street Cred): I wonder how this post might read if you substituted “Things they are profoundly embarrassed by” for “Things they don’t like”?
Are You A Christian Hipster? « BRANDONGRISSOM.net // March 10, 2009 at 5:19 pm |
[...] March 10, 2009 If you were wondering if you’re a “Christian Hipster” – here’s the test – [...]
random person // March 11, 2009 at 12:07 am |
might want to just delete this chapter 5 from your book, bro. it’s completely inaccurate, ridiculous, and…from what hole did you pull your nonsensical information? maybe you should switch to writing repetitive praise choruses. there’s a real lack of those things floating around.
ps – instead of bashing n.t. wright…try reading a few of his books or listen to his lectures. enlightenment is hip!
a fairly crowded god market. — fairly ordinary // March 11, 2009 at 2:09 pm |
[...] it wasn’t just that I gained a license to wear pants and listen to U2 and be a Christian hipster like some assumed I was hungering for. No, really, that isn’t it at all. Although, I might be [...]
My Worst Nightmare is Confirmed… at Between the Trees // March 11, 2009 at 6:14 pm |
[...] just read an article discussing what “Christian Hipsters” are. It was creepy – like someone describing symptoms of cancer and you realizing you’re [...]
Are you a Christian hipster? « red words // March 12, 2009 at 4:06 pm |
[...] Read here. Published in: [...]
Mo.C // March 13, 2009 at 5:14 pm |
This is, on the whole, a little more vague and subjective than anything else I’ve read in at least a good long while.
Also, it is quite possibly one of the more offensively narrow things posted to the internet recently.
I tend to not bother leaving comments on blogs, but I couldn’t resist the urge to leave a kind-of ironically wishy-washy comment.
I’m sure I don’t really have a big problem with you personally.
I’m probably just generally a little annoyed that anyone bothered to write a blog post listing their likes and dislikes, and attaching both “christian” and “hipster” to the title- in an effort to frame a social category around yourself.
Possibly your book should try to encourage people not to “hate” anything, or not to “act like” things they aren’t.
Also, promoting smoking and drinking isn’t exactly uplifting, but do your own thing I suppose.
Kasey "Rahab" // March 14, 2009 at 4:40 pm |
Good Grief……This is completely insane..curious as to why there always has to be a cliche of defining a name or type for a christians affirmation of how they are to be seen in the publics eye…usually with they themselves not having a pure defining moment or accumilating effort of their beings themselves….oh fun!!! Insane……completely. So funny what a gentlemen up top writes….Gee-wizzzz brothers….shall I seek help or check in??? lol…….lol…….lol…..”Rahab”
…I say clear they way for the leaders to approach the bench or curiousity in defining the “Who are You
Really in God’s eyes”?????? yipes….each one marching off into a balivion of mass confussion and embarrassments—huge! Oh fun…….
Are You a Christian Hipster? // March 17, 2009 at 4:44 am |
[...] Are you a Christian hipster? Incidently, I think the term “Christian Hipster” is a synonym for “Emergent Christian,” or “Anabaptist.” I am, and proud of it! [...]
Jesuskittylover // March 20, 2009 at 5:54 pm |
Having read your description of what a christian hipster is and the blogs following I have this to say – your book would be for christian hipsters and no-one else because to God what does it matter? Anything written, recorded, filmed etc is useful if it brings a soul to the knowledge that God is truth, God is their saviour. You say this person or that person is hip or unhip but I see little mention of Jesus. What is the difference between a Christian and a Jesus follower? NONE!!!The bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I would rather be wise than hip. I am not aginst hip culture in itself but I would question those who identify with being Christian hipsters as to where their priorities lie. Is it more important to be hip than to be a follower of Christ. The second commandment Jesus gave – which covers the best part of the original ten was “Love your neighbour as yourself”. Does this exclude the people you profess to dislike?
God sees the heart and it is the heart within that is important not the outward show. God wants true worshippers, however that may manifest itself, be it mainstream or alternative or WHATEVER!!!
