Christian culture teaches Jesus followers to have painfully misguided expectations when they engage the biblical text. Christians seem to believe the Bible is written to all people and not for all people. They think it's exhaustive in answering all of our important questions. They presume everything they read is supposed to be prescriptive instead of largely descriptive. They … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Reboots Expectations to Christocentric Marital and Sexual Ethics
Emotional repression
Beatnik Christianity Eschews Toxic Positivity for the Liminal Space of Holy Saturday
Brené Brown and others have recently normalized the term "toxic positivity." My preference remains "oppressive optimism," but it's the same basic idea. According to the psychology website Right as Rain, "Toxic positivity involves dismissing negative emotions and responding to distress with false reassurances rather than empathy. It comes from feeling uncomfortable with negative … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Eschews Toxic Positivity for the Liminal Space of Holy Saturday
Beatnik Christianity Habitually Questions the Unquestionable
Living in Christian culture is like walking through an unmarked minefield. You might blissfully stroll through just fine, but if you do encounter a problem you'll never know about it until after the explosion. You see, Christians are supposed to anticipate the idiosyncratic and tribalist expectations of what's off-limits, especially regarding what questions are and aren't … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Habitually Questions the Unquestionable