- Mar 21, 2023
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"Christian... Goth"
now there's a juxtaposition we don't see everyday, and yet I've lived more of my life than not claiming to be just that - a Christian Goth. I've often been asked exactly what that means. Christians who affirm "goth" as acceptable tend to include those who are more liberal or open-minded (though certainly not always the case) and yet...
*Goth has never just been about the aesthetics, the makeup and the freaky music...rather it presents a dark philosophy and, while there are several varieties of goth philosophy (no one can define "goth" for everyone else)...
I've always understood "Christian Goth" to be a dark aesthetical enshrinement of the part of Reformed-Calvinist theology which holds up a mirror and reminds people of total depravity - our human falleness and our aching need for redemption. Specifically, Christian goth (at least for me) is a paradox as it is simultaneously:
1) A denial of a liberalism which deifies humanity, especially and specifically as a radical denouncement of Modernism and the Enlightenment...where a certain kind of liberalism praises the virtues of mankind, goth is there to remind us of the holocaust, of nuclear annihilation and even of the rise of the Evil One in the final eschaton. This kind of thinking can be found in some other strands of gothic thought, not just "Christian Goth".
2) Yet, Christian Goth has also always meant a radical inclusion and celebration of diversity... not that there is anything special or godlike about humanity, rather, within the context of us all being fallen, we can better appreciate each other, walk in each other's shoes and realize that all of us really just believe whatever lie works best for us. Of course, as a Christian I have to augment that gloom with the hope in Christ.
Still, goth (for me) is a diagnosis, an adequate one, of the human condition... ironically one which (if really understood) is not actually "liberal" ... even though the tolerance in which it seeks is more likely to be found in "liberal" environments.
"Whosoever will may come" yes, because Christ calls to all especially the one who is lost, the sick in need of the physician... to all who are outcasts, those who continually find themselves seeking shelter in the dark shadows of the Cross. "Liberal" is a problematic word because it can be defined either way... retroactively in a classical sense to denote freedom and liberation (in which case it applies very much and is very Christian) or pushed forward into a fake sense of progress in which it has lost its salt and is a junk term to endorse all kinds of depravity. And yet, people are not so neatly divided into camps and terms. To be a person is to transcend labels. So here we are. And here I must be again.
now there's a juxtaposition we don't see everyday, and yet I've lived more of my life than not claiming to be just that - a Christian Goth. I've often been asked exactly what that means. Christians who affirm "goth" as acceptable tend to include those who are more liberal or open-minded (though certainly not always the case) and yet...
*Goth has never just been about the aesthetics, the makeup and the freaky music...rather it presents a dark philosophy and, while there are several varieties of goth philosophy (no one can define "goth" for everyone else)...
I've always understood "Christian Goth" to be a dark aesthetical enshrinement of the part of Reformed-Calvinist theology which holds up a mirror and reminds people of total depravity - our human falleness and our aching need for redemption. Specifically, Christian goth (at least for me) is a paradox as it is simultaneously:
1) A denial of a liberalism which deifies humanity, especially and specifically as a radical denouncement of Modernism and the Enlightenment...where a certain kind of liberalism praises the virtues of mankind, goth is there to remind us of the holocaust, of nuclear annihilation and even of the rise of the Evil One in the final eschaton. This kind of thinking can be found in some other strands of gothic thought, not just "Christian Goth".
2) Yet, Christian Goth has also always meant a radical inclusion and celebration of diversity... not that there is anything special or godlike about humanity, rather, within the context of us all being fallen, we can better appreciate each other, walk in each other's shoes and realize that all of us really just believe whatever lie works best for us. Of course, as a Christian I have to augment that gloom with the hope in Christ.
Still, goth (for me) is a diagnosis, an adequate one, of the human condition... ironically one which (if really understood) is not actually "liberal" ... even though the tolerance in which it seeks is more likely to be found in "liberal" environments.
"Whosoever will may come" yes, because Christ calls to all especially the one who is lost, the sick in need of the physician... to all who are outcasts, those who continually find themselves seeking shelter in the dark shadows of the Cross. "Liberal" is a problematic word because it can be defined either way... retroactively in a classical sense to denote freedom and liberation (in which case it applies very much and is very Christian) or pushed forward into a fake sense of progress in which it has lost its salt and is a junk term to endorse all kinds of depravity. And yet, people are not so neatly divided into camps and terms. To be a person is to transcend labels. So here we are. And here I must be again.
