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Sacred : A , culture, & missiology study of the

by Paul T. Lattimer

A capstone project submitted in partial fulfillment of graduating from the Academic Honors Program at Ashland University December 2012

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Craig Hovey, Assistant Professor of Additional Reader: Dr. Sue Dickson, Assistant Professor of Religion

Lattimer i

©2012 Paul Lattimer

All Rights Reserved

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Abstract

My argument is that the Christian faith can be legitimately enacted within the context of the modern metal scene. Specifically, I survey important pieces of literature about both the secular and the sacred versions of the metal scene and examine how the Christian faith is put into practice within the scene in terms of worship style and evangelistic tactics. Some object that the metal scene is not fit for Christian practice because of its historical linkage with devil worship, explicit sexual references, profane language, rebellious attitude, , and burnings, but I argue that the redemptive power of and the Godhead is powerful enough to redeem a broken music scene and transform it into a new creation that can bring honor, glory, and praise to the one true God. In addition to surveying the scene and arguing for the legitimacy of it, I also discuss the pros and cons that accompany the translation of the

Christian faith into a different cultural context. In the end, I determine that, while the Christian metal scene is not your traditional, Sunday morning , the scene is a legitimate form of Christian expression that must be carried out with care and caution because of the gravity and responsibility that accompanies bringing the into a new realm.

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Table of Contents Introduction ...... 1 Literature Review ...... 2 Literature Review of Marcus Moberg’s “The ‘double controversy’ of Christian metal” ...... 2 Literature Review of Marcus Moberg’s “The internet and the construction of a transnational Christian metal music scene” ...... 5 Literature Review of Dietmar Elflein’s “Slaying the Pulse: Rhythmic Organisation and Rhythmic Interplay within Heavy Metal” ...... 10 Literature Review of Marcus Moberg’s “Turn or Burn? The Peculiar Case of Christian Metal Music” .. 11 Literature Review of Richard J. Floeckher’s “Fuck Euphemisms: How Speak the Truth about War” ...... 13 Literature Review of Christian Hoffstadt and Michael Nagenborg’s “You’re too Fuckin’ Metal for Your Own Good! Controlled Anger and the Expression of Intensity and Authenticity in Post-Modern Heavy Metal” ...... 16 Literature Review of H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ & Culture ...... 18 Literature Review of Perry L. Glanzer’s “Christ and the : Applying Qualitative Analysis to the Contemporary Debate about H. Richard Niebuhr's Christ and Culture” ...... 19 The Translation Issue ...... 24 Budde’s Warning against the Blind Acceptance of Cultural Elements ...... 24 Hovey, Hauerwas, & Borg on the Translation Issue ...... 27 What does scripture have to say?...... 28 Seamands and How to Do Translation ...... 30 Christian Missiology within the Metal Scene ...... 32 as an Adaptive Religion ...... 32 Enter Christian Missiology within the Christian Metal Music Scene ...... 33 What is the scene actually putting forth? ...... 34 Case Studies within the Christian Metal Music Scene ...... 37 What Sorts of People Does the Scene Produce? ...... 41 within the Metal Scene ...... 43 Hart v Dallh: What Constitutes Beauteous Worship Music? ...... 44 Is Heavy Worship Actually Worship? ...... 47 Liturgical Worship ...... 48 Traditional Evangelical Worship ...... 50 Lattimer iv

Contemporary Worship ...... 53 Blended Worship...... 56 Emerging Worship ...... 59 Diverse Worship ...... 61 Tying the Six Perspectives Together ...... 63 Conclusion ...... 64 Bibliography ...... 66 Author’s Biography ...... 70

Introduction

Heavy metal emerged in the late and early 1970s; this is a fusion of and -based, . Some early examples include and

Black Sabbath. Many heavy metal bands promoted themes of evil, , and destruction with their music, and the , , and the evil forces within Christianity were common sources of lyrical inspiration. As time progressed, subgenres such as and metal emerged in the 1980s and 1990s.1 Over the years, metal has gathered a résumé of controversy from acts such as church burnings by the Norwegian scene.

Nevertheless, metal still exists today, and the term metal is mainly used as a generic word to encompass the various subgenres and styles that still carry the core, aesthetic qualities of the music form. There is an academic response to the existence of the metal scene, and Marcus

Moberg, a researcher at the Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, states that metal is both the most controversial and most enduring music genre of our time.2

When the Christian faith encounters any new culture or context, it has a choice. The faith can either infiltrate and transform the culture, or it can shun and denounce the new culture.

Throughout history, Christianity has chosen to adapt to its new contexts, and, consequently,

Christianity has evolved to be one of the most popular and widespread faiths across the globe.

Yet, there is an inherent danger to adapting to new contexts; some aspects of Christian truth are threatened to be lost in the translation. At the same time, translating the Christian faith to a new

1 The different subgenres of music within the wider metal scene have special focuses that substantiate their subgenre categorizations; for example, the subgenre of black metal is a more extreme form of metal music that commonly has Satanic, pagan, or anti-Christian themes in the lyrics.

2 Marcus Moberg, “The internet and the construction of a transnational Christian metal music scene,” Culture and Religion 9, vo. 1 (2008): 85-87. Lattimer 2 context can also further unfold the religion, and we can learn more about the inner workings of the faith by translating it to new contexts. The question of Christ and culture is a very significant one, and the purpose of this thesis is to investigate the way in which the Christian faith encounters the heavy metal subculture. What aspects of the faith are further revealed? And what is lost in translation? Furthermore, is the Christian metal scene even a legitimate form of

Christian expression?

Throughout this study, I will specifically examine two major aspects of the Christian faith: the implementation of the and the worship experience. This thesis consists of three main phases. First, I explore several key pieces of academic literature regarding the metal music scene and the translation issue; this does two things: provide crucial background knowledge about the Christian metal scene to give us an idea of what we are discussing and also build a foundation for the later study of Christian worship and missiology. Second, I look at the effects of these elements upon the enactment of the Christian mission within the scene. Third, I exposit the Christian worship experience within the metal music scene. Finally, I summarize my findings and offer concluding thoughts.