As a light-hearted piece this is quite entertaining but I agree with some others about the danger of dividing instead of uniting Christians. Jesus is the head of the Church and it doesn’t matter where you come from so long as He is the centre.
Matthew Anderson // March 20, 2009 at 11:10 pm |
Brett,
I don’t mean any disprespect by this, but rather some critical feedback. You and your readers (current & future) deserve better.
There is no need for yet another tawdry label. My blood’s temperature starts to rise when I read this; I find it more aggravating than humorous and more divisive than informative. There are a couple notable remarks in the comments, but sadly there’s more substance there than in chapter 5.
Yours isn’t a very thorough or equitable sociological study. There are (at least) two sides to the term “hipster” that deserve attention. (I hope in your book you dig into these and more, and don’t settle for a piddly laundry list of surface-level observations.)
The first side to hipsterdom is a youthful, trend-conscious sector of evangelical culture. Probably raised in the church and seeking (as most youth do) a lifestyle to delineate themselves from the preceding generations. This is a natural part of being young. While possibly shallow, it’s the innocent process of connecting with one’s own emotional state and a journey toward finding a voice which articulates it. Everyone deserves to travel the road toward self awareness, sometimes floundering, in an attempt to understand how faith intersects with individuality.
The second seems to simply have a grip on what it is to be human. They gravitate back to the old, the historical–toward tradition. They’re attracted to the timeless and foundational community that is humanity–the spirit of our forefathers. Liturgy and literature, pipes and whiskey; these are all outward signs of an inner movement. That movement is toward a deeper enjoyment of and participation in life (smoking, drinking, fashion, social justice). It is the urge to learn from what came before us (literature, art, philosophy), an intrigue that drives us toward the mystical and to know the God that is greater than us.
A couple people mentioned in the comments that low church is a fairly recent phenomenon. My personal bias is that low church doesn’t offer the substantive spirituality or religion that its proponents think it does. What this list tells me, if nothing else, is that there are people who are beginning to listen to their spirits and not simply to the popular majority. There is good reasons to pay attention to this small crowd and the direction in which they’re headed.
What should matter is not a banner, title or catchphrase but rather what good people are doing for the world, how people are becoming more Christ-like. Let people be people. And let Christians be human. The emphasis in your study shouldn’t be on superfluous terminology but on the promotion of Christians living lives worthy of Christ. The banner over us isn’t “Hipster”; the banner over us Love.
Maybe the book as a whole will be more informative and insightful that chap. 5? I sure as hell hope so.
Nate // March 21, 2009 at 9:57 am |
You are absolutely stupid.
procrastination, in review « Throwing Cake Around // March 24, 2009 at 5:08 pm |
[...] “Are You A Christian Hipster:” I mean this one about made my day (although I will admit it’s been on the “to [...]
ryan // March 25, 2009 at 2:36 am |
i think another name i have heard for these people (with whom i include myself, from your description) is “post-evangelical.” this is definitely a less fun name and more dry (which is to say academic), but i think it might do a better job of conveying the broader trend.
Jeremy // March 30, 2009 at 8:14 pm |
Haha, John Elderidge’s book is ridiculous, Sufjan Stevens is awesome, and its not my fault that Catholics do some things a lot better than Protestants, and I would advise everyone to have a higher respect for Communion, I guess St. Augustine would be a hipster… oh darn…
voice of truth // March 31, 2009 at 8:25 am |
Nice blog.. I never thought there are “christian hipsters” hehehe..
Kyle Robinson // April 6, 2009 at 8:12 pm |
You know, it’s hard for me to say whether I’m a Christian Hipster or not. I wear skinny jeans, artsy shirts, and listen to indie rock, sure. But I don’t drink Pabst Blue Ribbon (or any beer, for that matter), drive a one-gear bicycle, or care about various left-wing social issues. Politically, I describe myself as Libertarian, which I suppose is vaguely hipsterish. Go Ron Paul!
