Are You a Christian Hipster?

Are You a Christian Hipster?
February 27, 2009, 8:37 am » Brett McCracken

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/evangelical. 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.

These folks sound alright.

Except for the overemphasis on piercings and goth shit at the end.

i know lots of people who qualify for this

I mean honestly besides piercings and Jesus, that sounds like the life to me.

they just sound like girls who used to date manchester grammar school boys but moved to london

(fine with that, btw)

Yah I mean if you're going to be a Christ-follower at all, this is prob the best kind to be in this day and age, if you are between oh roughly 15 and 30. Or something. I dunno. Maybe?

These people should be recommended some Graham Greene. (Well, so should everyone else. Good luck church kids.)

It's easy to resent Christian Hipsters because they get all the cultural benefits but never seem to have problems of any kind: no protracted battles with substance abuse, no need for the horrors of dating (they pair off young and even if they do break up they have a virtual captive audience of new potential mates), no grindingly awful money problems (Christian Hipsters are really good at budgeting and so forth).

Where's that thread of cute girls with Christian tshirts

what about Chirstians who get 90% of their doctrine from rasta reggae, old timey folk records, and dusty VHS copies of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Where's that thread of cute girls with Christian tshirts

― kingfish, Thursday, March 5, 2009 6:35 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark

apparently that company has gone bankrupt and shut down!!

lol klosterman and sedaris making their list of "important" authors

how come only the guy gets a contact mic

;_;

because he's got the dance solo obv.

"It's easy to resent Christian Hipsters because they get all the cultural benefits but never seem to have problems of any kind"

Haha no seriously.

I like the dive-bombing (suicidal?) dove on the backdrop.

Dude, I match the description about 80%. Except nobody has ever or will ever describe me as "hipster," and most of the other people I know who fit are way more hippie than hipster.

I disagree with the post about "no need for the horrors of dating," though, because you might be too religious to have an easy time dating non-Christians, but too liberal and secular to tap into the hot young conservative Christian marriage pool, and all the other "hipster Christians" your age are already paired up. (I AM pretty damn good about budgeting, though, thanks to my atheist parents.)

chipster vs hipstian

chripster

catholipster
hiprotestant
mormster
methodipster
hipsbyterian

there's a magazine for Christian hipsters that I forgot the name of, but it's super glossy and thick and has way more pages than any magazine should right now. thom yorke was on the cover. it made me kind of sad i wasn't really xian anymore because i'd totally write for it. but then i think of all the cool sinning i get to do otherwise.

Taking Back Sunday indeed

every kid who went to the bible study i led at my suburban high school either already was or eventually became one of these people

lole =)

I knew a lot of gothy and punk anglicans when I was a teenager. I suspect a lot of them would have wised up and gotten out of churchy things (some of them never quite seemed to have their heart in religion beyond the social circles - which is the only reason I was ever there too).

when i was a high school christian hipster in the 90s, our role models were Kevin Smith and Moby :/

rather than jesus????

In the name of Jay, Moby & the Silent Bob...

Not all christians are all weirdy and "in love with jesus" like he's some father figure focal point like the outre evangelist types are. Some are suprisingly regular people who just happen to go to church and stuff.

They even smoke and drink oh noes!

Where is the Christian hipster Williamsburg?

Man, I know someone exactly like this -- she reads Wendell Berry/Anne Lamott/C.S. Lewis, works for a nonprofit teaching poetry to kids, has a tattoo and a perpetual pink streak in her hair, has been known to smoke weed, etc.

"chripster"

cryptsters!

i always thought it would be cool if there were a severely serious sub-group of goths who believed in, like, 16th century xian philosophy and stuff. we need a new children's crusade, but with cool fashion-sense. actual hair-shirts would be a start.

there's a magazine for Christian hipsters that I forgot the name of, but it's super glossy and thick and has way more pages than any magazine should right now. thom yorke was on the cover. it made me kind of sad i wasn't really xian anymore because i'd totally write for it. but then i think of all the cool sinning i get to do otherwise.