Literature Review

Literature Review of Marcus Moberg’s “The ‘double controversy’ of Christian metal”

Marcus Moberg, a researcher at the Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, recently wrote an article entitled “The ‘double controversy’ of Christian metal.” In this article, he Lattimer 3 discusses how the Christian metal scene has been under attack from both the internal metal community as well as externally from the traditional evangelical Christian camp. Next, he places the Christian metal scene in its place amongst evangelical popular culture. Afterward, he discusses the scene’s location in the midst of the culture wars. Finally, he concludes the article by defending the Christian metal scene on four fronts.3

First, there has been a moral attack against the metal scene by the Parents Music

Resource Center, the Parent-Teacher Association, and various conservative, evangelical, and fundamentalist Christian groups. More specifically, these groups have accused metal for being associated “with the promotion of violence, self-destructive behavior, suicide, sexual promiscuity and perversion, extreme rebellion, juvenile delinquency, and the ‘occult.’” In regards to the Christian spectrum of the objectors, the Satanism panic served as the greatest assault to the contemporary Christian values. While several metal bands indeed do promote such qualities within their music, it is a hasty generalization to say that all bands within the metal scene are so obscene. Furthermore, the double sided assault of the controversy comes from the opposition within the secular metal scene to the emergence of its Christian counterpart. In other words, some members of the secular side of the scene view the Christian infiltration as a hostile invasion.4

Moberg continues by placing the Christian metal scene within its overall cultural context.

The scene belongs under the umbrella of evangelical popular culture;5 however, as discussed in the previous paragraph, the Christian metal scene has not been received with as warm of a

3 Marcus Moberg, “The ‘double controversy’ of Christian metal,” in History, (Sheffield: Equinox Publishing Ltd, 2012) 85-99.

4 Ibid., 86-87.

5 Evangelical popular culture or Christian popular culture is a ‘morally sound’ alternative to secular popular culture. Lattimer 4 welcome compared with the reception of other elements of the evangelical popular culture.

Another instance of the Christian metal scene interacting with popular culture occurs with the instance of the Sanctuary Church.6 Moberg states that evangelical popular culture is not the sole reason why the Christian metal scene emerged, but he does express that it certainly was a factor during the scene’s creation in the 1980s with the emergence of bands such as , Messiah

Prophet, and .7

Since its conception, the Christian metal scene has been in the midst of the culture wars.

On one front, the scene was scrutinized due to the theme of rebellion that was promoted by its secular counterpart. On another front, the style and appearance of Christian metal bands, in aspects such as clothing and hair length, were criticized by evangelical . But the

Christian metal bands defended their case in this way: adopting the styles and appearance of secular metal bands allowed them greater access to the metal scene for the purpose of fulfilling the Christian mission. Additionally, anti-Christian, rock-n-roll critics such as Jimmy

Swaggart and Jeff Goodwin were not pleased with the behaviors of the Christian metal bands because they supposedly promoted sexual promiscuity amongst the fans. On one side of the coin, some say the metal genre of music is one that cannot be redeemed for Christian purposes, but the other side argues that God can utilize anything for His purposes.8

6 The Sanctuary Church movement is basically a church that utilizes metal as the primary music style during the services and adapts other aspects of the metal scene; this church shall be examined more in depth later on in the thesis.

7 Ibid., 85, 87-89.

8 For example, black metal bands in promoted and led church burnings, and this atrocity, understandably, was a key influence for those who think that the metal music genre is too far gone to redeem. But, on the other hand, Christian musicians created un-black or white metal bands such as Admonish who utilized the same music style for Christian purposes rather than for the work of evil. Ibid., 89-94. Lattimer 5

Furthermore, Moberg claims and has argued elsewhere that four items are true aspects of

Christian metal: “(1.) Christian metal as an alternative form of religious expression and identity,

(2.) as a legitimate form of religious expression, (3.) as an effective means of and fighting and standing up for the Christian faith, and (4.) as a positive alternative to secular metal.”9 The scene has been criticized on several fronts, but Moberg stands on the front lines to advocate for the scene from the basis of academic research behind the happenings of the

Christian metal scene. In the following literature reviews, more aspects of the Christian metal scene will be explored.10

Literature Review of Marcus Moberg’s “The internet and the construction of a transnational Christian metal music scene”

Moberg also contributed an article to Culture and Religion entitled “The internet and the construction of a transnational Christian metal music scene.” This article discusses the transnational Christian metal music scene and focuses on the importance of the Internet for the survival of this scene. He defines Christian metal music as “metal music with a clear, Christian message.” Various Internet-based Christian metal media sites allow fans to unite and survey bands from all over the world in areas such as Europe, the USA, and South America. Moberg continues to write that media sources such as the Internet and MP3s in addition to media

9 Italics and numbering were present in the original quotation. Marcus Moberg, “The Transnational Christian Metal Scene Expressing Alternative Christian Identity through a Form of Popular Music,” in INTER: A European Cultural Studies Conference in Sweden (Linköping University Electronic Press, 2007), 424-425.

10 To clarify what I mean by “scene,” the metal scene or metal music scene includes all aspects of the metal music culture regardless of any religious grounding; the term Christian metal scene or Christian metal music scene narrows that category to strictly the Christian elements of the metal music scene.

Marcus Moberg, “The ‘double controversy’ of Christian metal,” 94-98. Lattimer 6 technologies such as the iPod are the driving forces behind the expedited and enhanced access that listeners now have for music.11

Moberg, drawing on the work of Keith Kahn-Harris, uses the term ‘scene’ as a theoretical framework for cases such as Christian metal music; this term is commonly used for popular culture music studies. In regards to the formation of a scene, Moberg writes, “Essentially, a scene is formed when a number of people in a certain place, with a shared passion for a particular kind of music, come together and develop a wide range of other practices, discourses, aesthetics and styles in relation to that particular form of music.”12 There are three main forms of scenic construction: internal, discursive construction; external, discursive construction; and aesthetic construction. Furthermore, there are five main forms of scenic structure: infrastructure such as record labels, distribution channels, and scenic media; stability and the lifespan of a scene before it either collapses or is assimilated into another scene; the relation to other scenes; cultural capital; and, finally, the production and consumption rates of the music and content within a scene. Moberg notes, expounding upon the second form, that the Christian metal music scene has particularly strong stability because of its ideology of shared religious beliefs; this foundation is highly unlikely to be assimilated into other metal sub-scenes. Also, he notes, building off of the fourth form, that Christian, metal musicians, also referred to in the literature as metal missionaries or ministers, have a certain amount of religious capital in the scene.

