The Nine O'clock Service: Mixing Club Culture And Postmodern Christianity

Abstract

This article investigates the interaction between popular culture and religion. It describes how club (or rave) culture presents itself as oppositional to mainstream culture and how it integrates elements of religion and spirituality. Addressing the adoption of club cultural elements within the Christian church, it then explores in detail the work of the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), an Episcopal church in Sheffield, UK. It describes NOS events (with particular attention to the use of multimedia arts) and discusses the development and growth of the alternative worship movement. It demonstrates how NOS adopted an actively postmodern agenda and pioneered the appropriation of culturally relevant music and arts from popular culture, commenting on the challenges this presents to the Christian church.

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