ARTICLES

SUBCULTURES AND COUNTERCULTURE:

A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE

Harold B. Kuhn*

Much is and being quoted, today

is with
being written, even more

tocultural variants within our who

society. Groups of persons
respect
consider themselves to be outside the mainstream of the world's life
and activities are striving to achieve status as entities possessing objec
tive and visible factors which differentiate them from prevailing society.
the
Unfortunately, little is being written which seeks to understand
Christian
complaints and claims of these alienated groups in specifically
terms. It is not in the light of this, that Evangelicals have
surprising,
with the
problem of sub
not yet come to grips, in a systematic way,
is devoted to the
cultures, nor that not much of the public ministry
application of Christian insights to the problems which they pose.
It is the aim of this paper, first to give brief attention to several
forms of subculture groups which today strive for public recognition
and acceptance;and second, it is anticipated that a discussion of these
may offer some assistance in understanding the countercultural claims
made in behalf of those who are unable (or unwilling) to participate in

the general activities of society. This last consideration will, it is hoped,

be undertaken within a framework of Christian insight and Christian
compassion.

I.

One is impressed with the variety of groups within our society

who are today pressing for special recognition. Certain of them may
be of the larger number; it is proposed to note
regarded as typical
here the following: the Women's Liberation Movement, the movement
toward homophile recognition often called the Gay Liberation Move
ment, The Black Theology Movement, The movement of "The People,"

?Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Asbury Theological Seminary.

 Subculture and Counterculture: A Christian Response 7

the Radical Activist Movement, and, last but not least, the group
popularly called The Jesus Freaks.

A. The Movement for Women's Liberation

The subject of the proper role of women in American life has

emerged in a new form in recent times. In the 19th century, there was
a reaction to the formerly embraced English model and style with
respect to woman's place in society. Middle class women of the past
century began to play prominent roles in antislavery and temperance
crusades. A group of women, meeting at Seneca Falls, New York, in
1848 issued a "Declaration of Principles" which outlined the newer
demand upon the part of women for equality in natural rights, and a
rising demand for legal, economic and political recognition.
Following the Civil
War, the struggle for woman suffrage seemed
to be lost in the campaign by both parties to capture the black vote.
However, in the three decades following the War, women gradually
found new openings in the labor force and in the professions. Colleges
and universities, as well as professional schools, accepted young women
in increasing numbers. The struggle for women's rights culminated in
the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted the right of
the franchise to all, regardless of sex.
Up until 1930, however, the achievements toward equality for
women were largely confined to middle class, white females. It was

World War II which brought women from all layers of society into the
labor force. Expressions of 'emancipation' which were in vogue in the
'twenties, including smoking and drinking in public, the exercise of
sexual freedom, etc., were replaced by serious and creative participa
tion in the larger frame of public life. In reality, there emerged an
identifiable women's white collar class and consciousness.
In the 1960s, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and
the establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commis
sion put into our legal codes that for which many women had been
working for decades. At the same time, women became aware as
never before of the covert discrimination against women because of

their sex. This discrimination was shown to exist in the economic,

educational and political areas. Betty Friedan, who wrote the volume
The Feminine became something of an unofficial leader in
Mystique,
a more articulate movement for feminine equality.

In the later 1960s, many women felt either left out of, or else
actually snubbed by, "new left" organizations. Noting that moderate
feminist groups concentrated upon middle class white women's needs,
the newer movement for Women's Liberation protested both the ne
glect of their needs by student radicals, and their non-inclusion in the
moderate feminist groups. The "Women's Lib" movement has thus
8 TTte Asbury Seminarian

developed aleftist movement of its own, intended to transcend color

barriers and distinctions. Having established a base including activists
from both white and black society, its adherents have sought to
challenge both a"male supremacist" society and the New Left.
The Women's Lib movement, in its more radical forms at least,
demands an end to the patriarchal family, complete sexual freedom
and self-determination for women and such 'reforms' as abortion on
demand, the right of single women to adopt, and the removal of all
social stigma upon births outside of wedlock. While these measures are
also demanded by other groups, the Women's Liberation movement
seeks to form a visible group within society, presenting demands of this
type upon a platform identifiably their own.