Furthermore, scenes expand in this way: locally, nationally, transnationally, regionally, and

11 Marcus Moberg, “The internet and the construction of a transnational Christian metal music scene,” Culture and Religion 9, vo. 1 (2008): 81-82.

12 Ibid., 83. Lattimer 7 globally. Due to the fact that scenes vary by subgenres of music, the metal scene, like other music scenes, can be broken down into a complex web of overlapping scenes.13

Particularly in western societies, the interest in traditional, institutional forms of religion correlates inversely with the interest in alternative, holistic, and individualized forms of spirituality. Popular culture reflects this shift, and, with this in mind, Christian metal is fascinating in part that it is well known, despite being scorned at times, throughout secular metal scenes. For background information, Christian contemporary music or CCM birthed in the

1960s to offer an alternative to popular secular music; the lyrics, artists, and organizations are the three, typical distinctions between CCM and secular music. Despite suspicions that metal is not an appropriate medium for , numerous musicians have created music for this scene; Christian metal scenes offer an alternative, Christian identity and form of expression for evangelism and worship. This movement of the Christian metal scene began in the late 1970s, about ten years after the emergence of secular metal.14 In 1984, the metal-playing Sanctuary church was established; this development brought a degree of credibility to metal for the

Christian community. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Christian metal bands such as Stryper,

Jerusalem, Deliverance, Tourniquet, Mortification, and Deuteronomium brought Christian metal to the sight of the secular audience’s eyes as Christian metal became more extreme. Christian metal stems from evangelical , and, consequently, the resulting bands are far more prominent in countries with a decent presence of this tradition of Christianity.15 Christian metal

13 Ibid., 82-85.

14 In another article, Moberg notes that the purpose of the emerging Christian metal scene was initially to evangelize the rest of the metal scene, but, more recently, the Christian metal scene is emerging as its own entity with more functions than just evangelism, such as offering an alternative venue for musical worship amongst confessing Christians. Marcus Moberg. “Turn or Burn? The Peculiar Case of Christian Metal Music,” in The Metal Void: First Gatherings, ed. Niall W. R. Scott & Imke Von Helden (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2008), 367.

Lattimer 8 possesses similar, gory imagery from secular metal on artwork such as covers, and

Christian metal lyrics contain themes such as , the battle between good and evil, the importance of Christ’s crucifixion, the apocalypse, and the approaching judgment.16

The Christian metal scene is primarily defined by its status as an alternative community of Christians, so this scene contains all the Christian bands within any metal subgenre because the particular subgenre of musical style is a secondary categorization. The function of Christian metal includes purposes such as presenting a positive alternative to secular metal, providing a legitimate form of religious expression and Christian identity, and offering an effective means of evangelism. Furthermore, even though the scene originally stemmed from , the scene now unites numerous Christian affiliations. Even though the various Christian metal bands were raised in different areas of the world and with varying religious backgrounds, they still represent the same tenets of Christian metal. Signature of the Christian metal scene, members of this scene commonly interact with the secular metal scene; this is unlike other forms of CCM.

Additionally, Christian metal bands can play shows at secular metal . The Christian metal scene has created an independent infrastructure within the Internet for record labels, promotions, magazines, discussion forums, distributions channels, and more. Websites such as

The Metal for Page present ‘Christian metal apologetics’ for Christian metal being both an effective evangelistic tool and a legitimate expression of the Christian faith. Local and national

Christian metal structures can become transnational by way of the Internet.17

15 Likewise, the vast majority of Christian metal fans are Protestant.

Ibid., 372.

16 Moberg, “The internet and the Christian metal music scene,” 87-90.

17 Ibid., 91-92. Lattimer 9

The Internet is crucial for the transnational Christian metal scene. For example, The

Metal for Jesus Page operates transnationally as it includes fans and musicians from many nations and utilizes the Internet for transnational communication; the site advertises the myriad of Christian metal bands, offers testimonies from converts, and more. The creator of this site,

Johannes, also maintains the Christian metal prayer chain Prayer Warriors and upholds the

Christian metal store Metal Community. For another example, Firestream.net is an online discussion forum where both Christian metal musicians and fans come together to discuss topics such as Christian metal lyrics, Christians theology, and Satanism. For yet another example,

Trevor, the creator and administrator of the Christian metal webzine The Buried Scrolls, states that, without the Internet, Christian metal would be far more localized because it would have severely restricted access to its potential audience; furthermore, he writes that the majority of

Christian metal is advertised, marketed, and discussed online. Additionally, the Internet allows access to Christian metal in areas of the world that do not have a prominent, physical population of the Christian metal scene. David, the man behind Firestream.net, explains that there are several groups of conservative Christians who discount the validity of Christian metal due to its extremity and even claim that it is evil. The scene responds by stating that a music form cannot be judged on its own, but, rather, the way that the music style is utilized determines its morality.

Curiously, the online Christian metal material appears to represent central Christian claims rather than arguing doctrinal statements from the various denominations within Christianity. To conclude this section of his article, Moberg illuminates the flipside of the contemporary Christian equation; he points out a service organized by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland entitled “Metal Mass.” This service ushers in the traditional with the accompaniment of a metal .18

18 Ibid., 92-96. Lattimer 10

Literature Review of Dietmar Elflein’s “Slaying the Pulse: Rhythmic

Organisation and Rhythmic Interplay within Heavy Metal”

Now that we have surveyed the Christian metal scene as a whole, let us specifically examine some of the inner workings of elements of the scene. Dietmar Elflein, a scholar in

Berlin, Germany, who focuses his research on the musical analysis of heavy metal, hip-hop, and popular music, discusses the use and importance of the in that offers an excellent description of the rhythmic organization and rhythmic style within heavy metal music.19 He defines riff as “a short rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic figure played by at least

20 one instrument, mostly the .” Elflein agrees with Robert Walser’s statement that the rhythmic framework of heavy metal music is arranged by a pulse rather than a meter.21 The music genre blues influenced heavy metal, and, in blues, the provided the pulse of the . However, in Great Britain during the 1960s, blues expanded this concept to allow other guitars or the drums to provide the pulse; this expansion allows more versatility in music genre by enabling other instruments to generate the pulse. This aspect of the pulse has carried over into heavy metal and can be observed in aspects such as double bass drumming. For the guitar, a

19 Elflein draws off of Herbert Bruhn’s work to describe rhythm: “Rhythm is defined as a structured, cognitive representation of a sequence of auditory objects within defined spaces of time.” Dietmar Elflein, “Slaying the Pulse: Rhythmic Organisation and Rhythmic Interplay within Heavy Metal,” in The Metal Void: First Gatherings, ed. Niall W. R. Scott & Imke Von Helden (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2008), 280.

