cage stage

English

Etymology

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Noun

cage stage (plural cage stages)

1. (Christianity, humorous) A period of religious zeal following a religious conversion, often perceived as arrogant.
   • 2001, Douglas Wilson, “A Deeper Right”, in Mother Kirk: Essays on Church Life, →ISBN, page 88:

     But after God has initially brought believers into an understanding of the preciousness of sovereign election, they frequently enter what a friend of mine called the “cage” stage—the time when the newly-convinced “Calvinist” ought to be locked into a cage and not let out until he stabilizes, or the medication kicks in. […] But unfortunately, there are some who never grow out of the cage stage, and this type of personality often thinks he is called to the ministry.

   • 2012, Greg Dutcher, Killing Calvinism‎^[1]:

     The year between college and seminary was my prime Cage Stage. Everyone would have been better off—myself included—had I been locked away for at least a few months during that time. […] During this time I was so excited about the five points of Calvinism that I actually wrote a letter to a friend containing this line: “I'm concerned about you. If you will not submit to God's clear declaration about how he saves sinners, how can you ever expect to get one other thing in your life right?”

   • 2013, Joshua Harris, Humble Orthodoxy‎^[2]:

     I went through my own cage stage in my early twenties. I was introduced to the beautiful truths of God's sovereignty in my salvation, of justification by faith alone, and the priority of sanctification—of growing to be more like Christ in my words and deeds.