B. The Gay Liberation Movement

The demand for public recognition of homosexuals is

becoming
increasingly shrill in our time. It is difficult for Christians to discuss
this question dispassionately, and the present writer claims no special
ability at this point. Certain things may, however, be said as objectively
basic to the problem.
In general male homosexuals (homophiles) are more vocal in the
demand for 'recognition' than are lesbians. This is due, in part at least,
to the fact that society has dealt more firmly with the former, both

culturally and legally, than it has with the latter. Many feel that the
restrictions which our society has imposed upon homophiles are
arbitrary and unnecessary.
Basically, the restrictions have rested upon three grounds: the
appeal to the human conscience, the pragmatic appeal, and the appeal
to religious conviction. While much of the discussion centers upon the
first two, the legal structures seem to stem from the third. Arguments
from conscience usually rest upon the view that the "general con
science" of mankind has disapproved homosexuality, probably upon
the grounds that if it were pursued by all men as a good, then the down
fall of society would follow within three generations.
Pragmatic arguments often rest upon psychological and analytical
grounds. The homosexual is regarded as being something other than
'normal' so that the pursuit of his impulses leads to debilitating and
destructive effects upon his personality. Thus, the overt tendency is
seen as a symptom of deep and severe inner problems. This view has

come under vigorous (and understandable) attack by homophiles

themselves. After all, no one likes to be accused to personality disorder.
Thus, homosexuals are today seeking desperately to achieve "accep
tance" by what they call "straight" society. This is being sought, not
only at the level of secular agitation, but within the framework of the
Christian Church. It goes without saying that the more 'liberal' forms of
 Subculture and Counterculture: A Christian Response 9

organized Christendom respond more readily to the appeals of homo

philes. Whether this stems from a more humane and understanding
attitude within these circles, or whether it involves an unBiblical atti
tude toward deviation, is of course a disputed point.
In extreme cases, "Gay Churches" are being established; in others,
"straight" churches are being urged to "accept" homophiles as if they
were "just as normal for themselves as heterosexuals are for them
selves." detailed discussion of this subject,
For issues of
see the
The Christian Century for March 3, 1971, and April 21, 1971. If we
may anticipate that which will be said in the closing section of this
paper, it may be noted that "acceptance" is an ambiguous term. It is
one thing to 'accept' the homophile as a person for whom Christ died,
and who is thus in need of divine grace as are all other of the sons of
men. This means basically that the Christian must love the homophile

but hate his sin. It is, of course, quite another thing to 'accept' the
homophile as"normal for him." The former would counsel the
being
homophile to live as ought also the unmarried, as celibates, in the
meantime seeking every available means for the correction of his devia
tion. The latter seem to insist upon the right to express their
disposed
impulses, some even to the point of sanctioning 'marriages' between
persons of the same sex.

Certainly the homosexuality is urgent in our society.

problem of
The media of communication have, it seems, encouraged homophiles
to press for legal and social acceptance. Quite probably the pressures
of today's society have not only forced deviates into the open, but
also, have tended to drive many persons into a "Gay" pattern, who
in a less demanding type of society would achieve a fairly satisfactory
are impeUing
type of heterosexual adjustment. These same pressures
homophiles for total acceptance, in legal, social and occupa
to press

tional areas. Representative of this is a demand, published within the

past few days, of a group of homophiles to be employed as counselors
for boys' summer camps.

C. The Black Theology Movement

within white society, particularly in

patience of Blacks
our
The
land, is of the marvels of recent times-perhaps a pathetic one, but
one

a marvel nevertheless. But the Black Power movement(s)

of the past
few years mark the end of black acquiescence in a society which places
men and women on
sweeping disabilities, both overt and covert, upon
the basis of color. No will Blacks remain quiescent within the
longer
framework of a 'white' eschatology which promises them much in an
eschatological future, while white men determine their external
cir

cumstances in the here-and-now.

10 The Asbury Seminarian

It is not at all
surprising that Christian Blacks are seeking a form
of theology which willserve as a spiritual basis for the emancipation

of their brothers and sisters from discriminative measures by Whites.

There is not space here to detail the manner in which extremely able
black theologians, such as James Cone, or Major J. Jones (to name but
two) are seeking to articulate a theological form which will project a
sense of selfhood and racial
pride into the black community.
This movement is gaining ground, and may well mark the emer
gence of a theological subculture possessing identifiable qualities and
well articulated principles. It claims to be 'revolutionary,' and to tie
together revolution and Christian hope. The method is, of course, that
of seeking to purify theology from its intrinsic involvement in racism,
and thus from its "white acculturation." The objective, in the short
pull, is a black Christian community which can hold its head up in
self-respect and dignity. The long-range objective is the creation of a
new community among men which will be beyond racism. Thus, the

movement is ethnic, but not narrowly so. Not today or tomorrow, but

years from now, its success or failure will depend upon whether or not
it can truly transcend racism.
In the meantime, the Christian world� and particularly the world
of organizational Ecumenism� will probably be frustrated by Black
Theology and the ecclesiastical decisions which stem from it. Like all
subcultural movements, this one is subject to the peril of encapsulation,
of forming a cyst -like body within society, lacking essential relation
and vital interchange with it.

