Jamie Smith offers a blistering review of Brett McCracken’s book Hipster Christianity. I can’t comment on McCracken’s book directly because I haven’t read it. However, I’ve had some experience of the tension Smith describes between what he calls “educated” evangelicals and those of us of a certain age who have gotten comfortable with our middle-class lifestyles. Here’s how Smith puts it:
To be blunt (because I’m not sure how else to put this), the Christian bohemians I’m describing are educated evangelicals. So when McCracken lists (not so tongue in cheek) “ten signs that a Christian college senior has officially become a Democrat” (159), I’m sorry but the list just looks like characteristics of an educated, thoughtful Christian (and believe me, I’m no Democrat). Or when McCracken, in a remarkably cynical flourish in the vein of “Stuff White People Like,” catalogs the authors that Christian hipsters like (Stanley Hauerwas, Ron Sider, Jim Wallis, Flannery O’Connor, Walker Percy, Wendell Berry, N. T. Wright, G. K. Chesterton, and others; 97), he does so as if people could only “like” such authors because it’s “cool” to do so. But perhaps they’re just good. McCracken seems unable to really accept what Paste magazine editor Josh Jackson emphasizes: “It’s not about what’s cool. It’s about what good” (92). And if that’s true, then it should be no surprise that Christian colleges and universities are shapers of Christian hipster culture: if McCracken is lamenting the fact that Christian colleges are producing alumni that are smart and discerning with good taste and deep passions about justice, then we’re happy to live with his ire. The fact that young evangelicals, when immersed in a thoughtful liberal arts education, turn out to value what really matters and look critically on the way of life that has been extolled to them in both mass media and mass Christian media—well, we’ll wear that as a badge of honor.
I like all the authors Jamie mentions (or at least most of them) — and he’s right, they are good! But, I occupy a strange place in this milieu — a middle-aged guy who intellectually leans towards the “Christian Bohemian” perspective, with a comfortable job in the legal profession and a house in the suburbs . I suspect that not a few Christian Bohemians would consider me a sell-out or a fraud, just as this guy McCracken apparently thinks I’m trying too hard to be cool.
To be sure, my choice to leave a big law firm partnership and become a law professor was sort-of bohemian in my context. It took me thirteen years of sometimes excruciatingly hard work mixed with mind-numbing tedium, fabulous bend-over-and-take-it indignities and shameless butt-kissing to make partner — not to mention that I was very good at what I did. I could be making a lot more money at this point in my life — a really, really lot more money, not to mention having a league of minions to help me get stuff done. Instead, I left it all to pursue a tenure-track teaching job — not any easy pursuit! — to have more time for my family and my church, to make a difference in the lives of students, to contribute intellectually, and so on, as well as for my own sanity.
Let’s be honest, though — teaching law in New Jersey isn’t like teaching poor people in Uganda a basic trade. This job will never buy me a yacht (or even a decent fishing boat!), but we have a very nice roof over our heads, plenty of food on the table, two big TVs, and (I’m honestly ashamed to admit) an SUV.
So, Mr. McCracken, I’m not going to read your book, but I’m going out on a limb to say I’d certainly agree with Jamie if I did read it. And Jamie — yes, but remember that there are lots of us ordinary moms and dads out there who are just trying to make a living without giving up life.