Sublime

Warren’s building, and his own style, represented an openness, even a partnership, in helping individuals find their own purpose by allowing Jesus to help each person flourish and overcome the malaise that the age of authenticity seemed to leave in the wake of its individualized freedom. Yet Warren did not do this by speaking against individualized

I was always being encountered by other (spiritual) forces. They were all genuine, but some sought to enslave me, while others sought to free me. The problem with the relics wasn’t that they were inauthentic but that they were binding; they were seen not as meaningless or lame but as threatening and demonic.

What made Warren’s perspective both genius and problematic is that he offered Jesus at the level of the nova effect. Jesus was another third option amongst the thousands of others. Of course Warren was not shy in claiming that Jesus was the best option, a third way that could actually deliver in providing purpose and individual flourishing. But onc

the fact that online trolling is par for the mainstream cultural course.

Evangelicals, like mainliners, held that the self was buffered, which blocked experiences of transcendence or divine action. Yet evangelicals contended that through the narrow path of emotive expression and individual commitment, the idea of Christian faith could break forth, providing the possibility of something deeper than just the material and

Consumer-capitalist culture offers us not merely necessities but identities. Meaning, purpose, community, and ritual can all—separately or together—be purchased on Amazon Prime.