D. The Movement of "The People"

becoming increasingly clear that the "Youth Revolution" is

It is
far from being a simple movement. On the one hand, there is the
spectacular form of youth radicaUsm which meets the TV camera and
attracts the attention of the secular press. But, as Kenneth Keniston

points out in his now dated volume. The Uncommitted, one stream of
alienated youth has chosen to 'drop out' of
society� to avoid any
long-term commitments, and in most cases at least, to stand aside from
the mainstream of societal life, including the decision-making aspect.
In general, this more quietistic branch of the youth movement is
a scattered and somewhat uncoordinated group of persons who have
in common certain basic criticisms of contemporary life, and feel that

they ought to express their protest against the current order by the
adoption of a common life-style which sets them apart visibly from the
'standard' way of public behavior. There is little uniformity of thought
�or of behavior for that matter� among the more quiescent
types of
youth. Their unity must be sought rather in terms of inner attitudes.
 Subculture and Counterculture: A Christian Response 11

A common denominator for those who live under the rubric of

the uncommitted youth is found in the motif of alienation. While the
term 'alienation' is often one with which to
conjure, and certainly its
use is cultic among "The People," there is a
generally-accepted meaning
for the term. An alienated person is one who cannot, or will
not,
accept and meet the demands which current society places upon him.
There are of course more specialized definitions, ranging from that of
such Romantics as Rousseau and Feuerback, who held that alienation
resulted from a man's severed from his natural roots by social
being
conditioning and social conventions, to the doctrinnaire view of the
(later) Marx, who held that alienation is inevitable within the frame
work of a capitalist society, which always tends to alienate man from
his work and from the means and products of his labors.
Members of The People profess to reject all uniformism, while
at the same time accepting as infallible and regulatory the norms of
the peer-group. The rejection of the family in favor of their compeers
is, of course, but a symbol of their rejection of society. The relative
affluence of Western society makes it possible for these to subsist upon
very little� many survive on allowances from parents obsessed by feel
ings of guUt, or by sporadic work, or by begging, or by the tolerance
of friends.
Members of this group frequently dedicate themselves to some
type of agitation for reform, usually of a non-violent type. Currently
their protest against their elders is in terms of the latter's alleged
destruction of the environment. Many have called our attention to a
lack of consistency upon the part of these; wherever they congregate,
they seem to leave behind the most distressing type of Uttering. One
finds little inspiration by visiting the areas of public domain such as
Central Park or Boston Common where they congregate, or to read of
the vastclean-up projects which follow their rock festivals.
Moredistressing still is the solidarity of belief among The People
of certain myths, notably that of superior morality. While the older
generation must accept as valid some of their criticisms of "adult
hypocrisy," yet one is perplexed when he reads that most of the
attempts to re-create Woodstock are now failing, due to the prevalence
of gate-crashing and the sale of counterfeit tickets, apparently by the
youth themselves. Some have even suggested that The People have their
own selective hypocrisies.

But the presence of these inconsistencies within the movement

under discussion must not blind us to the fact that a significant num
ber of young people, many from middle-class and upper-class homes
and many of above-average intelligence, have written-off life in current
a type of cultic alienated mood, leading to
society, and have adopted
a renunciation of the usual forms of productive work as "irrelevant"

and of "consumerism." They profess, at least, to have no place for what

12 The Asbury Seminarian

they call
"goal -oriented, success-oriented, work-oriented ways of life."
This movement, amorphous as it is, has led to the establishment
of communes, of which some three thousand are said to exist
today.
These have their own configurations of subsistence and of familial
living. They frequently renounce the "nuclear family" (that is, the
family consisting of only two parent-figures), and are usually totally
informal in their sexual arrangements. The commune is designed to
give corporate expression to the personal reaction of individual rebels
toward their social institutions, especially the primary institution of
the home.
"The People" rely heavily upon symbols, many of which seem

