In the church tradition in which I was raised, everything was overtly spiritual. We believed in the everyday occurrence of spiritually hearing God's voice. We practiced spiritual Bible study and spiritual preaching. There was spiritual prayer languages, spiritual healing, spiritual deliverance, spiritual prophecy, spiritual anointing, spiritual offering, spiritual dancing, … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Believes Everything Is Spiritual
symbolism
Beatnik Christianity Laments the Existence of American Civil Religion
When it comes to church-state dynamics, Paul showed us the way by appealing to his citizenship in the Roman Empire while reserving his allegiance for Christ and His Kingdom. Sadly, Christian culture in the U.S. has taken another path. We suffer from a chronic condition of adjective-noun confusion. An adjective is a description. A noun is a source of identity. That distinction … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Laments the Existence of American Civil Religion
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
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
