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Rock Gospel: Spreading God's Word
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15096 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
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4 / 1989 |
2,126 Words |
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Deborah Evans Price
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Rock 'n' roll created quite a stir when it burst on the general American music scene in the 1950s. More than thirty years later it continues to generate controversy, making incursions into religious music today with the same ferocity that once set the secular music world on its ears.
When people hear the terms gospel music or Christian music, they usually think of a choir in richly colored robes or possibly a quartet of conservatively dressed people. Today's Christian music, however, is not limited to such stereotypes. Attending the annual convention of the Gospel Music Association immediately makes clear that participants are singularly varied flock. Men in three-piece suits talk earnestly with long-haired younger men in leather and makeup.
Christian entertainers today are expressing their beliefs through a variety of musical genres, from hymns to heavy metal and from rock to rap. This very diversity has become a source of controversy not only within the music industry, but also in the pews and pulpits, as many people refuse to accept as "Christian music" any music with a rapid, pulsating beat.
The basic crux of the controversy lies in the question, Can a rock song transmit a religious message? The fundamentalist community is most vehemently opposed to a religious message being carried by rock music. Prior to his downfall, Rev. Jimmy Swaggart had preached heated sermons against contemporary Christian music. Some religious leaders have gone so far as to protest Christian rock concerts and try to get this kind of music banned from their cities.
Rev. David Wilkerson, author of The Cross and the Switchblade, devotes an entire chapter to Christian rock music in another of his books, Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth. In "The Music of Devils in God's House," he compares magazine photographs of Christian heavy metal musicians to the wild, black-leather and chain-clad people he saw while ministering on the streets of San Francisco.
"There is no doubt in my mind now--rock music, as used and performed in Christian circles, is of the same satanic seed as that which is called punk, heavy metal, and is performed in devilish rock concerts worldwide," he wrote. "There is so much showing off at Christian concerts. So many performers want the respect of secular musicians, so they go as far as they can and simply call it Jesus music. It's a big sham. They ought to quit using Jesus as a ticket to fame and go full-time into secular rock."
Entertainment vs. Ministry
According to Christian music journalist Don Cusic, the evangelical community's dislike of Christian rock music stems from the conflict perceived between entertainment and ministry. "The evangelists see it as a threat to them," Cusic says.
"They feel everything should be directed toward the salvation of souls, while rock music is entertainment. It [Christian rock] does have some redeeming religious values, but it's also entertainment. And entertainment is not a need in our society, it's a want. Evangelists think anything other than saving souls is frivolous.
"Evangelists basically see music as
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