I think this is Relevant Magazine. The only place I have ever seen it is at a PX in Germany.

At Barnes and Noble once a dude tried to explain to me how Misfits songs were actually about JC and not vampires. I guess that would make him one of these guys.

BTW it would seem that this scene is filled with wifey material

the problem is half of them are super dope and the other half are stealth batshit fundamentalists

i dated the bad half

At Barnes and Noble once a dude tried to explain to me how Misfits songs were actually about JC and not vampires

Yeah they'll do that. My cousins used to love re-purposing current pop and rock songs and film plots and whatnot all the time. Bit weird, but they dont hassle anyone else about it so whatever floats their boat.

Not all christians are all weirdy and "in love with jesus" like he's some father figure focal point like the outre evangelist types are. Some are suprisingly regular people who just happen to go to church and stuff.

― 65daysofsugban (Trayce), Tuesday, May 5, 2009 7:33 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Um, no doy, Trayce. We're talking about Christian Hipsters not hipsters who are christian.

Christian hipsters need their own cable channel. Maybe call it QJC or something.

xpost trayce
When I was a christian, I didn't go to youth group or pray around the flag pole or listen to dc talk or identify with any of those people. the difference is people who believe in god vs. people who would use their belief in god as an aesthethic choice.

Isn't what you're describing kind of an update of the "Jesus freak" thing in the '70s?

They are, on the whole, a little more sincere and idealistic than their secular hipster counterparts.

Trying hard not to stretch the truth there, I see.

Christian hipsters need their own cable channel. Maybe call it QJC or something.

― Aimless, Wednesday, May 6, 2009 12:52 AM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark

iirc late night programming on tbn is completely given over to these kids

So about me... Probably the most important thing in my life write now is my relationship with the lord. He died for me, so I live for him. Other than my Father, here are just a few things that come to mind...guitar, drums, paintball, piano, dj, pretty much all music in general (RAP MUSIC is an oxymoron in itself)

(cont)
I love love love Trance, House, groove house, electro house, electronic, Rock, Jazz, sometimes rap but thats really limited (T-Pain), I love to DJ, stuff like that....im not gonna list all of the bands I like...there are just toooooooo many...

Are there Christian Hipster Grifters?

Paul of Tarsus?

kane_clap.gif

^^^^^^^ 4 u tape store

croot <33333333333333

BTW it would seem that this scene is filled with wifey material

― amirite baraka (los blue jeans), Tuesday, May 5, 2009 7:23 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

boy this could just go one way or the other

or i guess what hoos said

one friend of mine sorta matches this and she is super dope and is going to yale divinity

another guy i know also matches this and is weird as hell and sorta loathsome, if well-meaning

one of the weirdest things i ever encountered was this xian rock mag that i read once. i started reading it and i thought it was strange that i had never heard of any of the bands covered in the mag and there were tons of hardcore and metal bands featured. it dawned on me that this was a xian affair. i kept reading and none of the interviews with the bands actually mentioned jesus or anything. it was strange. like an alternate universe where all these bands i had never heard of where the biggest thing in the world. The editors did such a good job of making their mag look and read like any other indie rock mag.

My RA in college fit this bill right down to Relevant Magazine. Sweet guy, very soft-spoken, fey, and there to help and volunteer. But with him, and with many Christians of that bent, the actual religious doctrine tends to almost be Christian spiritualist to the point where they're possibly pantheistic or, its close cousin, just a highly "spiritual" agnostic. He openly questioned whether he was really a Christian, or if he was a Christian Buddhist, for instance. Was a big lefty (Kucinich FTW) and was neo-hippie, as well.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Classic person for the Christian seeking cred in the secular world, and vice versa. His claim to fame was devising a theory, science be damned, to reconcile Christianity with the (then) relatively new and solid consensus amongst the intelligentsia that people had evolved from lower life forms and that the traditional belief in Adam and Eve etc beyond redemption. The science behind his theory was lambasted but it was important and too easily accepted because it provided a way for Christians to still say they believed in evolution and for those who believe in man's evolution to not deny the basic ideas that make up the Christian God and belief. Nobody had to cross a theological Rubicon anymore. Nancy Pelosi name drops occasionally him when she's pressed with questions concerning religion and science.

