The Purity Culture of Progressive Christianity: Additional Reflections

March 12, 2015

activism / faith / psychology / richard-beck

So the takeaway here isn’t to give up giving a damn. The goal is to reject the “will to purity” and learn to extend grace to yourself in the midst of the fight. And then, in turn, to extend grace toward others. Because we’re all complicit. No one is pure. This is the progressive version of Original Sin.

And that’s not an excuse to give up fighting. Nor is it an excuse to sin so that grace may abound.

It is simply the recognition that the purity culture of progressive Christianity–for privileged and oppressed–will be perennially tempted to marginalize joy, love and grace in its pursuit of the Kingdom of God.