20 Ibid., 279.

21 A pulse is “a regular repetition of an acoustic event.” Ibid., 280.

However, a meter can restructure the pulse of the music. If the pulse is stressed, then it is considered heavy. If the pulse is unstressed, then it is considered light. Lattimer 11 pulse may be created by way of a combination of distortion effects and palm muting;22 the palm muting aims to tame the increasing distortion effects so that a pulse is generated.23

According to Elflein’s studies, a riff may be transfigured in several different ways. For instance, one could either halve or double the . Also, one could vary the pitch of a riff; this may be done either in groups of pulses or within certain parts of a riff. In addition, pulses can be transposed. Furthermore, Elflein also notes that, in terms of rhythmic structure, heavy metal is either played binary or ternary, but it is not played shuffling. Moreover, ’s influence on heavy metal allows for irregular metres; in effect, this allows different clusters of pulses to be attached to various riffs. Elflein concludes that heavy metal musicians glue multiples of two or three pulses to riffs; he refers to this process as ‘slaying the pulse.’24

Literature Review of Marcus Moberg’s “Turn or Burn? The Peculiar Case of

Christian Metal Music”

Now that Elflein has illuminated the inner workings of the actual musicianship behind metal music for us, let us return Marcus Moberg and an article that he contributed to The Metal

Void: First Gatherings entitled “Turn or Burn? The Peculiar Case of Christian Metal” in order to investigate the core essence of the Christian metal scene. This article discusses what Christian

22 According to Ryan Spencer from guitarnoise.com, palm muting is a guitar technique that is performed on a guitar by placing the palm of the picking hand along the strings of the guitar and near the bridge of the instrument. The palm should not be pressed down neither too intensely nor too softly, but, rather, a nice, medium amount of pressure is required for the perfect . This technique yields a heavy, percussion-like sound to the notes played. For more on guitar muting, please see: Shane Roberts, “Learn : Palm Muting Techniques,” eHow, Accessed Nov. 21, 2011, http://www.ehow.com/video_6152955_learn-guitar-palm-muting-techniques.html.

23 Dietmar Elflein, “Slaying the Pulse,” 279-280, 291.

24 Elflein does provide more structures and examples for ‘slaying the pulse,’ but thesis does not intend to be a comprehensive musicology study of metal music. Please refer back to Elflein’s original article if you would like to see more structures and examples. Ibid., 281-291. Lattimer 12 metal is and what it is about.25 Furthermore, Moberg provides a very helpful, threefold definition for Christian metal music:

First, Christian metal is metal with a Christian message, with lyrics dealing with either explicitly Christian theological topics or other social or cultural issues from a Christian perspective. Much like secular metal, Christian metal often explores various biblical eschatological and apocalyptic themes such as the ongoing spiritual battle between good and evil (so called ‘spiritual warfare’), the fall from grace or the last judgment. Many bands also choose to focus more on Christian faith and everyday personal or social struggles. Second, Christian metal is metal produced by people who are professed Christians (and it is sometimes principally produced for Christians as well). Third, and of lesser importance nowadays, it is metal produced and distributed though various Christian networks guided by an evangelistic agenda.26

With this definition in mind, Moberg clarifies that the second element is the most crucial, and the first stature is highly recommended and appreciated for achieving classification as

Christian metal. In addition, Moberg notes that Christian metal, out of all the varieties and subsections of , most accurately resembles the secular version of the genre; Christian metal can only be distinguished from secular metal by viewing the lyrics.27 After discovering what Christian metal is, one may wonder what the respective scene is about, and Moberg sheds light on this subject matter. Christian metal is a new way to be a Christian and the Christian life. In North America, this idea may seem strange,28 but countries of the Nordic region such as

Norway, Sweden, and Finland, have been more accepting of this claim and accept this purpose of

25 Marcus Moberg, “Turn or Burn? The Peculiar Case of Christian Metal Music,” in The Metal Void: First Gatherings, ed. Niall W. R. Scott & Imke Von Helden (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2008), 367-369.

26 Ibid., 369-370.

27 To exemplify this point, Moberg uses the example of the rebellion theme within the metal scene. Within secular metal, rebellion is emphasized to rebel against anyone who tries to tell you how to behave; for example, Moberg cites a popular line from the secular band Rage Against the Machine: “Fuck you, I don’t do what you tell me!” Christian metal carries over this metal theme of rebellion by transitioning the aim of the rebellion to rebelling against the sinful nature of humanity and the world, and, in supplemental aid to this new direction of rebellion, Christian metal seeks and encourages submission and obedience to parental, church, and divine authority.

28 Christian metal bands have and still do encounter difficulties when seeking approval for their evangelism tactics from their home churches. Lattimer 13

Christian metal. For example, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland has even gone to the lengths of building a liturgical mass that incorporates heavy metal in place of the traditional music style.29

Additionally, Moberg outlines the common fields of discourse on media sites from internal and external perspectives of Christian metal. The internal discourse mainly focuses within four realms: Christian metal as an alternative expression of Christianity, Christian metal as a legitimate expression of Christianity,30 Christian metal as an effective means of evangelism, and Christian metal as an alternative to secular metal.31 The external discourse regards three categories: Christian metal as conformed evangelism, Christian metal as treason, and Christian metal as a joke.32

Literature Review of Richard J. Floeckher’s “Fuck Euphemisms: How Heavy

Metal Lyrics Speak the Truth about War”

Now that we have examined the essence of Christian metal from the eyes of Marcus

Moberg, let us now turn to Richard J. Floeckher, an American scholar of music and ,

29 Ibid., 369-373.

30 The internal discourse of Christian metal as a legitimate expression of Christianity yields Christian metal apologists such as, but not limited to, those aforementioned on The Metal for Jesus webpage.