Theologically, I’m pretty much a straight-up evangelical. I find the whole Emergent Church thing snotty, arrogant, counterintuitive, and largely based on people trying to look cool and be different from “Mom and Dad’s Christianity” just for the sake of it. I really love apologetics and take much of my theological influence from guys like William Lane Craig, J.P. Moreland, Ben Witherington, and other similar figures. I often find the modern church anti-intellectual, especially when it comes to the Emergent movement, which seems to be more about exploring your feelings than searching for objective truth. In theological matters I’m quite old-school. Not what you’d expect from a 21-year old, perhaps.
Most of the people I know who are Christian Hipsters just dress (skinny jeans, v-neck shirts, long bangs, etc.) like it, and they’re generally the guys who play in the praise and worship band at various churches. Many Emergent types I’ve run into don’t really fit this formula, as they’re the ones who constantly blab about things like global warming and fair trade or whathaveyou.
The main problem is that “hipster” is a vague term that is used to describe such a wide range of people that it means barely anything. Hipsters are commonly stereotyped as being snotty or arrogant, but I’m not like this and most of the hipsterish people I know aren’t either. Oddly enough, I don’t really like hanging out with other hipster types – I’d rather be with the geeks, really. I doubt this would be much of an issue with me at all, were it not for the way I dress, which will naturally cause people to assume I’m a hipster. Bottom line is that you can’t assume people act a certain way based on how they’re dressed, something that I see in virtually all Internet hipster hate-rants. The same thing should apply to those within Christianity.
Honestly, I don’t care how other people dress. It’s just fun for me, and I think that’s really the point. Just wear whatever you like – I don’t think Jesus would be too pleased at people who feel like they have to be cooler than others in church. My whole identity isn’t wrapped up in my clothes from Urban Outfitters or my Arcade Fire and Sonic Youth albums, for Pete’s sake. Those things are just incidental. In fact I’m vaguely afraid to mention these sorts of things to people because I’m afraid they’ll assume I’m a hipster and make all sorts of weird judgments about me! This label’s a curse, not a blessing, and I’m sure as heck not trying to “fit in” with the alleged subculture!
Dan // April 6, 2009 at 9:08 pm |
By your definition, I guess I’m pretty much a Christian Hipster. I love Chuck Klosterman. I read God’s Politics and was a little disappointed. I’m vaguely intrigued by the ideas of hookah and environmentalism. Many Christian hipsters I’ve encountered are interested in the Peace Corps, but I’ve never really been too thrilled with it.
Someone probably already said it, but I think Donald Miller might be the quentessential Christian Hipster.
Are you a Christian Hipster? | Inhabitatio Dei // April 21, 2009 at 6:59 pm |
[...] McCracken hits a little too close to home with this list, as Andrew Sullivan wryly observes. I think some of this may be a little dated, but I found a lot [...]
Justin // April 27, 2009 at 12:34 am |
How has no one yet mentioned the correlated phenomenon of Crunchy Conservatives?
Justin // April 27, 2009 at 12:34 am |
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5256754
What is a Christian hipster? « Welcome to the Cold Equator // April 30, 2009 at 10:54 pm |
[...] a comment » Inhabitatio Dei directed me to an interesting blogpost pinpointing quite precisely the shapeshift that has only just started in American Christianity. [...]
Savannah // May 5, 2009 at 6:20 pm |
Do we really need another book to divide the body of Christ? Really? Do we really need another reason to point fingers at one another and say that they are not loving G-d the way the other person wants them to? Do we really need more people sitting on pedestals and thinking of themselves as better than other Christians? Do we really need more judging, more anger, more sadness, more separation, more cliques, more country-club-esque memberships?
If I remember correctly, Jesus loved everyone. Jesus sat with sinners and tax collectors, prostitutes and lepers. I’m pretty sure if he was here, he would still love the “christian hipsters” and the non-hipsters. As a body of christ, I think we should do less finger pointing and more loving.
I’ve never read any of your other blogs, and someone linked this blog to me. But Sir, I’ll ask you… is your book going to just cause more finger pointing, more judging, more division? If so, I really don’t believe that the Christian community needs another book like this. There is enough out there already.
stevo // May 14, 2009 at 5:27 pm |
I think i fit hipster by a lot of these traits, though i don’t think anyone would consider me a hipster… But the fact that i work at Boeing negates me from ever being a hipster no matter what my other characteristics were… Someone please shoot me now. It is impossible to be a hipster and to work in a place that makes missiles. I am having a small crisis right now. HELP!
