A Beautiful Noise: a History of Contemporary Worship Music in Modern America
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A Beautiful Noise: A History of Contemporary Worship Music in Modern America by Wen Reagan Graduate Program in Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Grant Wacker, Supervisor ___________________________ Jeremy Begbie ___________________________ Fitzhugh Brundage ___________________________ Mark Chaves ___________________________ Laurie Maffly-Kipp Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2015 i v ABSTRACT A Beautiful Noise: A History of Contemporary Worship Music in Modern America by Wen Reagan Graduate Program in Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Grant Wacker, Supervisor ___________________________ Jeremy Begbie ___________________________ Fitzhugh Brundage ___________________________ Mark Chaves ___________________________ Laurie Maffly-Kipp An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2015 i v Copyright by Wen Reagan 2015 Abstract How did rock and roll, the best music for worshipping the devil, become the finest music for worshipping God? This study narrates the import of rock music into church sanctuaries across America via the rise of contemporary worship music (CWM). While white evangelicals derided rock n’ roll as the “devil’s music” in the 1950s, it slowly made its way into their churches and beyond over the next fifty years, emerging as a multi-million dollar industry by the twenty-first century. This study is a cultural history of CWM, chronicling the rise of rock music in the worship life of American Christians. Pulling from several different primary and secondary sources, I argue that three main motivations fueled the rise of CWM in America: the desire to reach the lost, to commune in emotional intimacy with God, and to grow the flock. These three motivations evolved among different actors and movements at different times. In the 1970s, the Jesus People movement anchored in Southern California, adopted the music of the counterculture to attract hippies to church. In the early 1980s, the Vineyard Fellowship combined rock forms with lyrics that spoke of God in the second person in order to facilitate intimate worship with the divine. In the late 1980s, the church growth movement embraced CWM as a tool to attract disaffected baby boomers back to church. By the 1990s, these three motivations had begun to energize an entire industry built around the merger between rock and worship. iv To Casey For your enduring patience and unflagging support I am thankful that you walk beside me v Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... x 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Argument ........................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Defining Contemporary Worship Music .................................................................... 19 1.3 Positionality ..................................................................................................................... 22 1.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 25 2. The Afro-Pentecostal Roots of Black Gospel: A Historical Parallel to Contemporary Worship Music ............................................................................................................................. 27 2.1 A Short History of Black Gospel Music Origins ........................................................ 29 2.2 Parallels Between Black Gospel and Contemporary Worship Music ..................... 47 2.2.1 Parallels in Genre Development .............................................................................. 47 2.2.2 Suitability: The Sacred/Secular Divide ................................................................... 57 2.3 Pentecostal Influence on Contemporary Worship Music ......................................... 65 2.3.1 Participation ............................................................................................................... 67 2.3.2 Planned Spontaneity ................................................................................................. 72 2.3.3 Baptized Affective Dispositions .............................................................................. 80 2.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 86 3. The Music of the Catholic Folk Mass ................................................................................... 88 3.1 The Rise of the Catholic Folk Mass .............................................................................. 90 3.2 Music .............................................................................................................................. 102 vi 3.3 Impact ............................................................................................................................. 112 4. Translators: The Jesus People, Calvary Chapel, and Maranatha! Music .................... 117 4.1 Christian Rock on the Eve of the Jesus People ......................................................... 122 4.2 The Jesus People ........................................................................................................... 130 4.2.1 Apocalypticism ........................................................................................................ 136 4.2.2 Pentecostal Dispositions ......................................................................................... 139 4.2.3 Music ......................................................................................................................... 142 4.2.4 Translating the Gospel: Jesus Music as Evangelism ........................................... 147 4.3 Calvary Chapel .............................................................................................................. 153 4.3.1 Calvary Chapel Origins .......................................................................................... 154 4.3.2 Calvary Chapel and Pentecostalism ..................................................................... 161 4.3.3 Music at Calvary Chapel ........................................................................................ 165 4.4 Maranatha! Music ......................................................................................................... 176 4.4.1 The Praise Series ...................................................................................................... 178 4.4.2 Exporting Maranatha! Music ................................................................................. 183 4.4.3 Constructing Authenticity ...................................................................................... 192 4.4.4 The Maranatha Sound: Communicating Authenticity through Technology . 203 4.4.5 Musical Work ........................................................................................................... 213 4.5 Legacy and Impact ........................................................................................................ 216 5. Intimacy: The Music of the Vineyard Fellowship ............................................................ 223 5.1 Growing the Vineyard ................................................................................................. 224 5.1.1 John Wimber ............................................................................................................. 226 vii 5.1.2 Growing a New Church ......................................................................................... 230 5.1.3 The Birth of the Vineyard Fellowship .................................................................. 234 5.2 Music of the Vineyard .................................................................................................. 237 5.2.1 The Vineyard's Model of Worship ........................................................................ 248 5.2.2 Routinizing the Vineyard Sound ........................................................................... 254 5.3 The Impact of Vineyard Music ................................................................................... 262 6. Science: Growing Churches with Music ............................................................................ 265 6.1 The Church Growth Movement ................................................................................. 266 6.2 Willow Creek ................................................................................................................. 278 6.2.1 Beginnings: Son City ............................................................................................... 278 6.2.2 Music at Willow Creek ............................................................................................ 284 6.3 Other Seeker Services ..................................................................................................