Hipster Christianity

When Church and Cool Collide

by: Brett McCracken

• Format

  E-Book

  ISBN

  9781441211934

  Pub. Date

  Aug 2010

  SRP

  $21.00

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About

What happens when church and cool collide?

What happens to the church when our concern with appearances equals or outweighs our concern for sound doctrine or faithful practice? In this probing book, insider twentysomething Christian journalist Brett McCracken examines an emerging category he calls "Christian hipsters"--an unlikely fusion of the American obsession with being "cool" and the realities of a faith that is often seen as anything but. His insightful analysis explores what they're about, why they exist, and what it all means for Christianity and the church's relevancy in our youth-oriented culture.

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Endorsements

"Are you tired of seeing Christianity marketed as a product? Brett McCracken offers a smart and timely peek inside our desperate quest to be cool. Hipster Christianity is an urgent but loving call to chase far more than the fashionable, to pursue enduring virtues rather than mere relevance."--Craig Detweiler, Center for Entertainment, Media and Culture, Pepperdine University

"Brett McCracken courageously and accurately sketches the perennial temptation to sacrifice faithfulness on the altar of 'cool.' Every pastor, youth pastor, college chaplain, and Christian college professor needs to sit down with Hipster Christianity, read it carefully, and take a good hard look at whether we are being faithful or being cool. The best example of generous orthodoxy I've seen yet."--Scot McKnight, Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies, North Park University; author of The Blue Parakeet; blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/

"Brett's book is a like a PhD course in Christian hipness. Part textbook, part cry for what matters more than being cool, Brett has accomplished something long needed in Christianity."--Jonathan Acuff, author of Stuff Christians Like

"Whether you're a Christian hipster (like Brett McCracken) or a hopeless nonhipster (like me), you're in for some surprises with this book. It's simultaneously more serious, more enjoyable, and more critical than you might think at first glance. Brett is able to put his finger on the pulse of hipster Christianity and yet point all of us back to the gloriously eternal and unchanging truth of the gospel. The result is an outstanding example of truth-in-love theological journalism."--Justin Taylor, blogger at Between Two Worlds; managing editor of the ESV Study Bible

"What hath Kerouac to do with Christ? Hipster Christianity answers the question by taking a trip through the culture of cool, stopping along the way to explore its troubled marriage with the Christian faith. McCracken, the tour guide, provides the kind of loving critique only a reluctant insider could offer. You don't have to rock a faux hawk to appreciate this book, or have a PhD to realize that it signals the emergence of an important young Christian thinker."--Drew Dyck, editorial manager, Leader Training Team, Christianity Today International; author of Generation Ex-Christian

"Brett McCracken writes like a classical composer, weaving together smooth, intelligent riffs with furious, soulful runs. His critique of contemporary Christianity slices deep, but his love for the church heals the wound. As a new generation of Christians grow tired of manufactured relevance and long for a deeper understanding of what it means to be a 'new creation,' Hipster Christianity arrives at just the right time."--Jonathan Merritt, author of Green Like God: Unlocking the Divine Plan for Our Planet

"Hipster Christianity is a thorough, accessible, and engaging ethnography of the often baffling landscape of 'cool' Christianity--from the wannabes to the effortlessly hip. Brett's nuanced and affectionate diagnosis of how we got here and where we're going is an excellent framework for thinking through the role of the church today. The truth is that the contemporary church could use a dose of hipster authenticity--and hipsters need the church to consistently point the way between love of their culture and wholehearted love of God."--Alissa Wilkinson, associate editor, Comment magazine

"Can Christianity be cool? Brett McCracken's answer to the question is both sensitive and subversive. McCracken writes with the cheekiness that only an insider to cool Christianity can have, providing a sympathetic account of Christian hipsters while challenging faux hipsters to simply quit trying, all while moving beyond the consumerism and individualism that undergird hipsterism to reestablish cool Christianity on its appropriate foundation: the life of Jesus and our faithfulness to the gospel. This is an invaluable contribution to the ongoing conversation about the shape Christianity should take in its relationship to the world."--Matthew Lee Anderson, MereOrthodoxy.com; author of Body Matters: Overcoming the New Gnosticism of Young Evangelicals (forthcoming)