LB // June 6, 2009 at 2:00 am |
I just found this delightful post. I fit the profile almost word for word, until the last paragraph (no tattoos or clove cigarettes for me) and I am surely the squarest person God ever made. Am I cooler than I thought, or did I need that last list of items to fully qualify?
Brett // June 26, 2009 at 9:22 am |
Who are we to judge lest we be judged… How can we call ourselves Christians unless we love ALL man no matter of their beliefs or ideals? Do unto others my fellow lovers of Christ…
stephy // July 2, 2009 at 7:50 pm |
This is super awesome. You’re right on.
Christian Hip « Cogito, Credo, Petam // July 7, 2009 at 1:07 am |
[...] Monday, 6 July 2009 · Leave a Comment Several months late: the Christian hipster list. [...]
marshall // July 16, 2009 at 12:58 am |
Yawn, another modern christian updo. Christianity has been remade how many times into man’s image of what we want it to be? Yuck. Exclusionary niceties. Christianity itself has lasted all these years because it follows the hard slog to believe when it’s tough not to. Dogma and ritual isn’t BS. It’s value are surviving the times when someone comes along and says, “I don’t like that. It isn’t hip enough.”
Pat Robertson will far outlive your Christian Hipsterism. What a farce.
Stop reselling this crap to me. It’s okay to want your music and burn cloves. Just don’t sell it as Christianity in any form. “Hipsters love Catholicism, Orthodox or protestants.” Whatever. Do they love Christ? Do they believe Christ is divine? Do they accept Christ above all others? Do they love Muslims, Hindus and Budhists? Do they accept or allow for those beliefs AS they do their very own?
Hope your book does well.
Laura L. W. // July 20, 2009 at 7:29 am |
I agree with the many that there really isn’t a need for more labels, more ‘redefinitions’ of Christianity, more reasons that “this way is the best way to worship!” But, minus the whole part on Catholic tendencies (although I do lean toward general iconic/tradition-like tendencies), I’m pretty much your standard ‘Christian Hipster’ to a tee… I suppose.
However, a simple documentation on this occurrence of hipsterism in Christianity would probably suffice. But writing a whole book on it? What is it to prove? Who would gain from it? Why a book, and not something to actually benefit this group of people more? Truthfully, from reading this small blurb I have gained insight that there are other Christians out there like me, but that doesn’t mean I’d pay or even read a whole book on what some random person’s definition of that lifestyle is.
Anyway, God bless and good luck with your ventures.
Dean Zimmerman // August 28, 2009 at 4:50 am |
To add to the list of Christian Hipster Icons:
Moe Tucker (drummer for the Velvet Underground)
The idea of Tucker playing with VU Saturday night at some Andy Warhol happening and then going to mass the next day is too cool for words…
Car // September 4, 2009 at 12:47 pm |
This reminds me of the site “what white people like” except it’s “what Christian hispsters like”. In fact, I think Christian hispsters would probably like that website. It’s funny – although I don’t agree with a lot of Catholic theology, I am enamored with the candles, wine, etc… Never realized that was part of being a hipster. This hits a little close to home…
On Hipsterdom « Of City Streets and Falling Leaves // September 9, 2009 at 6:17 am |
[...] In case you missed it, Brett McCracken’s post on identifying a Christian Hipster is here. [...]
Chris // October 5, 2009 at 3:24 pm |
The real problem for the Christian-wannabe-hipster is that most believe that God has already given a detailed outline for how life ought to go. The whole indie/alt/whatever is rooted in philosophies that reject the notion of the given ie Nietzche, Heideger, Sartre, et al and is a rejection of orthodox Christianity. So, it becomes a matter of fashion or wanting to be cool for the Christian. I used to be a Christian with just this problem. No offense, because I did it too, but the feigned reluctance to identify one’s self as a hipster is really kind of pathetic.
