Nowhere in the Bible is there an exact definition of faith. The closest we get is Hebrews 11, which points to the ideas of assurance and conviction, but that's more of a description than a definition. This has left a ton of room for discourse and disagreement about its dynamic nature. Right from the start we've got Paul's view that we're justified by faith alone met with some … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Pushes Back Against the Exclusivity of “Faith Seeking Understanding”
Eastern Religions
Beatnik Christianity Leans More Toward Byzantine & Celtic Theology
The theological legacy of Augustine is just awful. Dude established precedents that permanently butchered Western Christianity with his teachings on things like original sin, grace, sexuality, Mary, (androcentric) natural law, just war theory, and predestination. He's like an ancient Wayne Grudem, painstakingly trying to remove mystery and tension in order to create a tidy … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Leans More Toward Byzantine & Celtic Theology
Beatnik Christianity Exists in Perpetual Spiritual Deconstruction And Reconstruction
To channel my inner-William Goldman via Inigo Montoya, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." That's what I think whenever I hear most Christians use the word "deconstruction." Conservatives believe it's about dangerously questioning inherited tradition in nihilist despair. Meanwhile, for progressives it's often taken on a … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Exists in Perpetual Spiritual Deconstruction And Reconstruction
Beatnik Christianity Affirms A Robustly Nondualistic Perspective
Feeling scorned by my lapsed allegiance to conservative evangelicalism and the Republican Party, a family member dismissively impugned, "If you're not a conservative and you're not a liberal, then what are you? You're trying to carve out a middle-ground that doesn't exist!" Though clearly intended as a rhetorical question, I decided to answer. "The English language has a word … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Affirms A Robustly Nondualistic Perspective
Beatnik Christianity Harmonizes Eastern Ancestral Sin with Sacred Humanism
Western Christianity has had a troublesome guilt-shame complex ever since Augustine of Hippo. In his dualistic schema, human anthropology and God's grace are framed as being in conflict, which creates the need for a theological seesaw effect. The former must go down for the latter to go up. Humanity's sinful nature is cold, filthy, and wretched so that God's righteous grace is … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Harmonizes Eastern Ancestral Sin with Sacred Humanism