to be primitivistic and totemic, to express their common elements. It

is not without significance that the rock musicale which is alleged to
articulate the Ufe-style of "The People" is based upon The Tribe.
Activists in respect to politics among the otherwise non-violent societal
dropouts have likewise resorted to this form of symboUsm, as is
witnessed by their adoption of the term Mayday Tribe to denote the
antiwar protest of this past spring.
The interest in symbols among The People is reflected also in
the prevalence of their concern with the psychology of oriental mysti
cism and of drug use. The exploration of consciousness has issued in
corporate experiences, not only with psychedelic drugs, but with forms
of musical and dramatic expression designed to "blow the mind" and
to produce a sense of inward exaltation similar to that induced by

mind-distorting drugs. In short. The People seek to remake the world

after their own image� an image which is to be secured by resort, not
to the norms of rational exploration and rational discourse, but to an
interior exploration of consciousness aimed at the transcending of the
normal processes of cognition.

E. The Radical Activist Movement

It has been noted that among alienated youth, there is a segment

(perhaps a majority) which is non-violent, whose symbols are those of
"peace and love." There is a minority, however, which is committed,
whether permanently or not, to physical violence as a means toward
social change. These not only share the basic criticisms of contemporary
life, and a similar impatience with traditional institutions, which mark
the mentality of The
People, but they add the conviction that the
existing order is irredeemably evil and must somehow be overthrown.
The Radical Activists are usually known collectivley as the New
Left, which is a somewhat amorphous movement including the violence-
prone hard core, and hangers-on of varying degrees of commitment to
violence. Government surveillance has tended to polarize activists, and
 Subculture and Counterculture: A Christian Response 13

to cause those really willing to resort to hard-core violence to set them

selves apart. One thinks in this connection of the Black Panthers and
the Weathermen faction of the Students for a Democratic Society.
Politically speaking, the hard-core radicals tend toward the moral-
ization of politics� toward making a moral issue of every political dis
pute. This leads, of course, to a rejection of any compromise, any
adjudication of issues along the lines of democratic give-and-take. It
is from this that the impetus to violence probably springs, or at any
rate is nourished. The members are drawn from what Kenneth Kennison
calls "the protest-prone personality."! They make a great deal of the
alleged institutionalization of
hypocrisy, by which they mean the
resistance which institutions make to change. They agree with the
non-violent protesters that those who reject existing institutions do
so out of a superior honesty and
superior virtue, and seem to derive
from this conviction a dynamic toward action.
Radical activists are the heirs of several streams. They owe much
to the existential humanism of Albert Camus, the collectivist anarchism
of Paul Goodman, and (in a vague sense) to such revolutionaries as
Chairman Mao, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Their "heroes" are

guerilla fighters; and they are thus vaguely concerned with the Third
World. Vaguely, we say; for they seem much more concerned with
mastering guerilla tactics than with working to abolish poverty and
malnutrition, to counteract illiteracy and to establish social justice.
The radical activists are a curious blend of will-to-violence and
romantic idealism. While some of them seem to be motivated by a

kind of death wish, others can at times be almost naively idealistic.

For example, their literature reveals a commitment to the view that
every person in our society, beneath his acting out of a social role,
possesses a "real self which is waiting to be actualized.^ This actuali
zation is held to be attained enlargement of freedom;
only through an

but to the social activist, "freedom is not just freedom to express

yourself, but to be able to change conditions."^
How this change is to be made remains undisclosed. Some feel
that this can be attained through a kind of anarchism in which the
pohtical organization is abandoned. Others, expressing a "Phoenix

1 . Kenneth Kennison, Young Radicals: Notes on Committed Youth,

pp. 306f.
2. fbid., p. 286.
3, Stephen Spender, The Year of the Young Rebels, p. 102.
14 The Asbury Seminarian

mentality" feel that if the existing order can be pulled down, some
thing good will inevitably arise to take its place.
At this writing, there does not seem to be
any coherent and
articulated "movement" which enUsts all or most of the radical
activists. The SDS and Black Panthers have tended to fragment; the
infiltration of all levels of the violence-prone by informers, federal
and otherwise, seems to have debilitated them-on the surface at least.
Actually, the tendency seems to be toward an accentuation of the
solidarities (e.g., the acceptance of the myth of superior goodness
or of the 'good
group') with a consequent encapsulation of the several
groups within the New Left. In other words, the struggle for self-
identity within the group may tend to deprive it of any effective con
tact with the prevailing society.