31 The Christian metal as an alternative to secular metal field yields debates on large online discussions forums such as Firestream.net and Christian Metal Realm that discuss whether Christian metal fans should reject all, accept all, or accept discerningly secular metal.

32 During part of my fieldwork research at the Cleveland, OH, stop of the Never Say Die tour on February 9th, 2010, I observed , a band within the Christian metal scene, that opened for a secular band . During For Today’s set, the front man Mattie Montgomery announced that the next is about his faith in Jesus Christ. Immediately, a crowd member in the pit area shouted, “Fuck Jesus; hail !” For another example, the black- and death metal band Behemoth from Poland sells a t-shirt exclaiming, “CHRISTIANS TO THE LIONS.” These are a couple examples of non-Christian bands within the heavy metal subculture expressing their view of Christian metal as treason to true metal.

Ibid., 373-380. Lattimer 14 who provides insights into the non-euphemistical style of lyricism within heavy metal. He accomplishes this feat by building off of an anti-euphemistic document that was written by Élise

Hendrick; furthermore, he argues his point by using heavy metal lyrics about war as examples.

Floeckher argues that euphemisms are actually more grotesque and obscene than the explicit descriptions that they shadow because euphemisms lessen the gravity of the true and intended message behind them. In other words, euphemisms do not properly nor fully convey messages of truth or outcries for justice because they hide the true reality. Also Floeckher claims that heavy metal fans adore the non-euphemistical lyric style because of the rawness and sincerity shown by the passionate and angry lyrics of the music genre; this lyrical style fully discloses concepts rather than hiding behind curtains.33

Floeckher clarifies that euphemisms can be positively useful for instances such as saving someone from social embarrassment in situations such as the onset of various bodily functions;

Floeckher states that the use of euphemisms takes a turn for the worse when euphemisms are wrongly used to censor such things as the utter destructiveness of war. For the latter occurrence, he argues that euphemisms are downright wrong, and non-euphemistical lyrics about war give a voice to the dominated souls whose voices would otherwise go unheard and unanswered.

Floeckher argues that, when the voices of the media and politicians uses euphemisms such as

‘collateral damage’ in place of ‘thousands of scorched corpses of innocent civilians that are slowly decaying in a mass grave’ in regards to war, the general public is ushered into the art of apathetic violence; and, in this state of apathy, one supports violence by not interjecting on behalf of those victimized by warfare.34

33 Richard J. Floeckher, “Fuck Euphemisms: How Heavy Metal Lyrics Speak the Truth about War,” in The Metal Void: First Gatherings, ed. Niall W. R. Scott & Imke Von Helden (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2008), 233, 241.

Lattimer 15

Floeckher puts it this way: “Euphemisms used to describe the violence of war tell us that suffering is not really suffering and that death is not really death;”35 on the other hand, the raw and uncut lyrics of heavy metal tell a much different story. Floeckher chooses five examples to illustrate this point; furthermore, he divides the examples into two groups: songs that address war as an entity and songs that depict combat from a soldier’s perspective. In the former category, he writes about ’s “” from 1970 and Guns and Roses’ “Civil War” from

1990.36 In the latter division, he refers to ’s “One” from 1989, Alice and Chains’

“Rooster” from 1992, and ’ “The Good Soldier” from 2007.37 In conclusion,

Floeckher acknowledges that getting more people in the world to listen to heavy metal will not magically cure the world of violence and warfare, but he does cement his point that euphemisms can and have been a very dangerous and deadly poison in regards to censoring such things as the horrors of war and anesthetizing the general public from outcry. All in all, the anti-euphemistic lyrics of heavy metal deliver raw and uncut truth in ways that euphemisms cannot possibly conceive.38

34 Ibid., 233-236.

35 Ibid., 236.

36 Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” provides an uncensored description of generals whom plot death and destruction.

Guns and Roses’ “Civil War” offers a raw and uncut look at the severity of the depravity that warfare yields; this description vastly differs from the censorship of the modern media.

37 Metallica’s “One” graphically describes the aftermath of a soldier who was mutilated by a landmine; after the explosion, the soldier was explicitly left with no eyes, no mouth, no ears, no arms, and no legs. War left this soldier to rot after he was used, chewed, abused, and spewed out by the war machine.

Alice and Chains’ “Rooster” was written from the perspective of one of the band’s guitarist’s father who fought for the United States during the . On page 239 of his article, Floeckher writes that the “lyrics capture the paranoia, distress, homesickness, regret, terror, exhaustion and physical pain of war.”

Nine Inch Nails’ “The Good Soldier” depicts the life of a soldier in Iraq; Trent Reznor, the lyricist of the band, delivers the gut-wrenching horrors of war and violence very effectively and honestly as he refuses to utilize euphemistic language.

Lattimer 16

Literature Review of Christian Hoffstadt and Michael Nagenborg’s “You’re too

Fuckin’ Metal for Your Own Good! Controlled Anger and the Expression of

Intensity and Authenticity in Post-Modern Heavy Metal”

Christian Hoffstadt and Michael Nagenborg provide critical insights on anger, intensity, and authenticity within heavy metal in their article “You’re too Fuckin’ Metal for Your Own

Good! Controlled Anger and the Expression of Intensity and Authenticity in Post-Modern

Heavy Metal.”39 They note that anger is both a form of passion and a ‘deaf-and-blind emotion;’ furthermore, heavy metal, especially the experience, allows both musicians and fans alike to experience this form of passion. Hoffstadt and Nagenborg cite Jon Elster for highlighting the difference between the Stoic and Aristotelian view of anger: the Stoic view condemns anger as a self-destructive emotion, but the Aristotelian perspective argues that anger can be useful in certain circumstances and to certain degrees. Both views agree with Hoffstadt and Nagenborg when they point out that anger risks rash decisions; in light of these preconceived notions, Hoffstadt and Nagenborg argue that heavy metal is neither irrational nor irresponsible just because it allows for the expression of anger.40

38 Ibid., 236-240.

39 Christian Hoffstadt, a researcher of epistemology, meta-theory, media philosophy of things such as film and game studies, philosophy and contemporary culture, philosophy of medicine, and more, has earned a Ph.D. in Germany from the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Karlsruhe. And, Michael Nagenborg, a Doctor of Philosophy, is employed at the University of Tübingen, Germany, in the Interdepartmental Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities; he focuses his research in areas such as , surveillance, (sub-)culture and information ethics and is working on the “Terahertz-Detektionssysteme: Ethische Begleitung, Evaluation und Normenfindung” project.

