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

Abstract

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.

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