Christian Music Research Articles

Christian Radio in a New Millennium

There is no segment of the broadcasting industry growing as rapidly as Christian Radio has since 1990. The number of radio stations with Christian formats has nearly tripled in this time frame, surpassing all other formats. This remarkable growth is due to a combination of factors, including changes in FCC channel allocation and licensing policies, innovations in software to identify available frequencies and plot coverage areas, the popularity of Contemporary Christian Music, the growth of Evangelical Christianity and conservative political organizations, and the dedicated efforts of many broadcasters who want Christian Radio to happen now.

New Wine in Old Cups: Postcolonial Performance of Christian Music in Yorùbá Land

New Wine in Old Cups: Postcolonial Performance of Christian Music in Yorùbá Land

Hans Christian Andersen and Music: The Nightingale Revealed

Hans Christian Andersen and Music: The Nightingale Revealed

New Wine in Old Cups: Postcolonial Performance of Christian Music in Yorùbá Land

New Wine in Old Cups: Postcolonial Performance of Christian Music in Yorùbá Land

Without Divine Intervention: Contemporary Christian Music Radio and Audience Transference

A historical multistation, single market switch in radio frequencies provides the context for a case study analysis of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) radio. This investigation explores the interaction between a CCM-formatted radio station's listenership, salient station attributes, and promotional strategies that have been identified in the literature as potentially impacting on religious and secular audience transference. Although signal strength and inheritance effects contribute to audience transference, station branding, progressive self-promotion, Web site status, and corporate ownership proved to be particularly significant factors.

Clement of Alexandria and Early Christian Music

Studies of early Christian music often mention Clement of Alexandria, but a comprehensive examination of Clement's statements about music has not yet been offered. This article treats Clement's literal references to music comprehensively by considering them from the perspective of ancient Greek music and the philosophical traditions of Greek music theory. His musical metaphors and allegorizing of musical terms in the Bible are taken up only as they illumine his understanding of music. Subjects include music and education, the relation of the idea of Christ as the "New Song" to the Greek musical tradition and to Christian musical practice, Clement's view of instrumental music, the connection he makes between the Greek scolion and the Hebrew psalms, his uses of the terms Ψαλμός, Ψάλλειν, and Ψαλμώδία, his understanding of musical modes and genera, his comments on Christian song in everyday life, and the hymn that closes the Paedagogos.

Singing of Satnam: Blind Simon Patros, "Dalit" Religious Identity, and "Satnami"-Christian Music in Chhattisgarh, India

Christianity in every context -- whether western or nonwestern, contemporary or ancient -- emerges as a composite entity, combining elements of the religions and cultures that predate it with aspects of the Christian faith, in whatever form it arrives. There is, of course, nothing distinctly Christian about this process, for just as the expansion of Christianity into India involved the Indianization of Christianity, so too did the growth of Hinduism in Bali entail the Balinization of Hinduism. Other religions follow a similar pattern when they cross cultural boundaries.

Music and Mediated Religious Identity: "Jesus Freak"

Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) is a genre that uses popular styles to express religious ideas. "Jesus Freak" (McKeehan & Heimermann, 1995), an enormously successful CCM song, is approached from the perspective of constitutive rhetorical theory. Both lyrics and music are critiqued to determine how the song invites its teen audience to develop shared definitions of Self and Other. Lyrically the song creates a Freak subject position for young Christians that meets mainstream secular judgment with pride and defiant indifference. Musically, a fusion of grunge and rap styles is combined with harmonic and rhythmic composition techniques, such as direct allusions to hit songs by Nirvana and the appropriation of historically non-Christian perfect discords, to demonstrate how being a Christian can be rebellious and cool. Close textual–musical analyses can move us beyond traditional theories of influence derived from linguistic persuasion and into conceptions of mediated and presentational "proof" that more fully account for how contemporary media do ideological work.

Contemporary Christian Music: Public Relations Amid Scandal

Christian entertainment. While this notion is an oxymoron to many, it is no longer a foreign concept to the world of business and finance. Largely ignored in the past, this growing sector of the entertainment industry has begun to garner significant appeal with the public, and thus has attracted increased media attention–both mainstream and Christian, both positive and negative. What makes this industry entirely unique is that it is indeed both “Christian” and “entertainment,” and both elements must function with equal effectiveness for the industry to thrive. This study chronicles a decade of challenge for this industry, involving scandals and buyouts, and examines the traumas and triumphs of PR professionals faced with potentially catastrophic situations. The intent of this project is to emphasize that the industry role of public relations was so in tune with calamity that it acted routinely, responsibly, and effectively to help diffuse each circumstance presented.

Visual Representations of Christianity in Christian Music Videos

This article discusses Christian rock videos. Videos from a collection entitled Wow Hits 2002: the year's top Christian music videos are used as examples. The title of the collection declares that the videos are "Christian", and the question asked in the article is how this quality may be seen in the videos. How may the videos be seen as visual representations of Christianity? Using a semiotic framework, two possible types of such representations of Christianity in the videos are discussed. These are references to traditional christian imagery; and the style and appearance of the artists.