40 Christian Hoffstadt and Michael Nagenborg, “You’re too Fuckin’ Metal for Your Own Good! Controlled Anger and the Expression of Intensity and Authenticity in Post-Modern Heavy Metal,” in The Metal Void: First Gatherings, ed. Niall W. R. Scott & Imke Von Helden (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2008), 37-39, 43, 45. Lattimer 17

By using elements such as aggression, anger, violence, and brutality, heavy metal is able to inject energy, liveliness, and vigor into its adherents,41 but Hoffstadt and Nagenborg point out a traditional philosophical argument from Robert Fudge’s research that angry music could corrode one’s morals or character by providing a negative influence. However, Fudge supports the Aristotelian stance by arguing that angry metal can be a positive influence by helping the listeners process their anger; this, in turn, allows one to overcome angry feelings more quickly.

Furthermore, the concert experience is the best format for the expression of anger because musicians can direct the anger expression in a controlled manner such as ; this abstractly resembles anger management therapy. This does not go to say that anger will not become destructive in large quantities, but this does say that anger is like food. It can be very unhealthy in large quantities, but a little bit can be good for you.42

Hoffstadt and Nagenborg illustrate this concept by using a performance by the heavy metal band Metallica as an example. During a concert, the bassist Jason Newsted was observed as acting very angry and crazy while playing guitar, so the front man James Hetfield exclaimed that Newsted was acting: “Too fuckin’ metal for your own good!”43 In this case, the front man

James Hetfield displayed controlled anger with his demeanor; he still screamed the lyrics and snarled his facial expression during the set. Yet he still was able to maintain his composure and not allow his anger expression to take control of himself and drive him to the destructive levels of anger that his band mate Jason Newsted reached. This shows that members of the metal

41 Hoffstadt and Nagenborg draw on work by Keith Kahn-Harris for this statement.

42 Ibid., 38-40.

43 Ibid., 40. Lattimer 18 scene, even those that are as closely related to one another as band mates, are subject to the dividing line that separates controlled anger expression from uncontrolled outbursts of anger.44

In the 1980s, metal concerts were shut down when fights broke out, so metal bands adapted and refined anger expression into a controlled format such as the demeanor that James

Hetfield embodied in the prior example. Returning to the idea of the concert experience as the premier vessel for experiencing controlled anger in heavy metal, Hoffstadt and Nagenborg note that ‘games’ such as moshing, , the wall of death, , bouncing and barging, and more45 are utilized when conducting controlled anger expression. Also, Hoffstadt and

Nagenborg note: “becoming, being and staying angry may also help us remember who we are” because memories are tightly linked to emotional states.46 Lastly, Hoffstadt and Nagenborg note that metal does not even attempt to portray itself as tranquil, but, rather, heavy metal loudly speaks the life frustrations of musicians and fans alike.47

Literature Review of H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ & Culture

Now that we have examined lyricism and controlled anger expression within heavy metal music, let us briefly review H. Richard Niebuhr’s book Christ & Culture as a set up for a study of the Christian metal scene in regards to the topic of Christ and culture. In this book, Niebuhr discusses, as the title suggests, the relationship between Jesus Christ and culture, and he opens by

44 Ibid., 40.

45 For more on moshing, the concert experience, and ‘concert games,’ please explore: http://www.ehow.com/info_8552554_styles-mosh.html http://www.ehow.com/info_8678541_types-moshing.html http://www.moshing.org/

46 Christian Hoffstadt and Michael Nagenborg, “You’re too Fuckin’ Metal,” 39.

47 Ibid., 39-42. Lattimer 19 presenting this problem: How does the relationship between Christ and culture operate? After presenting this question, Niebuhr’s proceeding 5 chapters discuss various views about how these two relate. First, he presents the idea of Christ against culture; in this view, Christianity views their Savior as the opponent to the , pagan societies of the world. Second, the Christ of culture view presents history as the story of the Triune God’s interaction with the world. Third, the Christ above culture view states that the time of humanity on earth is a preparation phase for the advent of eternal communion with God. Fourth, Christ and culture in paradox is a dualistic theology in which life on earth is a period of time during the gap between promises from God being made and being fulfilled in which humanity wrestles between faith and disbelief. Fifth,

Niebuhr presents his final view of Christ as the transformer of culture; this theory depicts Christ as presently alive in as He transforms and defines world culture. Following the discussion of these five views, Niebuhr concludes with dialogue about how a definitive answer cannot be given for the correct view of Christ and culture, but, rather, he states on page 233 of the text that each believer must reach his or her own final conclusion in regards to the opening question.48

Literature Review of Perry L. Glanzer’s “Christ and the Heavy Metal

Subculture: Applying Qualitative Analysis to the Contemporary Debate about

H. Richard Niebuhr's Christ and Culture”

This groundbreaking work from H. Richard Niebuhr presents an influential and pressing question in regards to any study about the Christian metal scene, and Perry Glanzer notes some contemporary scholars who have recently been debating Niebuhr’s work. Glanzer notes that

48 Niebuhr, Richard H., Christ & Culture (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001). Lattimer 20 there is some opposition and arguments for overturning his fivefold typology from ethicists such as John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, and William Willimon. Less vicariously, George

Marsden, a Reformed historian, argues for the transformation of Niebuhr’s typology; meanwhile,

James Gustafson supports the continued use of Niebuhr’s text with only minor modifications at best. Glanzer’s article “Christ and the Heavy Metal Subculture: Applying Qualitative Analysis to the Contemporary Debate about H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture” discusses his findings from a study he conducted in a Sanctuary church to determine the usefulness of

Niebuhr’s typology in light of Yoder, Hauerwas, Willimon, Marsden, and Gustafson’s arguments.49

Glanzer conducted a 6 month long field study of a Sanctuary church in Torrance,

California. During this time, he observed worship services, educational classes, social events, and performances by Christian bands, and he interviewed many of the church’s , deacons, elders, and members. At the time of his study, this was a church that operated out of the evangelical and within the heavy metal subculture, but he notes that its form

