Many people in the deconstruction crowd have religious trauma around prayer. The sources are many. It seemed pointless when God already knew everything. Militaristic "prayer warrior" language didn't sit well with latent nonviolent tendencies. A prayer service where people screamed, "Boughta-Honda-shoulda-boughta-Hyundai!" gibberish at the top of their lungs was freaky. Dead … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Leans Into the Contemplative Tradition for Prayer
Richard Rohr
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 Holds Together Contemplative Practices and Social Justice
To use a biblical metaphor, the Church needs Mary and Martha. Whereas so much of our frenetic American society is focused on "Doing," the Church should deliberately create spaces where "Being" and "Doing" are held in sacred tension. Jesus followers need opportunities to pause, center ourselves psychologically and spiritually, focus on being mindfully present in the moment, and … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Holds Together Contemplative Practices and Social Justice
Wrong from the Start: How Christian Culture Keeps Pulling Us Away from Jesus
I love Jesus but loathe most elements of Christian culture. The reason is that Christian culture usually has little to do with following Jesus and when there is a direct connection it is often in direct conflict with The Way of Jesus. The more I study it the more I become convinced it's more influenced by Screwtape than the Holy Spirit. Let's be clear. This isn't about … [Read more...] about Wrong from the Start: How Christian Culture Keeps Pulling Us Away from Jesus
