AJGita

Creating a Punk Christianity

Posted on 16 December 2009

Selection taken from a larger work titled:

A Voice of One Crying from the Underground:

From Calvary to CBGB – Resurrecting the Punk Jesus

By Andrew J. Rosenthal

Many Liberal Christians like to cite Constantine as the force behind Christianity selling out. But Constantine was a savvy politician who steered the empire according to prevailing winds. Christianity was moving toward the mainstream for decades, even centuries before Constantine. However, for a religion whose beginnings were counter-imperial, to be co-opted by Constantine fractured the Christian identity.

One of the greatest lessons Christianity can learn from Punk is its willingness to question itself, the obsessive fear of the overly ambiguous so called, “selling out.” The Punk ethos requires a constant changing of the guard, a reconfiguring and new perspective of its past.  Beaudouin believes that Christian denominations must not prioritize their future but rather “focus on the religious message to be lived.”[1] Christianity must pay attention to the present, learn from Punk in this way and be true to the past arriving at the future by living eternally in the moment. “Genius is wisdom and youth,”[2] thus a Punk Christianity offers both imminent and transcendent hope.

Christianity and Punk both own and develop their outsider status. “Punk” is a converted derogatory term, an insult: “you’re a no good punk kid!” “So what? Your society is fucked up!” The punk kid replies. Straight Edge kids took back the “X” marked on their hand for being underage at a show and owned it – by not drinking, drugging, and fucking, they were the real adults. Similarly, Christianity took back the cross, the instrument of Roman oppression, and made it into a symbol of liberation. We’re only criminals according to your rules and your definitions, but according to our inner compass we’re following the right path. Jesus’ death on the cross was also the birth of a new relationship between God and man. Call us “punks,” we don’t care, because “I found the truth within, I’m strong”[3] Crucify us because we’re the servants of God not your emperor. A Punk Christianity utilizes feelings of marginalization and exalts it as symbol of inner, imminent and transcendent strength. In order to do this though, Christianity must take back its identity and its symbols— let the cross again make the statement that, “we’re winners because we’re losers according to your rules.”

Protestantism began well intentioned enough, seeking to expel corruption from the Catholic Church, but it sold out not long after its inception. When Martin Luther urged for the expunging of the Epistle of James from the canon, condoned the slaughter of rebellious peasants, wrote anti-Semitic tracts, the Punk spirit of Protestantism was forsaken. Left out of Protestantism were key elements of the “Jesus way.” Punk Christianity is accountable to a Punk Jesus and can put the “protest” back in Protestantism. Tillich assures us that “Protestantism can receive and transform the religious elements of the quasi-religions,”[4] and this is exactly what needs to happen.

In order for Christianity to truly bear witness to the “Jesus way,” it must learn from Punk. Metz believed that, “the relationship between the Christian faith and the world should be characterized from a theological view-point as creative and militant eschatology.”[5] This is a direct and forward-looking eschatology, functioning to enact an ethically driven kingdom in the present age – the message of Punk Christianity is that Personal salvation is always in the service of social salvation. With this in mind bellow are criteria for setting about to create a Punk Christianity:

• A Punk Christianity is a voice for marginalized people everywhere
• A Punk Christianity is distrustful of ecclesial, corporate, and political authority
• A Punk Christianity supports grass roots community building
• A Punk Christianity facilitates the internal transformation of individuals so that they can become pilgrims of peace and transform society as a whole

Punk Christianity has nothing to do with loud music, tattoos, or stage diving; it’s a worldview, a way, and a movement (accountable to Jesus). The look, which is often ancillary for Punk rock fans, is not the centerpiece of Punk Christianity. It’s not enough to look Punk one has to act Punk.

Punk Christianity must be consistent with the above categories, and become an inclusive rather than exclusive institution that values renewal and reinvestment. Elliot offers that counter-cultures serve to create liberating alternatives to the dominant cultures,

“The practice of counter-culture suggests that our major strategies, in solidarity with the marginalized will be directed towards contesting the dominant ideology and building liberating alternatives to it.”[6] Punk Christianity is a permanent counter-culture, which understands itself as in transition always. Tillich notes that quasi-religions “point back to older traditions,”[7] and can offer new answers to questions “of the meaning of life”[8] Punk Christianity is nothing new, it’s the act of passionately remembering Christian historical and theological origins; Punk Christianity is the original Christianity.

One can be both a Punk and Christian, the two terms need not be mutually exclusive; a double belonging is possible and beneficial. One’s approach to their Christian faith can be informed by their Punk ethos. Punk was always, it never began – and thus the soul of the Punk Christian is best modeled not after any lyrics but after the poem and epithet of the unknowingly Punk poet Walt Whitman:

Ever, the undiscouraged, resolute struggling

soul of man;

Have former armies failed? Then we send fresh

armies—and fresh again

Ever the grappled mystery of all earth’s ages

old or new;

Ever the eager eyes, hurrahs, the welcome-clap-

ping hands, the loud applause;

Ever the soul dissatisfied, curious, unconvinced

at last;

Struggling to-day the same—battling the same.[9]

Here is room for perpetual growth, for curiosity and reexamination of truth. The Punk Christian is “dissatisfied, curious and unconvinced,” but at the same time is committed to renewal — “undiscouraged,” “resolute,” and most of all “eager.” This is a Christianity that has learned from Punk and simultaneously taken back ownership of its identity.

There is one more essential area in which Christianity must re-evaluate its mission. Christianity needs to remember that it must always functions as an avenue for the individual and the community to participate in divinity. Tillich writes that faith is “participation in the subject of one’s ultimate concern with one’s whole being.”[10] This model must be the paradigm of what will become and understood as Christian faith, nurturing a “passion for the infinite.”[11] This is what Christianity has to offer, and this is where it fails to draw upon its own strength and history. Why go to church if you’re going to get preached at, told what to do, and called a heretic and maybe even a “punk kid.” A Christian house of worship and community must become a place where one can feel at home and be assisted in their encounter with and participation in divinity. Jesus is the place where Christians encounter God; by setting about the task of resurrecting a Punk Jesus, Christianity can be relevant for all future generations.

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[1] Beaudouin, Virtual Faith: The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation Xp. 59

[2] Masters,  Spoon River Anthology.p. 56

[3] H2O, “Found the Truth Within” *

[4] Tillich, Christianity and the Encounters with World Religions. 1994,  p. 31

[5] Metz, Theology of the World. 1969, p. 91

[6] Elliott,  Freedom, Justice, & Christian Counter-Culture.p. 208

[7] Tillich, Christianity and the Encounters with World Religions. 1994, p. 9

[8] Ibid p. 62

[9] Whitman, p. 415

[10] Tillich, Dynamics of Faith. 2001, p. 38

[11] Ibid p. 10