Please read today's assigned reading. You will recall that last class session we discussed religion as a marketplace that appeals, at the expense of traditional religious values and practices, to market-driven consumer desires and demands. This seems to be a recurring theme.
For you blog today, I want you to reflect on and write about your feelings regarding two quotes I have extracted from the reading. Here’s the first:
By adopting both rock music and the ethos of the popular culture industries, contemporary Christian music thrust evangelical youth into the new consumer-oriented youth culture, or at least into an evangelical version of it.
Here’s the second (related to the first):
Consequently, the Christian music industry promoted an evangelical culture based on the rules of commercialism and not those of churches, elevating consumer values and taste at the expense of doctrine and tradition. In that sense, contemporary Christian music made a place in which the confluence of religion and the marketplace could shape both personal and communal identity for baby-boom evangelicals and their children. The merchandising of contemporary Christian music shifted “ministry” from collective spiritual matters to personal consumer habits, concentrating the practice of faith on the individual instead of the larger religious community. Contemporary Christian music thereby subordinated a church affiliation and denominational creeds to a highly individualistic and personal faith centered in the popular “born again” experience that was perhaps the hallmark of the popular evangelicalism that grew out of the Jesus Movement.
One of my favorite things about church is the singing of hymns. I love how music is able to create an environment for the Spirit to reside in. Throughout my life, I have had some interesting experiences with the world of Christian music. I never really understood how large of an industry it was until having read the articles that were provided for today's reading.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Mormon music stands out to me. I will always cherish going at Christmas time to Temple Square to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform their concert. On my mission and throughout my travels, I have found MOTAB to be one of the most popular references to our church. Most people have been exposed to their music. They are a huge representative of how many see the church. Another popular music style in the church is the EFY Christian music. I never listened to this music, but I remember being given an EFY CD for Christmas one year. I can honestly say that I never even opened the packaging. The idea of listening to Jesus music was a weird thought for me to handle.
On my mission, I was exposed to quite a bit of Christian music. My companion and I attended a Pentecostal church. Their church service is like a giant rock concert. People were singing along and dancing through the aisles. My very conservative companion immediately assumed that they were possessed by spirits, but once I explained that all of the songs were Christ-centered, she was not as scared. It was definitely a different way of worshipping though.
Another instance on my mission was the YSA performing, "My Turn on Earth." This musical was created after "Saturday's Warrior" and was popular at some point in time. The musical walks through the entire plan of salvation with music and dancing throughout. This was the first time that I had ever seen a Mormon musical.
My last experience with Jesus Music was during my time as a nanny. I nannied for a very Christian, non-LDS, family. They would have Christian music playing throughout their entire home constantly. It was strange to me at first to see these small children know every single word to every single Christian song. I would then go home and hear my sister doing the same thing with Beyonce and Rihanna, but for those children, their superstar singers were all Christian based. It made me rethink the idea of a Christ-centered home and how different people live that saying in different ways.
I have thought a lot about the influence of music on my faith. Music is a huge part of my life, and I listen to it everyday. When it comes to evangelical Rock-inspired praise music, I don't think it's sinful. I would say it's well meaning and can be inspirational, but I wouldn't say that it brings the spirit any more powerfully than uplifting secular music. If anything it might confuse listeners that the spirit is something that it's not.
ReplyDeleteComing from someone that loves secular music, and the spirit that it brings, I appreciate our hymns because of the different spirit that they bring. I like that there is a contrast between the two, because it makes it easier for me to adjust into a spiritual mindset. I think that Rock and other types of music can bring a connectivity between people and certain human experiences, but I don't think that it is designed for a connectivity to God.
Again, I don't think that secularizing Christian worship music is evil, but I don't think it's the optimal way to create a worshipful experience. In some cases, it might even distract from the true source of spirituality.
But, I have developed this opinion with little to no experience at Rock worship services, so I can't really examine the situation with the Mormon hat off.
As far as addressing consumer habits, I am not convinced that churches intentionally introduced secularly inspired music to "sell" their brand, but it is pretty obvious that it does so. We do the same thing with EFY music, and I'm not a huge fan of that either. But, I don't think they commercialized it maliciously.
As I reflect on my own experience with the Spirit and music my thoughts go straight to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Hymns. I tend to feel closest to the Spirit when I'm singing Hymns from the Hymn book or watching the Tabernacle Choir perform. I have always loved and appreciated the feeling that comes when singing, particularly during Christmas time.
ReplyDeleteThe Mormon Tabernacle Choir does perform around the world, record and sell albums. They share their talents to help people around the world participate in the Gospel in their own small way. It's wonderful, and has nothing to do with profit. It is just a way to help people participate in beautiful things.