F- The Jesus Freaks

Out of the masses of alienated youth, many of whom are involved

in the drug culture, there has months a group with
emerged in recent
Christian tendency which has attracted the attention of the major
weekly magazines. While it is too early to form an opinion with
respect the permanent validity of that which binds the "Jesus
to
Freaks" together, it must be noted that they are coming to constitute
a type of Christian subculture, with a measure of inner coherence and

common outer presentation. language is eclectic: while adopting

Their
some traditional Christian modes of expression, they also utilize the

terminology common to the drug culture. It is possible that this is an

unconscious hangover from the experience of many of their number
with the drug-scene; or it may be tactical in the sense that they feel
that such a vocabulary offers them the most effective approach to
those whom they wish to influence.
More basically, they seem to represent a mid-position between
the more pronounced advocates of "dropping out" and the predomin
ant culture. This does not mean that they regard the "Jesus message"
as a total bridge between the alienated youth and the 'Establishment,'

for the Jesus Freaks carry into their recently-found posture a critical
attitude toward adult society. Their major protest against estabhshed
Christianity is that it fails to embody the message of love which they
find in the New Testament.
Like the dropouts, they utilize the theme of adult hypocrisy,
but without much of the bitterness which characterizes the protest of
the totally alienated. In general, the Jesus Freaks have a preference for
a positive thrust in their attitude toward the culture about them, along
with a large measure of compassion for those who have "given up on"
contemporary society. To those people involved in the drug scene, they
offer what they believe to be the final answer to the contemporary
 Subculture and Counterculture: A Christian Response 15

quest for "instant insight" through drugs. This lies behind such
expressions as "Jesus gives the true high," or "Turn on with Jesus."
Do the Jesus Freaks represent a sub-culture? Certainly the move
ment which they embody does not possess all of the elements of sub-
cultural protest. Certainly their alienation from current society is less
radical, and their condemnation of society less sweeping. Perhaps as
a result, their legitimate grievances
are better chosen and more accurate

ly grounded. And it seems, at this point, that none can deny that the
Jesus Freaks express a genuine love for the Saviour, and a profound
desire to make Him known� at least within the context of their under
standing of Him.

II.

The
challenge which subcultural movements offer to the Christian
mind is by no means a simple one. An attempt will be made to show
that the Christian way of viewing things does offer a creative framework
for the assessment of such movements, both as individual movements,
and also as collective groups, which in their larger impact possibly
constitute a counterculture. This latter seems to be especially needed,
as some seek to be predictive in this matter, and to discern within
subcultural movements an
underlying groundswell which promises
a totally new cultural orientation.
The Christian mentality ought, first of all, to be willing to probe
any and all hypocrisies. While subcultural youth have their selective
hypocrisy, it does not absolve members of the so-called 'established
society' from the obligation to assess their own postures. Hypocrisy is
hypocrisy, wherever it may be entrenched. And it is only from the
vantage point of a rugged and fearless honesty that societies can be
assessed with accuracy.
Again, the Christian mind ought to be deeply concerned with
the entire motif of alienation. We have noted that most or all of the
subcultural forms under survey have in common the conviction upon
the part of their adherents that they do not belong within the estab
lished and dominant society. Granting that much of the talk of aliena
tion is cultic and imitative, yet our society does exclude many from its
central drive, and does make it extremely difficult for other sincere
persons to operate creatively within it. It is quite possible that some
of the reasons given for inability to do so merit serious attention.
especially the case with the Black community, many of
This is
whose members have incontestably been the victims of socio-economic
practices which have positively excluded them from any adequate
participation in the life of the dominant culture. It is at this point
particularly that the Christian mind should make itself felt in our
society. It goes without saying that the violence of such groups as
16 The Asbury Seminarian

the Black Panthers needs to be curbed. But none whose hearts have
been touched by the compassion of the Lord of the Church can fail to
demand that this curbing shall be done in a manner which is according
to law, and in ways identical with those used to curb white violence.
The Christian, especially in his relation to protest groups within
American society, faces the difficult dilemma posed by two facts:
first, there are desperately sore areas in our national life; and second,
that in a nation whose internal economy is interlocked with the techni
cal needs of the conventional forms of revolution
developing nations,
are anachronistic.
By this latter is meant, that to pull the pillars of our
economic system down would be to inflict wounds on the body of as

