One reason many sincere Jesus followers spiritually peter out is that their lives resemble Sisyphus fighting gravity to roll the boulder up the hill. The Christian life, as it's been taught to them, is an unsustainable exercise of exhausting willpower. Is that The Way of Jesus, though? What if Jesus followers were instead mostly taught to put up their sails and channel the … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Prefers Unforced Rhythms of Grace to Spiritual Disciplines
Fellowship
Beatnik Christianity Believes the Meaning of Life Is Best Captured By Connection
People pursue the ultimate meaning by many pathways. A sampling of the more well-known trails are bolstering the well-being of one's ancestral tribe, maximizing pleasureful experiences, serving others self-sacrificially, submitting to God's will, rejoining the Oneness of the universe, living in harmony with the natural world, achieving autonomy from the constraints imposed by … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Believes the Meaning of Life Is Best Captured By Connection
Beatnik Christianity Maintains That Christian Culture Misrepresents God’s Grace
One of the most peculiar elements of Christian culture is the doctrine of grace. Jesus followers can't stop themselves from bringing up this implicit moral ledger of debts and credits even as they endlessly reiterate that, no really, God's love truly is a free gift. While denying that God's love for us is in any way transactional, there's this lingering rhetorical shadow of … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Maintains That Christian Culture Misrepresents God’s Grace
Beatnik Christianity Contends That the Greatest Heresy Is the Failure to Love
Down through the centuries has come a Latin phrase that's full of wisdom: In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas. Translated into English it reads, "In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; and all things, charity." I first came across this in an intro. course to historical theology. It immediately became a central plank of my ecumenical … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Contends That the Greatest Heresy Is the Failure to Love
