This post is inspired by a recent video by Paul VanderKlay, a C.R.C. pastor in California and a very productive YouTuber. On his channel, he tries to do what I am doing here: make sense of our current cultural moment. I like what he does, but it is obviously from an American perspective, so let me reframe his latest video. Link: As Frontier Theology Thins Metagelicalism Reconnects Post-Nones with Tradition This video deals with part of the genealogy of the Metagelical Moment, a term coined by Paul himself. He describes American “evangelicalism” as the attempt of the post-fundamentalists to become…Continue readingThe Metagelical Moment Reframed
Welcome to Europe At Midnight, an exploration of emerging religious trends and the future of Christianity in post-secular Europe. What is this about? In crisis It is cliche to say that Europe is in a meta-crisis. A meta-crisis is usually defined as more than the sum of its parts: the ecological crisis + the economic crisis + the geopolitical crisis + the meaning crisis & the culture wars. It is the unravelling of culture itself, the great shake-up of all things. The question is: what does it mean? The secular Once, there was no ‘secular.’ And now we are ‘post-secular.’ Religions are back but…Continue readingIntroducing Europe At Midnight
Robert Ian Hitching (or “Bob” as we knew him) was born in an East London family in 1950. After a challenging youth, he had a profound conversion experience and joined Operation Mobilisation in 1970. He travelled overland alone to India and Nepal as a missionary. The main focus of his work during this decade would be in Turkey, where he spent time in prison for distributing Christian literature, and among Turkish people in London. In the eighties, Bob developed a media ministry (Reach and Teach) in Eastern Europe and Asia. During this time he also pioneered a film ministry for…Continue readingIn Memoriam Bob Hitching (1950-2024)