piring societies which would be wholly unjust to them. Therefore

the Christian must discover in his own thinking what means for the
removal of the ugly scars on our life are licit and creative.
With respect to the nihilistic radical, both black and white, the
follower of the Nazarene must perform the difficult task of "loving
the sinner, but hating his sin." Far from being pharisaical, the one
taking such a stance will ask himself what qualities in the dominant
society have driven the anarchist to despair of constitutional means
for the rectification of social and economic ills.
Pertaining to the non-violent forms of protest, whose common

denominator seems in these times to be dropping-out of current society,

the Christian mind again faces some severe challenges. It goes without
saying, that the one who loves people for the sake of Christ will have a

sense of humor about externals which are, after all, peripheral. Such
matters as cut of hair or style of clothing do not touch the deeper
matters of the humanspirit� although the rejection of the code of
manners which the human race has developed so slowly and so pain
fully may be more serious then seems on the surface. When all that
passes for politeness and for courtesy is shrugged off as hypocrisy, the
Christian will ask what is to be put in their place.
The cultization of sexual looseness in, for example, the com
munes, or the insistence upon the 'liberation' of dormitories and rest
rooms in student housing establishments, are matters of somewhat
different import from those of dress or style of hair. The Christian,
knowing something of the law of "sowing and reaping," cannot but
feel deep pain in his heart at the realization that the so-called sexually
liberated ones will ultimately find that their cherished
"life-style" is
exacting a severe tool in the psyche. The prevalence of psychological
disturbances in the 'freest' of university settings may well be but a
harbinger of things to come.
The existence of the drug scene as a widespread phenomenon in
the sub-cultural world is likewise a cause for profound concern to the
Christian mind. One may dismiss as inconsequential the objection of
the drug user that his form of drug is merely his euphoriant, just as
 Subculture and Counterculture: A Christian Response 17

coffee is the euphoriant of the conventional person. He will feel more

keenly the claim that, for example, marijuana is "no worse than
alcohol," particularly when he reflects that we now have some eight
millions of alcoholics in America. In place of "no worse than," he will
ask why youth will expose themselves to another social evil whose
long-range effects have not yet been established.
With respect to the 'harder' drugs, the Christian finds his convic
tions strengthened by the findings of the medical profession. He can
not but be moved with
compassion as he views the 'drug scene' in some
of our more permissive cities, where young men and women
barely
twenty years of age carry all the marks of senility as they sit along the
streets in front of the haunts of the drug pushers. He must recognize,
in all realism, that the drug scene interlocks intimately with
organized
crime (through its 'fences' for stolen goods) and with prostitution.

Perhaps no greater strain will be placed upon his Christian com

passion than comes from the demands of the homophiles for 'recogni
tion' by 'straight' society. Those who are fairly secure in their own
gender-image are able to face the arrogance of the homophile movement
with some personal equanimity. What is more difficult for them is to
react in Christian charity in the light of the Biblical perspective on the
matter. If the second half of Romans 1 has any meaning for our own
time, then the movement for the legitimation of inversion can scarcely
be understood as being other than perverse.
In relation to some sub-cultural forms, a sense of humor is
essential to the Christian stance. This will enable a kindliness toward
the innocent freakishness of "the Freaks." But it is much more diffi

cult to sustain thefeeling for humorousness in the light of the emer

gence and acceptance of violence as a way of life, or the demand for
the acknowledgement of that which is manifestly evil as being somehow
good.
In a deeper sense, the Christian is obligated
to pene to attempt
trate the states of mind which have led to sub-cultural movements. He

ought to find ways to distinguish between the merely cultic forms of

alienation on hand, and the genuinely alienated pattern on the
the one

other. He will not only recognize that the alienated are recruited from
the psychological misfits and rejects,^ but will seek to probe the reasons
for the popular confusion of the call for life commitment with "ego
dictatorship." He will take a realistic account of the dislocations in

