Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music

by Jay R. Howard, John M. Streck

Apostles of Rock is the first objective, comprehensive examination of the contemporary Christian music phenomenon. Some see CCM performers as ministers or musical missionaries, while others define them as entertainers or artists. This popular musical movement clearly evokes a variety of responses concerning the relationship between Christ and culture. The resulting tensions have splintered the genre and given rise to misunderstanding, conflict, and an obsessive focus on self-examination. As Christian stars Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, DC Talk, and Sixpence None the Richer climb the mainstream charts, Jay Howard and John Streck talk about CCM as an important movement and show how this musical genre relates to a larger popular culture. They map the world of CCM by bringing together the perspectives of the people who perform, study, market, and listen to this music. By examining CCM lyrics, interviews, performances, web sites, and chat rooms, Howard and Streck uncover the religious and aesthetic tensions within the CCM community. Ultimately, the conflict centered around Christian music reflects the modern religious community's understanding of evangelicalism and the community's complex relationship with American popular culture.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Religion

312 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1999

Reviews

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cheered and I cringed while reading Howard and Streck's Apostles of Rock. The book made me very happy because it proposes what I think is a useful framework for understanding contemporary Christian music, from its beginning in around 1969 through the mid-1990s. But this insight also made me cringe, because I was really into Christian rock when I was growing up in the 1980s. Looking back on all of that now, I'm just not especially proud. And what Howard and Streck say about that era reminds me so much of the emotions and beliefs I went through then. I haven't lost my Christian faith, but I have lost a lot of respect for (and interest in) Christian rock music. I look back, and I can hardly believe I was so into it during the formative years.

The authors posit a three-part framework to explain different streams of what they call "the splintered world" of CCM. These aren't perspectives that any of the practitioners of the time would have used of themselves, but I find them helpful because they focus on what "success" meant to people within each of those perspectives. Those who viewed CCM as Separational believed that Christian music was meant to be different, distinct, separate. They would most likely seem themselves as ministers first, musicians second, and perhaps entertainers rarely. For the separatist strand of CCM, "success" means "reaching the lost," or making converts and disciples through the music.

A second perspective is Integrational. Musicians in this stream saw Christian rock music as basically the same in many ways as any other rock music. The same forms, and those forms can be made to communicate anything. So integrational musicians sought the inner circle of the "secular" rock world. They didn't necessarily see themselves as ministers, but as entertainers who are contributing uplifting, positive entertainment. Not every song needs to present the path to salvation through Jesus Christ.

The third perspective is Transformational. These are the musicians who prioritize "honesty" and "authenticity," caring less about commercial success or church approval. These musicians see themselves as musicians first, and not so much as ministers at all. The transformational perspective is exactly what I was most interested in when I was a teenager: groups such as The 77s and The Choir.

Apostles of Rock is organized around these perspectives, and I thought it was a very good structure for observing the conflicts and priorities within CCM during its first couple of decades. Many parts of the book brought me back to my own upbringing and helped me see CCM from a critical point of view.

I really loved this book, and I recommend it to anyone who experienced CCM during the 1970s and 80s. It's more balanced and neutral than Andrew Beaujon's Body Piercing Saved My Life (which I also recommend highly), and is rightly regarded as a standard reference on CCM.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a neutral stance applying Niebuhr's "Christ and Culture" categories, the authors map out three major positions of contemporary Christian music (CCM) artists and explain the motivations and characteristics of each. Interludes between chapters provide glimpses of the CCM world to illustrate the positions. A recounting of the history of CCM and the facts of music business further reveal why CCM is the way it is. This is a great read for someone trying to make sense of it (maybe as reflection on one's past) or to understand Evangelicals. But it is a bit of a time capsule as it was written in the late 1990s. It's still one of the most important books on CCM.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first thought to sum up this book was that it was weak, but it's more apt to say it is strongly wrong. The use of Niebuhr's "Christ and Culture" framework was promising, but ultimately fails as the authors apply it to CCM. They immediately go awry by using a Leslie Phillips lyric to kick off the Separationist chapter. It seemed they were setting up two strawmen, slayed by a third-way-ism path (Transformational). And i say that as someone whose favorite artists were placed in that Transformational bucket. I found that misguided and even insulting. Further critiques: over-focus on supply, while mostly ignoring demand; misdiagnosis of causes and effects; awkward Interludes. Rather than Niebuhr, perhaps 1 Corinthians 12 is a better model - various artists all part of the same body, fulfilling different roles.