Kirk // October 15, 2009 at 11:17 pm |
Brett,
Know the publishing of the book is a ways away, but I’m really interested to hear your commentary on the cons and “unorthodoxies” of Christian hipster-dom. I’m afraid I myself fit the mold (and strive to fit the mold) of the hipster Christian, and it causes me a bit of concern. “He who marries the spirit of the age” and all that… I’m unsure whether or not dressing up my faith in clothes from the Gap and forcing it to drink lattes while I read it excerpts from “Miracles” and “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” is missing the point. Are we too “cool” for our own good?
Of course, like any generation, I’m sure that we hipsters have our pros as well (I could guess at some), and I’d love to hear those praised as well. And then there’s just the “fun stuff” that is not necessarily good or bad, but just “is”. Anyway…
Write well,
Kirk
Chris Kelly-Cochrane // October 22, 2009 at 7:00 am |
I’m a life long Catholic that is very liberal. I love horror movies, indie rock, and literature. I went to a very liberal school (UCLA) and had my faith tested often, but nothing could ever quite dissuade me from my savior.
I have had a really hard time dating. I love punk rock, metal, and hardcore. I always meet girls that are super into the scene but always leave when they find out I’m Christian. I REALLY want to meet a liberal girl that has faith and charity at the core of her being. Us Christian hipsters walk a tough path. So tired of being lonely!
Chuck // October 27, 2009 at 11:57 pm |
I’ve finally decided to come to terms with my hipsterdom this past year… how hipster, say you? Well, I am writing this on my Apple Computer (first read it on my iPhone), being looked upon by my wall of icons, under the glow of my IKEA lamp, wearing a cotton henley, Levi’s, a pair of TOMs Shoes, all while I toss my head aside to keep my bangs out of my eyes and I occasionally scratch at my well-grown beard… oh, and I’m listening to David Bazan, too!
With that all being said, I like what you’re doing and am looking forward to the book. However, (and this might have already been covered on your comments section… didn’t read it all) there is a point of clarification that might need to be made. It seems to me that for you Christian=Evangelical. The notions of “Christian Hipsters” liking liturgy, et. al., isn’t so much a matter of hipsterishness for Episcopalians like myself. It’s just everyday stuff (though, to be fair, I was once an Evangelical Hipster who found the “smells and bells” to be enticing at one point… only I made a switch to be in a church where that has been a long part of the tradition). And your comments on “Christian Hipsters” liking the old-school evangelists doesn’t really apply to Christians in my tradition (or Catholics, Orthodox, Lutheran). It applies to Evangelicals, to be sure. But not everyone in Christendom.
This is something that a lot of people in the Church are guilty of. RELEVANT magazine, for example, makes this same assumption. It’s important to remember that just because it is common among Evangelicals, it might not be among the rest of the Christian faith.
Nathalie // October 29, 2009 at 3:59 pm |
I think the problem with the Christian Hipster is that he/she is desperately trying to be hip (and judging other Christians’ lameness) by following trends that were popular six years ago, thus making themselves lame.
Nathalie // October 31, 2009 at 3:20 pm |
Also, the excited self-identification as ‘hipster’ automatically precludes one from hipness. And yes, the term ‘hipster’ was tired in 2004. Anyway, judging from the current lag in trend adoption, I predict that they’ll be interested in American Apparel by 2010, Arcade Fire by 2012, and taxidermy and speakeasies by 2014. You’ll see!
nate // November 4, 2009 at 10:59 pm |
christians are just now latching on to the term hipster? i knew you guys were a few years behind but this is just too funny
Rich McCullen // November 5, 2009 at 12:32 am |
First a disclaimer: I pastor a church full of “Christian hipsters”. So with that said, here’s my thoughts. There is such an oxymoron in this whole new Christian fad! What I’m discovering that there is such a difference between Christian hipsters and Gen X Christians. Christian hipsters definitely looks the part, (hip in all) but don’t necessarily have the ability to hear others journeys and questions concerning life and faith. They are actually more conservative/judgmental than their parents, but they just have more piercings and tattoos! They necessarily don’t like Dr. James Dobson, but they actually live and believe as he does. i.e. hot topics like gay marriage and immigration. Thoughts?