What’s the Difference?

By John D. Chitty on May 6, 2011

What’s the difference between the Jesus People of the 1970’s and the Postmodern Liberals of the Twenty-First Century?

Posted in: Church History, Current Evangelical Trends, humor, Postmodern Liberalism, Rob Bell

9 responses

G Browning May 6, 2011 at 2:00 pm | Reply

I think the difference is the starting point. Jesus People at one time were actually leftist hippies. However, I think guys like Bell and some of the others like Pagitt etc…prove that they never were actually evangelicals. They played one on T.V. but were not in fact evangelical.
1. John D. Chitty May 6, 2011 at 2:48 pm | Reply
  
  You may be right.
David Stokes May 9, 2011 at 9:30 am | Reply

I think the Jesus movement started out with seed of something good – but quickly deteriorated because of the trait it held in common with Post-moderns — that being that they were too quick to rationalize rebellion — their “counter-culture” downgraded (good term, huh ) to contra-orthodoxy.
1. John D. Chitty May 9, 2011 at 9:31 am | Reply
  
  I’ll buy that. I’m sure there are many similarities even among this one chief difference: the former were moving toward a non-legalistic form of basically conservative theology, while the latter is moving away from it.
John Viertel May 9, 2011 at 9:32 am | Reply

The Jesus movement (I was there) was a quasi-Christian response to the anti-war movement rebellionism of the day. It was far from pure though there were many sincere participants pursuing God and struggling for a better understanding of Christian-ness from which a few notable leaders arose. Most everyone was confused as to what was real. Mainstream elites had started to blitz the communication media with godless philosophy and the youth of the Christian society incorporated what little doctinal foundation they had with the rebellious energy generated by uninformed opposition to the Vietnam war. What I am trying to say in a few words is that the movement was broad, stretching just outside the confines of orthodoxy on the liberal side (part of the aim was to be unorthodox). If one looked right down the center of it, I believe a sincere but very shallow faith was visible. Today, sophistication, rather than rebellion, is the motif. A seductive rationalism appeals to the scientifically driven, but undeveloped minds (philosophically speaking) of this generation. Some will emerge with a faith because “seeking, they will find”. Others will grow tired of the lack of depth and move on to “more meaningful” philosophies since thier aim really wasn’t to re-unite with the Creator anyway. And that is the similarity between the two.
David Stokes May 9, 2011 at 9:33 am | Reply

One note, also — the infamous cult “Children of God” (David Brandt Berg) had its roots in the Jesus movement. Clearly the movement was and is an enigma.
John D. Chitty May 9, 2011 at 9:33 am | Reply

I know they didn’t all hit the nail on the head, but was not Jews for Jesus also a product of the Jesus movement in some way? When Larry Norman died, I read that one of the co-founders was led to faith in Christ by him. And was not the contemporary Christian music industry an outgrowth of their “unorthodox" rebellion against the church’s rejection of rock music? That’s generally an evangelical product of it, unintended consequence though it was.
1. John Viertel May 9, 2011 at 9:34 am | Reply
  
  Why should the devil have all the good music?
  1. John D. Chitty May 9, 2011 at 9:36 am
    
    They say to cut my hair
    They’re driving me insane
    I grew it out long
    to make room for my brain!