4. Kenneth Kennison, The Uncommitted: Alienated Youth in America,

p. 387.
18 The Asbury Seminarian

modern life, particularly that by which youth are kept from adulthood
(in a full sense) by artificialities in society, so that their formative years
are spent in a "special culture
only peripherally related to the adult
world."5 Rather than accept the status quo in, for example, the con
ventional educational process, he will seek with others to explore
alternate educational modes and norms.
In a broader sense, the Christian will not only acknowledge that
there are severe dominant culture, but also will see
sicknesses in our

his own solidarity in a society which is profoundly ill. He will recognize,

for example, his own place in a society of 'joiners' in which nevertheless
great multitudes never recognize that a tech
really belong. He will
nological society, in the benefits of which he shares, exacts a severe
price in human values and human relationships. However sincerely the
individual may seek to live his own life, yet he does contribute to a
society which is, in many and profound ways, unjust and exploitive.
Perhaps it is time once again to explore the deep meaning of the line
in the hymn, "Every moment. Lord, I need the merit of thy death."
There remains to be noted the question of the relation of the
Christian mind to the claims of some sub-cultural forms to constitute
a genuine counterculture. It is
fashionable, in our time as well as earlier,
for men to formulate philosophies of history, and then paint their own
times or their own groups, or even themselves, into the picture in a
self-congratulatory manner. It cannot be doubted that some groups not
only exist upon the basis of a myth, but also profoundly believe them
selves to be the harbingers of a new era. These do not lack adult sup
porters, who see in the sub-cultural strands in society a new and
our

redemptive strain� the foregleams of a wholly new society in which

a long chain of psychological and cultic changes will lead at last (and

as a mere final step) to a total cultural overturn. One thinks particularly

of such a volume as Charles Reich's The Greening of America, in which

it is assumed that any major socio-economic changes are preceded by
profound developments in the area of human consciousness, and that
the newer sub-cultural movements do indeed represent such a develop
ment.

Now, the Christian who thinks will not fail to recognize that
changes in psychological outlook do lead to changes in institutions.
But he is not likely to jump to the conclusion that generation of
a

persons whose awarenesses are 'expanded' by hallucinogenic

drugs is
likely gain thereby new
to and safe perspectives, in terms of which a
new and creative society will emerge. He will have
a sense of humor

with respect to the profundity of the psychological freeing which is

yielded by the wearing of bell-bottom trousers, even if he cannot
respond in the same light vein toward the use of marijuana.
Further, the one who seeks to think as a Christian will recognize
that while change occurs in all areas of life, yet the changes which are
 Subculture and Counterculture: A Christian Response 19

likely to occur in the deeper aspects of our national life will probably
be smaller than the ideologues believe. He will, for example, feel that
the virtues of industry and thrift, or the conviction of the givenness
of work, are not merely outmoded forms of consciousness, to be
superseded by wholly new attitudes toward work and toward things.
He knows, realistically, that all of us are fed, and will continue to be
fed, as the result of hard work upon the part of many-'irrelevant work'
to the pot smoker, but essential nevertheless. Certainly he will feel no

necessity to pander, in a comic-opera sycophant fashion, to those

who imagine that they have for the first time discovered the real secret
of the universe of work-that all legitimate work ought to be fun.
Much of what has been said centers about two poles: first,
the Christian mind must, to be true to itself, respond in compassion
toward those who are (or feel) alienated from the major and dominant
stream of life as it is lived; and second, that he ought to be discrimina

ting with respect to claims and demands of sub-cultural groups. The

latter seems especially worthy of stress, in the light of the sentimen-
talization of so much of the protest-form of today's society, especially
among youth. The Christian, if he is to avoid being engulfed by the
mood of the times, must maintain a hard-headed realism with respect
to persons and movements, being neither impervious to the blowing of
the winds of change nor yet carried about by every breeze.
It however, that the major stress ought to fall upon
seems,
the motif of compassion. As followers of One who was "able to feel
with those who are out of the way," the Christian is under heavy
obligation probe
to the deeper causes of today's social malaise. And in
doing so, we venture to say that he will discover, just beneath the sur

face, that the alienation which pervades most forms of sub-cultural

assertion has its roots in the cleft which human disobedience has

placed between and his Maker. After all, reconcihation-the

man re

moval of alienation� is what the Cross in all about.

who, being hag-ridden by guilt (or by its ventriloquist
Those
double, anxiety), cannot accept others as being 'authentic' are really
profoundly out of sorts with Having never known God's
themselves.
compassion, they are themselves loveless, despite their quest for 'warm
relationships' in casual sex. The Christian Evangel has something pro
found to say to the world's alienated, and more particularly to those
who have panicked in the midst of a relatively stable form of exis
tence. It is the task of the Christian mind to bring to bear upon the
minds of those plagued by anxiety or boggled by drugs, the word of
the Reconciling Deed on Golgotha. And in the long pull, this may need
to be dramatized by attitudes and deeds before a mistrustful genera
tion will listen to the reconciling Word.