Yes, intellectual pride is a real and serious spiritual problem for Jesus followers. It's detrimental to human flourishing and, like all sins, impairs our connection with God. Having spent a lot of time on the campus of Christian college and universities, I can assure you that I'm well-aware of the problem and have little patience for this particular vice. I tend to confront … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Suggests Anti-Intellectual Bullies Go Forward for the Children’s Sermon
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Beatnik Christianity Treasures the Life of the Mind As a Sacred Means of Worship
Faced with the impossible choice between being intellectually honest or following Jesus, I chose intellectual honesty and became an agnostic. That was until a professor recommended Mark Noll’s book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. It saved and transformed my faith. In it Noll notes four key historical movements that were responsible for evangelicalism’s anti-intellectual … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Treasures the Life of the Mind As a Sacred Means of Worship
Beatnik Christianity Embraces Nonviolence
The process of discipleship is supposed to be about being remade in the likeness of our rabbi, but that's a tall order. Instead Christians tend to recast Jesus in their own image and declare Him good. That's exactly what happened with the Christianization of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, and even more so as the empire's western half disintegrated in Augustine's lifetime. … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Embraces Nonviolence
Beatnik Christianity Savors the Overlooked Role of “Valley Experiences”
Contemporary Christian culture loves its "mountaintop experiences." Harkening back to the biblical stories of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, this figure of speech refers to profound encounters with the divine where the wall between heaven and earth is seemingly thinned. God is present. Theologically speaking, most Jesus followers recognize that God is everywhere, of course, but in … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Savors the Overlooked Role of “Valley Experiences”
Beatnik Christianity Bends Over Backwards to Accommodate Special Needs
In all of Christian culture, the thing I find most absurd is the Catholic Church's prohibition against gluten-free Communion wafers. This sacrament is a means of grace to spiritually feed God's people, but even microscopic levels of gluten make it dangerous to worshipers with celiac disease and other severe gluten sensitivities. Yet the Vatican's dogmatic hierarchy refuses any … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Bends Over Backwards to Accommodate Special Needs
