Our blog and podcast seem to attract readers and listeners from all over the theological and political spectrum, so I’m very interested in the results of this survey, from Brett McCracken, author of a forthcoming book on the subject: Are You a Christian Hipster?
Post your score in the comments section, reader (and other writers). I got a 74/120, which makes me feel cool but not “hip.” Thank God.
Ugh. 87/120. I am, of course, too hip to be a hipster so that is throwing off the quiz.
LOL . . . 85/120 I’m not sure how I feel about that.
56/120, which apparently means I’m “purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive” and “Hawaiian shirt-wearing”. Well, they got the Hawaiian shirt thing right…
Your Christian Hipster Quotient:
73 / 120
I find it interesting that I scored almost the same as you, Michial.
I was waiting for Grubbs’s response. I figured it would be a negative number, as he’s the least hipstery person I’ve ever met in my life.
Why do you find that interesting, Phil? I have the cultural trappings of the hipster, I suppose, but my theology is firmly enough away from Emergent that I can’t qualify as a “hipster Christian” in the way that quiz seeks to define.
I got a 61/120. That sounds about right.
78 out of 20. I suppose it’s only right that my score is higher than the other two podcast hosts’, but I’m surprised Robert beat me out.
“Beat me out”? Wait–is this golf or bowling?
Michial, I think I scored as I did because many of the questions didn’t have my real answer: the one about CCM, for instance. I’m still just as aggressively unhip as ever!
Grubbs,
Golf. Definitely golf.
Nate,
I was baffled, too. I’m guessing that it registered my obliviousness to “cool” as hip ironic detachment rather than the pure nerdiness that it is and my non-Evangelicalism as McLarenism. I’d guess, too, that all the neo-Calvinist answer options I didn’t choose score lowest on the hip meter.
I suppose I forget sometimes that there are people less Calvinist than me! 🙂
I suspect if we combined my entertainment choices with Gilmour’s theological beliefs, we’d be much closer to 100. No?
Grubbsy, I listen to Christian rock unironically as well. Even DC Talk.
And yes. Golf. Anyone who’s pleased about their high score is not welcome in the Farmer home.
We also might want to discuss if Neo-Calvinism is a different sort of hipster subculture. Wouldn’t you say that Mark Driscoll owes almost as much to hipster culture as Rob Bell?
Michial, I really don’t know you, so I can’t judge your hipsterness. I was just pointing to the numeric closeness more than anything.
Well, from the podcast I have to say all three of you are about as cool as Hades.
Full disclosure, I did “go to Church one Sunday night at a bar.” It was called “Pub Theology” in a place in Broad Ripple. Nathan would probably describe it as the hippie neighborhood of Indianapolis. The liturgy consisted of songs such as, no joke; “What if God was one of Us?”, “Heaven let your light shine down”, and “Say it ain’t so.”
Also a hipster young adult minister got up and talked about real life issues and dealt with the tough questions. You could text message and get your theological questions answered anonymously. I mean, I mean people were smoking cigarettes during worship! It doesn’t get any more rebellious than that!
Hipster Christians referring to “pub theology” and “pub chats” and whatnot bug me because our country doesn’t HAVE pubs, which is why they meet in bars. Use your own culture instead of co-opting a different one!
I know Broad Ripple well, Phil–back in the day, it’s where we Plainfield types went on the weekends to prove that we weren’t so suburban! 🙂
Out of curiosity, what sorts of questions did the theology-in-a-bar session engage that you wouldn’t normally see engaged in a basilica-and-classrooms Sunday morning Protestant gathering?
Farmer,
Neo-Calvinism as a different sort of hipster subculture? Maybe. Probably not hipster, but definitely just as consumerist-defined as the hipsters as far as they’re cultural trappings go. I’d say they’re Toby Keith to the Pedro the Lion of the hipsters.
It’s more like “Glee” to Emergent’s “Community.”
Except I guess that makes me Emergent.
91/120….. man. Definitely surprised.
And just a side note to the previous comment, I’ve LOVED the way Community derided Glee during the season. 🙂
Apparently I am a hipster. I’m too embarrassed to divulge my score…
Surprised you didn’t name your son Brian McLaren Rhodes, Tim. And Cameron, one question: Do you have the highest score so far? And do you identify as Emergent?
It was 77/120. I don’t identify as emergent. I am Presbyterian, but I’m with Buechner, and Barth, not Driscoll.
Me too. Who needs Neo-Calvinism when you have Calvinism Classic?