Brett attends and works at my alma mater, and I've had a few good laughs and a few good thinks about things that he posts on his blog. What he writes about -- spirituality, Christians in the modern culture, sociology -- these are all things that I am interested in and would like to write about someday. And although this book addresses these topics and has plenty of good thinking points, it will inevitably not age well due to its title. ( )

This book was an interesting and informative look at the "hipster Christian" movement. The author is young, Christian, and seemingly hipster-ish, thus the subject of his book. His book is not an attempt to be preachy, rather it was an honest critical analysis of the balance of being "cool" and being Christian, and whether the two can coexist. Although I am not the intended audience of the book, I found the author's earnest reflection on his faith to be refreshing and enlightening. It was interesting to learn about a subculture with which I'm not very familiar, although I got a lIttle tired of the obscure Christian music references. ( )

A thoughtful introduction, history, and basic analysis of what it means to be "cool" and the specific aspects to "cool" or "hipster" Christianity, particularly among Evangelicals.

The author attempts to place the idea of "cool" in context, looking at the history of the concept and the sociological factors that influenced its development. He then turns to Christianity and the (albeit shorter) history of attempts at "Christian cool," and how all of these factors have now led to the prevalence of "hip" Christianity. He describes the attributes of what comprises "hip (Evangelical) Christians" and "hipster Christianity," speaks about many of the figureheads of the movement, and attempts to go deeper to understand the trends behind the trend, since what is hip is rather ephemeral. The end of the book is an attempt to analyze the virtues and vices of "hipster" Christianity, and, while basic, is rather good considering the author's admitted predilection toward "hipster" Christianity.

This is an excellent entry-level book into understanding the trends among Evangelicalism and particularly young Evangelicals as we enter the second decade of the twenty-first century. Time will tell if the generic trends that lead to the current permutation will hold over time. ( )