49 The Sanctuary church is a church that utilizes heavy metal music for worship; the church is designed to attract and reach out to both Christians and non-Christians within the heavy metal subculture. In 1984, Bob Beeman was approached by the members from the road crew and fan club of Stryper, a Christian metal band; these men informed Bob that Stryper and other Christian metal bands had converted hundreds of people. But the new converts did not know what to do next after the conversion, and they were having trouble fitting into the average church in the United States of America. So, Pastor Bob organized a gathering for these Christians and Christian metal bands in 1985; this movement evolved into what is now Sanctuary International. The first formal meeting of a Sanctuary church was in 1986. The majority of Sanctuary churches are in Southern , but there are also Sanctuary churches in , Spokane, Oklahoma City, and Denver. Pastor Bob’s goal for the Sanctuary churches has been to create a home church for the heavy metal Christians and teach the to the Christian metal band members. Rabey, Steve, “Big-band Fan Turns Missionary to Metal Heads,” Christianity Today (1992): 10-11.

While Glanzer’s study aims to evaluate to usefulness of Niebuhr’s typology fifty years after its creation, I reference Glanzer’s work to extract the elements pertaining to the Sanctuary church and Christian heavy metal; my intentions are not to affirm, deny, or modify Niebuhr’s typology.

Perry L. Glanzer, "Christ and the Heavy Metal Subculture: Applying Qualitative Analysis to the Contemporary Debate about H. Richard Niebuhr's Christ and Culture," Journal of Religion & Society 5 (2003): 1-2. Lattimer 21 has shifted since his study into more of a ministry than an actual church.50 Glanzer notes that accepting the heavy metal look was one of the key ways that the Sanctuary church melded with the heavy metal subculture.51 Pastor Bob Beeman sports this look himself with his long hair, earrings, black leather bracelets, black jeans, black t-shirts, and black boots. The church’s open arms to the heavy metal look has bred an atmosphere of acceptance that welcomes Christians within the heavy metal subculture who did not feel as welcome within the more mainline and traditional churches of the USA. While the intention of welcoming the heavy metal look into the

Sanctuary church appears innocent at heart, the aftermath has resulted in a form of Christ against culture because church members have grown to see the heavy metal look as the dress code for the church. In a church where everyone wears suits, the heavy metal look would not be welcome, but, in a church where everyone sports the heavy metal look, formal dress is not accepted. Instead of merely welcoming all fashion senses, Glanzer notes that the Sanctuary church has actually gone against culture by rejecting styles that are not characteristic of the heavy metal subculture.52

50 Glanzer cites Deena Weinstein’s work for determining that heavy metal is a subculture as opposed to a mass audience, folk culture, or taste culture because heavy metal encompasses all of the activities and the total lifestyle of the subculture’s members.

51 For males, the heavy metal look consists of long hair, blue jeans, and black heavy metal t-shirts. In addition to these three most defining features, members of the heavy metal subculture may also wear black boots, black jackets, pins, tags, caps with , earrings, necklaces, spiked collars, spiked bracelets, rings, died hair, and tattoos. Glanzer found that two-thirds of the people within the church’s directory sported long hair; this style shows true dedication to the subculture because of the time commitment that is necessary to grow out one’s hair. For females, the heavy metal look will either copy the male version or consist of short skirts, spandex, and halter tops. The latter option for females can be rather revealing and questionably appropriate for church wear. However, the Sanctuary church does not want to outlaw this style because they want to create an accepting atmosphere for their congregation. The Sanctuary church that the will work in the congregation’s heart to convict members to not dress too inappropriately regardless of what the heavy metal look is supposed to be. One of the pastors in Sanctuary’s worship band did inform Glanzer that the worship band eliminated the spandex style, and Glanzer noted that this confliction of Christian values and the heavy metal look represents a form of Christ and culture in paradox.

52 Ibid., 2-6.

Lattimer 22

In addition to the heavy metal look, the Sanctuary church incorporates heavy metal music. However, several suspect themes of secular heavy metal music pose a problem to

Christianity; for example, heavy metal lyrics may traditionally revolve around alcohol abuse, illegal drug use, sex in immoral contexts, blood and gore, death, destruction, mayhem, carnage, monsters, , the underworld, rebellion, and other such things.53 Needless to say, crafting

Christian heavy metal with the incorporation of all of these themes would be a quite a stretch and could limit to full disclosure of the entire gospel message. So, in an act of Christ transforming culture, the Christian heavy metal musicians ideally replace themes such as those previously mentioned with more pure, Christian lyrics. The heavy metal bands associated with the

Sanctuary church have lyrics about apocalyptic images, the battle between good and evil, the hopelessness and meaninglessness of life without Christ, and more; these new lyrical themes are different than the typical secular heavy metal fare but are still metal nonetheless. Furthermore,

Glanzer noted during his study that the Sanctuary church and Christian metal bands fully affirm the use of heavy metal music because forms of music are mere vessels for something more, the message that they convey. The secular lyrics may be corrupt, but the musical style itself is not innately poisonous. So, the Christian heavy metal bands redeem the music genre by simply redeeming the lyrical content.54

Drawing from Weinstein’s research, Glanzer notes that the Christian heavy metal bands enact the cultural role of priests. A few bands play in churches, but the majority of them go out into the world for tours just like the secular heavy metal bands. Touring allows the Christian heavy metal bands to evangelize the heavy metal fans that would normally never step foot into a

53 In addition to these lyrical themes, the typeface of heavy metal band names and logos appears big and jagged to symbolize force and power; also, the colors of red and black are commonly utilized.

54 Ibid., 6-7.

Lattimer 23 church. Since touring allows access to the unreached heavy metal fans, Glanzer observed in his field work that some of the musicians in Christian metal bands do not even like the music style; they state that they only formed the bands as a means of reaching out to the subculture. By routing their purpose in witnessing, Christian heavy metal bands focus more on reaching out to their audience as opposed to focusing on becoming super popular and making lots of money. Of course, there are always some exceptions, and some of the bands do not practice what they preach. But, in ideal essence, the bands seek to bring Christ to the subculture.55

Furthermore, the concert experience is the hallmark event for the heavy metal subculture.