This evangelical music scene I think could be used in the same way. If it helps to get young kids involved in a spiritual scene then I think it's great. I think that the Spirit can be felt and work through a variety of different facets and music is a really important one. I believe that if the whole idea is centered on helping draw people closer to Christ then it's good. The problems come when it starts to become less about actual religious purposes and more about profit. Unfortunately, I find that it's extremely difficult to stay focused on Christ and good music when it becomes about profit and making a name. That's one thing I appreciate most about the MoTab- there's a definite focus on the right things.
Two weeks ago I was a part of a ward council and we decided to sing “popcorn popping” for our opening hymn. It was fun and we all did the hand motions we learned as children. As the song ended, the guy I was sitting next to said under his breath, “Well that was cultish.” He then stood up and offered the prayer. I thought this was absolutely bizarre. I thought about it a little more and tried to put myself in his shoes and think about why he would say that. Here was a large group of people singing a song most of them learned as children. No one outside of the church would know this sing and it seems pretty exclusive.
ReplyDeleteI still couldn’t justify what he was thinking for myself. Music has been such a big part of my testimony. The feelings and spirit that music brings in my heart is something that I would never give up. Growing up that was how my dad bore his testimony to us kids, was through music and singing. When I was in high school I went to my first concert by Switchfoot. They are a Christian rock band and I was stoked. I remember listening to one of their songs and having an epiphany about the love my heavenly father had for me. Their lyrics spoke this to me and here I was having my testimony be strengthened. I have never once thought that I was being manipulated by a higher power. I think that music is just a very special way to communicate and I am happy to be a part of it.
I thought that was a very interesting experience that Cosy Burnett talked about when the ward council decided to sing "Popcorn Popping." I wonder what was that conversation like in ward council and why they decided to sing "Popcorn Popping." I can totally understand that people would think that singing that song was exclusive, especially to any investigator that was visiting the ward. I think there are a couple of Hymns in our church that could be considered exclusive and even cultish, such as "Praise to the Man" and "Oh How Lovely was the Morning." If someone were to come and investigate the church and heard that song they would think that we worship Joseph Smith.
ReplyDeleteI think the music culture of churches is interesting. On my mission I had an investigator ask us why the music we sang in church was so boring. Honestly, the music we sing can be pretty boring. The purpose of our Hymns is to bring a spirit of reverence into the meetings, not to entertain. However, the music of evangelical churches is to entertain and I would argue, to be more in tune with the generation of today. I think that evangelical churches kind of have to "market" through the music because they want people to come out and join their congregation. There are so many places that people could be on Sunday so the music is an incentive for people to choose to go their church.
I believe that while these quotes are true to some degree -- they take a more cynical approach to the situation. The author claims that the "Christian music industry promoted an evangelical culture based on the rules of commercialism and not those of churches." While commercialism was definitely involved in creating and distributing the music -- the author implies that the creation of the very music was for commercial purposes -- shifting the whole religious landscape to a nondenominational cultural.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is contrary to that of the Forbes. While he argues that Christian music ushered in commercialism into Christian faith -- I believe the rise of Christian music has been the conduit of faith into the secular or commercial world. These artists, for the most part, are good intentioned humans that desire to express themselves religiously and have used mediums available to evangelize their faith.
Sure -- much of their messaging is multi-denominational, sharing lyrics that people of many faiths can appreciate. This is not to say that the music is intended to degrade any one religion, but simply to encourage love, respect and tolerance of others just as the Savior did.
This idea of Christian music creating as "Born again" and individual movement is -- in my opinion -- a good thing. People should feel personable accountable, introspective so to speak. Being "born again", introspective, or individualized does not need to imply solidarity of worship. The two are not mutually exclusive. One can have this "born again" or personal experience with Deity while still practicing religion within a community. In fact, I believe that the rise of the christian music industry has positively affected the participation of practicing religious people within their community. There are other societal factors that have done the opposite.
Music is an amazing thing. Like money, the internet, leadership positions, and a myriad of other tools, music has an enormous power to do good and to do evil. Much of my life I have been influenced by good music. I grew up playing the cello and guitar. Some of the most spiritual experiences of my life have been thanks to music. The annual "lamb of god" presentation has been the most recent surge of spiritual experience for me, in which the sound of the cello represented Christs voice. It is my oppinion that more often than not, art can communicate so much more to us than words. In the case of the "Born again" movement and "jesus music", I think it is a very good thing. anything that speaks of Christ and rejoices in him is good. I believe that even if the medium is different, (in order to cater to the younger generation) the message is still the same. The only time that I think this could be bad, is when it is colored with alternative motives, i.e. just to party, to merely get money or popularity, or to create sacrilige on purpose. But for me, I like the Gritz, and I like when the Eagels sing "knockin on heavens door".
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