Blessed Are the Uncool: Living Authentically in a World of Show

by Paul Grant

Admit it: you want to be cool. Cool is a destination: everyone else has arrived, but you can't seem to catch up. Cool is a security blanket: you wear it ragged and hide beneath its tatters. Cool is a coping mechanism: you're leaning on it, and it keeps breaking down on you. Sooner or later, you'll count yourself among the uncool: in those moments when everybody gets the joke but you, when the new kid's swagger leaves you self-conscious, when your friends invite you to do what you swore you'd never do. In those moments God sees you and calls you blessed. In Blessed Are the Uncool Paul Grant deconstructs the cultural phenomenon of cool, an ever-elusive, exclusionary act of perpetual rebellion for rebellion's sake. A life spent chasing after cool is exposed for the fickle, fruitless and ultimately inauthentic life that it is. In its place God offers you community: where exclusion is replaced with love, rebellion is redeemed with hope, and your longings are answered with faith that in Christ, God is reconciling this uncool world to himself.

Genres: Christianity

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Paul Grant is a historian and lecturer whose research focuses on cross-cultural encounters, particularly in West Africa and the role of religion in shaping relationships between Africans and outsiders. His 2020 book examines a mid-nineteenth-century refugee crisis in a small mountain kingdom in present-day Ghana, showing how local communities transformed Christianity into an indigenous means of incorporating refugees into established social structures after centuries of limited interest in the religion. Grant earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has also written about the history of "cool" in Christian culture. His book Blessed Are the Uncool traces the concept to African origins and examines its relationship to rebellion, authority, faith, and compassion. Drawing comparisons between figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Elvis Presley, Grant argues that genuine Christian commitment differs from rebellion pursued for its own sake. His historical interests have expanded into projects on everyday life in Ghana during European imperial conquest and religious change in the Ghana-Burkina Faso borderlands during the early twentieth century. As a teacher, Grant places particular value on students' personal experiences and perspectives, viewing education as an opportunity to hear and understand their stories.

Reviews

[Mike]

The author presented a pretty good definition for "cool" from the world's perspective. But he never got to what God thought true cool was. The world's cool is rebellious, but God's view of cool would be holiness. The author's social context kept him from seeing the difference and from really removing himself from living a life of cool according to the world. We see this evidenced in his concern for certain social issues that pervade the book, but really have nothing to do with cool at all.

[Bonita]

Interesting perspective.

[Alex Szatmary]

Paul Grant explores cool from the perspective of dysfunctional race relations in America, specifically between blacks and whites. He points to Jesus as the solution to the problems with cool, not because Jesus is uncool, or anti-cool, but because Jesus' love transcends cool..

This book helped me see how I formulate cool on my own terms, in ways that lead to my own alienation and lack of affection for God and the church.

[Robyn]

A good book encouraging you to get back to the basics of the gospel. Love and kindness and truth are the real reasons people find faith. Helping our neighbour is what Jesus wants us to focus our attention on.

[Douglas Wilson]

Pretty good stuff.

[Russel]

Great read! This book will make you question your inner self.