Jesus movement
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The Christian component of the Hippie Movement, composed of the Jesus People or Jesus Freaks arose spontaneously on the American West Coast in the 1960s and 1970s, and spread primarily throughout North America and Europe.
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History
It was the Christian portion of one of the periodic awakenings that occur in American history, in which the values of American society are radically altered. The terms "Jesus Movement" and "Jesus People" were coined by Duane Pederson in his writings for the Hollywood Free Paper.
The hippie Jesus Movement was a counter-counter cultural movement. Some people became disenchanted with American life and became hippies; later some hippies became disenchanted with hippie values and became Jesus Freaks. The term "Jesus Freak" was originally a pejorative label, but then taken on as a name by the Jesus People. They kept many of the mannerisms and style of the hippies, but changed the content. Hence, free love became free love of God and people (see agape); phrases like "One Way" supplanted the focus on the individual with a focus on God; "Just Drop Jesus" replaced dropping acid.
Jesus People were known for great openness and honesty. They were primitivist in theology, seeking to return to the original life of the early Christians. They often therefore viewed the American church as apostate and took a decidedly anti-American stance in general. They called for a return to simplicity and Holy Poverty, and were against materialism.
Jesus People had a strong belief in the miraculous, signs and wonders, healing, demonic possession and exorcism, and a rejection of the excluded middle. They tended to be strongly evangelistic and millennialistic. What they lacked in theological depth, they made up for in zeal for Jesus Christ and love of others. They strived for social justice and seemed to simply be in love with Jesus. Some of the most read books by those within the movement included Ron Sider's Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth.
Perhaps the most illustrative aspect of the Jesus Movement was its communal aspect. Most Jesus Freaks lived in communes. Although there were some like the Calvary Chapel movement who did not, these remained more on the fringe of the movement. Within the commune the group became more important than the individual, and communal sharing of possessions was the norm. Some of these communes became highly authoritarian.
Unlike most Christian movements, there was no single leader of the Jesus Movement. Some of the larger names include Duane Pederson, founding editor of the Hollywood Free Paper; Jack Sparks, who led the Christian World Liberation Front; as well as Lonnie Frisbee, who along with Chuck Smith started the Calvary Chapel movement. Most churches in the United States rejected the Jesus Freaks. Frisbee was the primary evangelist and responsible for the growth of the Calvary churches; Smith was one of the few pastors who welcomed in the Jesus Freaks, and thus allowed for the dramatic future growth of his affiliate church network. Sparks and Pederson later became priests in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The international Potter's House Church (CFM) was birthed out of this movement.
Another early leader was Linda Meissner, who formed the Jesus People Army in Seattle. She later joined her group with the Children of God, not discovering until later the practices of that group. One of her disciples was Jim Palosaari, who along with his wife Sue started a number of Christian communes, discipleship schools (to develop theological depth), and rock groups. One group toured through Europe, developing Christian music and drama; another eventually became Jesus People USA (JPUSA), the largest and most enduring of the Jesus People communes.
In the UK, the Jesus Army was among the groups most influenced by the Jesus Movement, embracing (former) hippies, bikers and drug addicts among others. Many of the church adopted a communal lifestyle, which still continues.
As society changed, most of the Jesus Movement did not. It was primarily a reaction to a counter-cultural movement; as the Hippie Movement died out, the Jesus Movement lost its cultural relevance. In addition, the Jonestown mass suicide, though not at all related to the Jesus Movement, succeeded in scaring many away from the idea of communal living. By the early 1980s the Jesus Movement had for the most part died out. Its influence still exists, however—in the alternative Christian music industry, Calvary Chapels, and JPUSA, all of which found ways to stay relevant in a rapidly changing culture.
Jesus People and music
Template:Main There has been a long legacy of Christian music connected to the Jesus People movement. Jesus Music (aka gospel beat music in the UK) primarily began when hippies and street musicians of the late 1960s and early 1970s converted to Christianity. They continued to play the same style of music they had played previously, but began to write lyrics with a Christian message. Many music groups developed out of this, and some became leaders within the Jesus Movement, most notably Barry McGuire, Love Song, Second Chapter of Acts, Larry Norman, Randy Matthews, Andraé Crouch (and the Disciples), and later Keith Green. In the UK, Malcolm and Alwyn were the most notable agents of the gospel beat.
Much of the music manifested itself in folk music and folk-rock (Children of the Day, Paul Clark, John Fischer, Nancy Honeytree, Mark Heard), but it also encompassed soft rock (Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill, Pat Terry), country rock or California rock (The Way, Daniel Amos, Mustard Seed Faith), rock (Servant, Salvation Air Force), hard rock (Resurrection Band, Agape, The All Saved Freak Band), and all forms in between.
The American Christian church largely rejected these artists at the time, unable to see the difference between their music and the music of mainstream, or secular, artists of the day. Many within the church felt that the message was being lost because of the "worldly" musical style. Some Jesus Music artists responded by quoting 16th century reformer Martin Luther, "why should the devil have all the best tunes?"
By 1973, Jesus Music was receiving enough attention inside the mainstream media that an entire industry began to emerge. By the mid 1970s, the phrase Contemporary Christian music had been coined, developing directly out of Jesus Music, and Christian music magazines, radio stations and record labels had begun to pop up around the country. Although, many of the early Jesus Music artists were quickly snatched up by large record labels, many of these artists also became very critical of the industry itself fearing that the focus was on making money and not on the message or the making of good music.
An early hard rock influence was Resurrection Band. Glenn Kaiser, one of the band's founding members is also a pastor, at Jesus People USA. JPUSA is a ministry/commune on the North Side of Chicago. They have been a primary source of some of the counter-culture movement. One of the first influences was Cornerstone magazine. In the early 1980s, they spawned the Cornerstone, the USA's largest Christian alternative music festival with about 25,000 attendees annually. Cornerstone Florida arose out of that. They also founded Grrr Records as an outlet for the community's alternative music acts. Bands such as Crashdog and Ballydowse, both including member Andrew Mandell, have arguably influenced Christian musicians outside of the mainstream all over the world. Other notable bands include punk rockers Headnoise.
Jim Palosaari, one of Britain's influential "Jesus People" and the founder of the group JPUSA grew out of, was one of the originators of the Greenbelt festival in England, the largest Christian rock festival in the world.
Bibliography
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- David Di Sabatino, The Jesus People Movement: An Annotated Bibliography and General Resource (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999).
- Ronald M. Enroth, Edward E. Ericson and C. Breckinridge Peters, The Jesus People: Old-Time Religion in the Age of Aquarius (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1972). ISBN 0802814433
- Donald Heinz, "The Christian World Liberation Front," in The New Religious Consciousness, Charles Y. Glock and Robert N. Bellah, eds. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1976) pp. 143-161. ISBN 0520030834
- Edward E. Plowman, The Jesus Movement (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1972). ISBN 0340161256
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Movie: The Life And Death Of a Hippie Preacher Frizbi
Frisbee: The Life And Death Of a Hippie Preacher Frizbi By Dennis Harvey A Jester Media production. Produced, directed by David Di Sabatino. Camera (color, DV), Di Sabatino; editor, Ron Zauneker; music, Larry Norman; sound, Zauneker. Reviewed at Mill Valley Film Festival, Oct. 16, 2005.