"ERACE-ing" the Color Line: Racial Reconciliation in the Christian Music Industry

In this article I look at the contemporary Christian music industry and the issue of race. Racial reconciliation and inclusiveness have been part of an ongoing discourse and larger movement gaining momentum among Evangelicals since the early 1990s, and it provides important context and point of departure. The methodological approach is qualitative, based primarily on fieldwork in the form of participant observation in the setting of annual industry conventions, interaction and conversations with a number of industry workers, and review and analysis of a variety of documentary data sources. The main argument is that in the context of the heightened recent mainstream attention given Christian cultural products, certain members of the industry are using a form of what Smith (1998) termed "engaged orthodoxy" to spread the gospel and to further the aims of the racial reconciliation movement through their work. This is being done at a number of industry levels, and in this article I discuss some aspects of this activity. I also consider are some of the conflicts and tensions engendered in cultural workers' attempts to combine faith and commerce in the service of effecting social change.

“Lenin in Swaddling Clothes”: A Critique of the Ideological Conflict Between Socialist State Policy and Christian Music in Cold War Romania

“Lenin in Swaddling Clothes”: A Critique of the Ideological Conflict Between Socialist State Policy and Christian Music in Cold War Romania

Watering Down Christianity? An Examination of the Use of Theological Words in Christian Music

This study examined 5 years of successful Christian music to determine if there had been a significant change in the amount of theological language used in contemporary Christian songs. Christian music is the only genre defined by lyrical content instead of musical style (Price, 1999). In a 1999 Wall Street Journal article, the Christian music industry was accused of watering down its lyrics in an effort to increase profits (Miller, 1999). After coding 100 of the top songs from 1996 to 2002 in the Christian rock and Christian hit radio genres, no systematic or significant decline in total theological words was found. However, when examining the type of theological words used in lyrics, the data demonstrated that words have become significantly less explicitly Christian.

Evangelizing Through Appropriation: Toward a Cultural Theory on the Growth of Contemporary Christian Music

Mass media and the culture it carries have been identified as a key site of conflict in the so-called culture wars, pitting evangelical Christians against mainstream American society. Paradoxically, Evangelicals historically have appropriated the spectrum of forms of popular culture in America and secular commercial practices for evangelizing vehicles and, at the same time, contributed an evangelical voice to that culture. The author argues that Evangelicals' use of media has moved into a new level of sophistication enabling effective entry into the national discourse, partly through dramatic growth of contemporary Christian music. Given this phenomenon, the author examines issues of identity and social forces driving the subculture; he also explores potential influences or effects on the broader secular culture. Using a range of cultural theory, the author argues that the movement toward religious messages in the form of popular music enables the subculture of evangelical Christians to resist against a dominant secular society by taking possession of a cultural form and redefining it as their own, empowering them to effect an influential voice in the cultural discourse of American society.

Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music

Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music

Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music. By Jay R. Howard and John M. Streck. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999. viii + 299 pp. $29.95 cloth.

Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music. By Jay R. Howard and John M. Streck. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999. viii + 299 pp. $29.95 cloth. - Volume 69 Issue 4

Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music

Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music

Religion and Popular Culture in America

Preface to the 2005 Edition Preface to the First Edition Introduction: Finding Religion in Unexpected Places Bruce David Forbes Part I. Religion in Popular Culture 1. The Oriental Monk in American Popular Culture Jane Naomi Iwamura 2. Consecrating Consumer Culture: Christmas Television Specials Robert J. Thompson 3. Re-Mythologizing the Divine Feminine in The Da Vinci Code and The Secret Life of Bees Jennie S. Knight 4. Like a Sermon: Popular Religion in Madonna Videos Mark D. Hulsether Part II. Popular Culture in Religion 5. Evangelicals and Popular Music: The Contemporary Christian Music Industry William D. Romanowski 6. The Internet, Religion and Community Greg Peterson 7. The Cross at Willow Creek: Seeker Religion and the Contemporary Marketplace Stewart M. Hoover Part III. Popular Culture as Religion 8. It's about Faith in our Future: Star Trek Fandom as Cultural Religion Michael Jindra 9. Losing Their Way to Salvation: Women, Weight Loss, and the Salvation Myth of Culture Lite Michelle M. Lelwica 10. An American Apotheosis: Sports as Popular Religion Joseph L. Price 11. The Church of Baseball, the Fetish of Coca-Cola, and the Potlach of Rock 'n' Roll David Chidester Part IV. Religion and Popular Culture in Dialogue 12. The Disguise of Vengeance in Pale Rider Robert Jewett 13. Rap Music and Its Message: On Interpreting the Contact between Religion and Popular Culture Anthony Pinn 14. The Gender Dynamics of the Left Behind Series Amy Johnson Frykholm Conclusion: Establishing a Dialogue about Relgion and Popular Culture Jeffrey H. Mahan Contributors Selected Bibliography Index

Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music

Journal Article Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music by Jay R. Howard and John M. Streck. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1999, 299+vii pp., $29.95 Get access David Katz David Katz Loyola University Chicago Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Sociology of Religion, Volume 61, Issue 3, Fall 2000, Pages 341–343, https://doi.org/10.2307/3712585 Published: 01 October 2000

Book Review: Foundations of Christian Music: The Music of Pre-Constantinian Christianity

Book Review: Foundations of Christian Music: The Music of Pre-Constantinian Christianity