Is this the rebirth of Christ-follower-Cool?

In the words of Bobby Brown… “WHO?“… If you don’t know, you’re just not too hot to handle, too cold to hold… Yes, it is my prerogative to form sentences with words without reason that you are reading!

Okay, take a look at this…

What?  You weren’t born in 1990… Do’h!

Well, take my word for it… There was a time when that look and that sound was cool… and as is the case, the circle is turning-to-returning!

The subject of cool is also the context for an up-coming book, that should I refrain from informing you, such would not be… you guessed it… cool!

Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide

Here are some details from the Publisher…

Insider twentysomething Christian journalist Brett McCracken has grown up in the evangelical Christian subculture and observed the recent shift away from the “stained glass and steeples” old guard of traditional Christianity to a more unorthodox, stylized 21st-century church. This change raises a big issue for the church in our postmodern world: the question of cool. The question is whether or not Christianity can be, should be, or is, in fact, cool. This probing book is about an emerging category of Christians McCracken calls “Christian hipsters”–the unlikely fusion of the American obsessions with worldly “cool” and otherworldly religion–an analysis of what they’re about, why they exist, and what it all means for Christianity and the church’s relevancy and hipness in today’s youth-oriented culture.

Here are some words about the Author…

Brett McCracken is a graduate of Wheaton College and UCLA. His day job is managing editor for Biola University’s Biola magazine. He regularly writes movie reviews and features for Christianity Today, as well as contributing frequently to Relevant magazine. He comments on movies, media, and popular culture issues at his blog, The Search, http://stillsearching.wordpress.com/. He lives in Los Angeles.

If you want to read if you fit this description, McCracken has a post, where outlines what this looks like in practice…

I wrote a book about Christian hipsters. It’s called Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide and comes out in August. But many people have asked me: what exactly is a Christian hipster? Am I one? Are you one?

Well, first of all: it’s just a funny label, and we all know that hipsters hate labels. So if you are still reading this post, eager to know what it all means, chances are you are not a Christian hipster. Or maybe you are, and you’re just intrigued by the whole thing (like I am!). In any case, the following is an excerpt from Ch. 5: “Christian Hipsters Today,” and perhaps it will give you a bit of a better sense as to what Christian hipsters are all about…

Christian Hipster Likes and Dislikes (By No Means Exhaustive… Just a Sampling)

Things they don’t like:

Christian hipsters don’t like megachurches, altar calls, and door-to-door evangelism. They don’t really like John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart or youth pastors who talk too much about Braveheart. In general, they tend not to like Mel Gibson and have come to really dislike The Passion for being overly bloody and maybe a little sadistic. They don’t like people like Pat Robertson, who on The 700 Club famously said that America should “take Hugo Chavez out”; and they don’t particularly like The 700 Club either, except to make fun of it. They don’t like evangelical leaders who get too involved in politics, such as James Dobson or Jerry Falwell, who once said of terrorists that America should “blow them all away in the name of the Lord.” They don’t like TBN, PAX, or Joel Osteen. They do have a wry fondness for Benny Hinn, however.

You should read the rest of this post, where McCracken will provide more information to test your hipsterist!

I wonder if they should add reading the Man of Spin?

Mmmm…

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

H/T: Justin “He’s No Tomato Source” Taylor