Not such a stretch

Worship and theology are steampunk by the very nature of the case. Much of Christian worship and theology drifts downstream from a different historical locus than the rest of culture. Both are an act of the imagination, living "as if" a different set of historical events had transpired than in the real history of the world.

So, for example, while the rest of the world wears clothes from the Gap, clergy in many worship places still wear cassocks and clericals developed during fashion moments now long lost in the steamy recesses of history.

Quite a lot of solid theology is also steampunk. Theologians love to imagine alternative historical developments. Two that immediately come to mind include Paul Hinlicky's Paths Not Taken (now there is a steampunk title!) and essentially the whole of Radical Orthodoxy, which seeks to use the tools of post-modernism to critique modernity and repristinate premodern philsophies and theologies.

All of this is, from my view, intrinsically interesting. Given the increasing cultural caché of steampunk as an art from and sub-culture, it leaves me wondering, is a blog on steampunk theology worth the time. I'm going to leave space for reader response to find out.

Will you read a blog on steampunk theology? Would you participate in the discussion? How are you living steampunk today?