Protestant theology dating all the way back to the 16th century contains a strong, unnatural break between justification and sanctification. Paul writes about salvation in the past, present, and future tense. You were saved. You're being saved. You will be saved. It's a salvific process, not a salvific moment. The Reformers were right that the process begins … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Creates Room for the Eastern Orthodox View of Theosis
Protestantism
Beatnik Christianity Calls for Discernment with Our Theological Metaphors
1980's Metaphors We Live By is a classic book by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. The authors suggest that the conceptual metaphors we use in day-to-day conversations both reflect and create the way we think, feel, perceive, and interact in the world. A popular American metaphor like "time is money" shapes our collective cultural values and cultivates our individual interior … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Calls for Discernment with Our Theological Metaphors
Beatnik Christianity Invokes Pro-Jesus, Un-American Kingdom Values
The problem with most counterculturally-inclined Jesus followers isn't that they're too out of sync with the social norms of the dominant culture. The problem is that they usually don't go far enough in identifying the insidious ways they've been unknowingly enculturated by Christian culture and secular culture alike. Two such presuppositions among American Christians are … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Invokes Pro-Jesus, Un-American Kingdom Values
Beatnik Christianity Overthrows Spiritual Authoritarianism
Britannica defines authoritarianism as the "principle of blind submission to authority." Spiritual authoritarianism demands rank and file submission to religious leaders who've ascended to positions of institutional power. It's a centralized structure that functions through a chain-of-command mentality like the military. Christian culture justifies this with nesting set of … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Overthrows Spiritual Authoritarianism
Beatnik Christianity Restores A Christocentric Biblical Hermeneutic
Biblical interpretation has drastically evolved over the centuries, but one principle that has remained relatively stable has been the affirmation of a pivoting Christocentric hermeneutic. Jesus followers at least profess that the whole sweep of the Bible's redemptive narrative from Genesis to Revelation should be perceived through the lens of Jesus. The Old Testament looks … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Restores A Christocentric Biblical Hermeneutic