"Luther and Lewis observed that we humans are often like that rider who falls off one side of the horse then, vowing not to make that mistake again, promptly falls off the other. In this important work Brett McCracken notes that a church that was once out of touch with popular culture and the latest trends is now making the opposite mistake: trying way too hard to be cool and in the process losing its soul."--Mark Joseph, The Huffington Post; author, Faith, God, & Rock 'n' Roll

"Hip hip hooray! Brett McCracken's well-researched and surprisingly insightful book is more than a passing fad. Hipster Christianity answers the question 'Who are we to be to the twenty-first-century world?' by skillfully defining what cool Christianity really is--centered on Christ, not consumption and image."--Stan Jantz, cofounder, ConversantLife.com

"Hipster Christianity is cultural anthropology at its best! This is the best book for understanding trends in today's missional Christianity. McCracken succeeds in providing context, analysis, and critique of an entire movement of Gen-Xers and Millennials without being dismissive of what our generation values. Weaving cultural trends, history, philosophy, and theology, Hipster Christianity accomplishes what previous books on this subject have failed to do. McCracken's writing is intelligent, winsome, sophisticated, self-critical, witty, and soundly biblical. Anyone involved in serving, leading, or teaching evangelicals born after 1965 without reading this book will likely miss the mark in comprehending a dominant segment of Western Christianity. McCracken simply nails it!"--Anthony B. Bradley, associate professor of theology and ethics, The King's College, New York; research fellow, The Acton Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan

"Author Brett McCracken combines an insider's knowledge of the world inhabited by today's twentysomething hipsters with a remarkable aptitude for analyzing the intersections between the church and the larger culture (youth, pop, and otherwise). If you're a Christian hipster--and, maybe, especially if you're not--you need to read this book."--Larry Eskridge, associate director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals

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Reviews

"Being hip is about valuing independence, freedom, and reinvention. But when evangelical Christian culture adopts hip's rebellious nature, what happens to the message of the institutional church? In his book debut, magazine editor McCracken steps outside of his own hip subculture to question whether the quest to be hip is 'turning Christianity into a shape-shifting chameleon with ever-diminishing ecclesiological confidence and cultural legitimacy.' This critical analysis reads like a sociological study aimed at evaluating a demographic segment of churchgoers. From the Jesus People of the 1960s to the Missional Church movement of today, McCracken demonstrates how hip came to collide with the values of the church. By bowing to trends in order to reach youth, Christianity may be sacrificing content and authenticity. McCracken's analysis isn't wholly scientific and unbiased; with lists like the '12 common types of hipsters' and an appreciation of pop culture, he may unintentionally fuel the very subculture he's attempting to question. Yet his 'gut check' offers a much needed perspective that will make Christian leaders question the direction of their postmodern undertakings. McCracken successfully sets the stage for an important debate."--Publishers Weekly

"McCracken explores the roots of the hipster movement, especially the specific branch of Christian hipsterdom, and contemplates cool's impact on the church. . . . Although McCracken doesn't sweepingly reject cool, he does offer a critique on our obsession with it, and reminds his reader that Christianity is 'coolest' when it's focused on Christ and His countercultural revolution."--Relevant

"McCracken's provocative book puts the idea of hip or cool Christianity under the magnifying glass and finds it wanting. That's a surprising conclusion because McCracken is one who identifies himself as a hip Christian. . . . Well worth reading by hipsters and the rest of us."--World Magazine

"McCracken's journalistic, young perspective has led him to examine the contemporary Christian church, noting its transition from 'stained glass and steeples' to an image that is more comparable with today's social culture. McCracken questions whether religious practices should be governed by societal trends, and what effect this modern revolution will have upon Christianity. . . . His commentary is witty and somewhat satirical."--ForeWord This Week

"Smart, in depth, and well written. Recommended for pastors and other church leaders."--CBA Retailers + Resources

"Geared toward those who grew up in the '80s and '90s, this discussion on the desire to be hip and relevant will benefit young people in the church as well as the leaders who wish to reach them."--Christian Retailing