I used to date / am friends with a girl who fits this bill in a lotta ways. She's a good, sharp kid.

Christian hipsters love thinking and acting Catholic, even if they are thoroughly Protestant/evangelical. 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.

this is ~exactly~ a guy i used to know, sweetest guy alive, who grew up going to evangelist high school and alla that and really really got into the orthodox church after he'd left home for college. He used to have these theological crises every so often, and I was sort of jealous, because he seemed to (not consciously) use them as a sort of self-renewal/state-of-the-union/spring-cleaning-of-the-soul deal and emerge from them, generally, a better person. And, I dunno, it felt like maybe he understood a bunch of philosophy and stuff better, because he was closer to the mindset of the people who wrote it, in being both a total bro and someone who was pretty passionate about the whole God deal.

on the other hand a bunch of his similarly christ-tastic friends were loons.

^^^Christ-tastic looniess give dudes like your friend a bad rap.

a bad rap (T-Pain)

one of the weirdest things i ever encountered was this xian rock mag that i read once. i started reading it and i thought it was strange that i had never heard of any of the bands covered in the mag and there were tons of hardcore and metal bands featured. it dawned on me that this was a xian affair. i kept reading and none of the interviews with the bands actually mentioned jesus or anything. it was strange. like an alternate universe where all these bands i had never heard of where the biggest thing in the world. The editors did such a good job of making their mag look and read like any other indie rock mag

^^^this magazine is called Heavy Music and it is AWESOME. we were doing some mixing in a studio that had a bunch of copies lying around and at first I was likewise totally perplexed but if you read enough of it there were these weird/subtle Xtian insinuations and catchphrases (there was one band, I forget what their name was, that had a bunch of hilarious Xtian slogans: "strings for the King", "jammin with the Lamb")

needless to say this mag added a lot of hilarity to our studio time

the most interesting thing HM did was their monthly interview with a secular metal musician where there'd start by getting them to talk about their new album and eventually get them to talk about their thoughts on jesus. i think the last one i read was Dimebag actually.

. . surprised no-one has mentioned David Tibet/Current 93 yet.

yeah, love the "what do you think of John 3:16?"-style of interviewing

x-post

one of my best friends is in to lots of terrible metalcore, used to be in a band etc. None of his friends or bandmates but seemingly the majority of the bands that were popular with them were e.g. Hopesfall, Norma Jean, As I Lay Dying, Between the Buried and Me etc.

missed out the word christians there.

and some other words

I grew up round lots of unusual Christians but this all sounds pretty alien, maybe its an American thing. Never met anyone who loved CS Lewis and Kierkegaard, but I'd like to meet them.

I love CS Lewis but am not an Xtian

yet

his brand of anglicanism is pretty ridiculous tbh. Really I only love his sci-fi trilogy, I don't have any use for that Narnia crap

good for you

i wonder where/if the whole "emergent church" movement fits into this thing, with beardos in mocassins going into forests and starting monasteries and shit

I thought Hoos had written "going into forests and staring at monasteries" and I was v. v. stoked for this movement

"look at it. its so....still."

Danielson Famile is the Alpha / Omega of this stuff though, right?

I had completely forgotten about Danielson until just now. Weird.

He used to have these theological crises every so often, and I was sort of jealous, because he seemed to (not consciously) use them as a sort of self-renewal/state-of-the-union/spring-cleaning-of-the-soul deal and emerge from them, generally, a better person.

This is one of the big draws of Christianity, IMO!

And I was wondering about the emergent church too, but refrained from commenting because I'm not sure what it IS. Still can't really figure it out, am reading more now.