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Wikipedia defines counterculture as “a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.” It means consciously pursuing a fundamentally different vision for one’s life and community. It can be fueled by many motives–traumatic experiences, youthful rebellion, principled opposition, technological changes, geo-political failures, tribal resentments, etc.–but it is about a spirit of discontent that leads to a rejection and replacement of the status quo.
One of my pet peeves is Christian culture’s predilection for recasting Jesus in its own image. That’s why I’m careful to not apply anachronistic labels to our Lord. Jesus was not a capitalist or a communist. Nor was He libertarian or socialist, nerd or jock, Roman Catholic or Baptist. He wasn’t even “Western” or “Eastern,” as we’ve come to use those words. Loathe as I am to admit it, He wasn’t even a classical liberal. Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in the New Testament gospels, was a poor first century Jew living in Judaea under brutal Roman imperial hegemony.
One label that does apply, though: countercultural. It’s become my theological conviction that Jesus is counterculture incarnate. He habitually subverted all of the world’s expectations. A sinless rabbi who hung out with wicked prostitutes and ruthless tax collectors. A long-awaited king who was born a refugee. A nonviolent revolutionary who told His followers to pay taxes. A masterful teacher who spoke in confusing parables. A miraculous healer who wept about a friend’s death. A reviled messiah who was scorned and crucified. That’s the countercultural Jesus of Scripture.
What’s bizarre is Christian culture’s entrenched tendency to detest the counterculture. It’s like a Louis Armstrong devotee who hates the improvisational nature of jazz or a Tolkien lover who’s ambivalent about high-fantasy. I sincerely don’t get it. It’s mystifying. Despite this seemingly incomprehensible disconnect, Christians for some 200 decades have persistently tried to find ways to faithfully follow Jesus while safely tamping down the intrinsically countercultural nature of their King and His Kingdom. Thus the extreme cognitive dissonance within Christian culture.
The original beatniks rejected the mainstream culture of the 1950s at every possible turn. They thought racism sucked. They thought teetotalism sucked. They thought capitalistic materialism sucked. They thought sexual repression sucked. They thought most politicians sucked. They thought academia‘s rigidity sucked. And, most of all, they thought the piety of Western Christian culture sucked. Their solution was to launch a countercultural revolution. Ya know, I may not agree with their execution, but I enthusiastically agree with the underlying impulse.