For the Christian heavy metal concerts, Glanzer cites Weinstein when he writes that the concert resembles religious worship because “it is a place where community was formed and the sacred was experienced.” These worship services, like many churches within the evangelical Christian tradition, consist primarily of worship songs and preaching. Glanzer observed that this trend was enacted at both concerts and the Sanctuary church. When crafting these heavy metal worship services, Sanctuary was posed with the dilemma about whether or not to include moshing.56

People can mosh with the intentions of jumping around and having fun or getting into violent fights. Christian mosh pits ideally take the former stance. And, attendees of Sanctuary observed that the mosh pits here were different from secular mosh pits because the moshers helped up one another if they fell down, and no serious injuries were sustained by the participants. Also,

Sanctuary did not want to exclude the group of people who mosh, so, ultimately, Sanctuary

55 Ibid., 7-9.

56 Moshing is an activity associated with heavy metal concerts that consists of various forms of movement that occur in what is known as the mosh pit. One form of moshing, the circle pit, has the participants run around in a circle while jumping and pushing people out of their way. Another form, slam dancing, has the participants run into each other repeatedly from across the floor. Another form, the wall of death, has the participants line up in two separate battle lines that are on opposite sides of the floor; when the music starts, each wall runs into the other wall of people. Another form, hardcore dancing, has the participants jump in the air, spin in circles, and flail their limbs wildly. These are just some of the various mosh forms; all in all, moshing is a wildly energetic movement.

Lattimer 24 decided to include moshing because it is not believed to be wicked as long as the moshers’ intentions are not evil.57

Near the end of Glanzer’s field work, the Sanctuary church announced that Sanctuary will become a transnational ministry instead of an actual church. As the congregation grew up and started settling down, they became mellower, and Sanctuary was posed with an interesting dilemma: they could either lose their edge by settling down alongside of their congregation, or they could stay metal at the cost of not being able to pastor their flock according to its evolving needs. Sanctuary went down the road of the second option, relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, and created Sanctuary International. They stated that there are plenty of churches geared towards the needs of Sanctuary’s grown up congregation, so Sanctuary directed their congregation towards those churches so that Sanctuary International could continue doing what they felt that God had called them to do. As a result, Sanctuary International currently continues to reach out to the heavy metal subculture on the edge by ways of various programs and outreach activities.58

The Translation Issue

Budde’s Warning against the Blind Acceptance of Cultural Elements

As we have seen, there are many components that comprise the study of the Christian metal scene and in regards to how the Christian faith can manifest itself variably when placed

57 Ibid., 9-12.

58 Ibid., 12-13.

Lattimer 25 within different cultural contexts. Is this permeation of the Christian faith within the metal music community a positive phenomenon or a perverse corruption of the faith? Translating into new cultures can yield the blessing of new revelations within Christianity, but there are also some very real dangers that Christianity faces while interacting with culture.59 Michael L. Budde provides us a conservative, protective view of both how and why Christians should view the ever developing culture of the world with cautious and discerning eyes rather than with wide open arms. First, he provides some perspectives on ways to perceive media and communications.

Second, he calls for a discerning approach to Christians’ interaction with cultural media. And, third, he discusses the struggle between the church and culture.60

Budde provides several views on ways to perceive media and communications. One view is to look at the content of the media and communications that the culture provides; a subsector of contemporary Christian thought on the issue of content is that the media and communication of the world are both corrupt in and of themselves as well as corrupting to everything that they touch. Another perspective is that of control; this view states that Christians ought to be wary of who is controlling the media that is presented before them. And, third, the

59 For example, Tracy Rowland gathers from Roger Scruton that changes in liturgical elements can alter one’s experience of God; in turn, this affects one’s entire relationship with God. Thus, a “hermeneutic of continuity” has developed from Joseph Ratzinger’s interpretation of several documents from the Second Vatican Council. This hermeneutic of continuity calls for a preservation of liturgical elements in order to protect and solidify one’s experience of God throughout time. On one hand, this can protect Christians from a degradation of the quality of one’s experience with God, but, on the other hand, a blockade against new experiences could potentially hinder a further revelation of Godself. Ultimately, Ratzinger’s in a living liturgy led him to open his heart and mind to multiple variations of Rites to be utilized within the holy liturgy; Christians just be discerning in usage and practice when incorporating different cultural elements and when modifying liturgical practices. Additionally, St. Basil suggests that a transformation of the secular world by means of the Logos can yield previously secular, cultural elements that are now good for use in a sacred context. Tracy Rowland, “Joseph Ratzinger and the Hermeneutic of Continuity,” 1-2, 4, 16, 19.

60 Michael L. Budde, “Collecting Praise: Global Culture Industries,” in The Blackwell Companion to , ed. Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd), 123-137. Lattimer 26 context must be taken into consideration; in other words, the context surrounding the media and communication can ultimately affect the messages that are relayed.61

In regards to content and context, Budde provides some alarming information. He cites that the average American high school graduate at age 18 years old will have spent approximately 2.1-2.7 years of time in school. But the average child born in America today will have viewed 13 years worth of television by age 75, and 3 of those years will be from commercials. Over a lifespan, an American who ends his education with a high school diploma will have watched more commercials, let alone the many more years of television, than he spent in school. Budde uses this real life example to illustrate the grave dangers of blinding accepting media without discernment. He denounces chaplaincy and coup d’état, and, instead, he calls for the dire need for Christian communities to be both selective and discerning whilst encountering modern media.62

According to Budde’s research, we are being formed more by secular media than by

Christian content, and that is a serious problem. Budde also asks a scary question: how is the church supposed to have a counteracting impact on the flock of the faithful when the time spent in church activities is so sadly disproportionate to the amount of time spent immersed in secular media?63 With this in mind, Christians do need to be watchful of what is truly influencing them.

Let us keep this in mind as we inspect the interaction between the cultural metal scene and the

Christian faith.

61 Ibid., 125-129.

62 Budde defines chaplaincy is the act of appealing to those in charge to fix the problems or produce more wholesome programming, and he defines coup d’état as the act of pioneering one’s own media empire in the image of the secular counterpart in an attempt to overtake media control and influence. Ibid., 128-129.

63 Ibid., 129-137. Lattimer 27

Hovey, Hauerwas, & Borg on the Translation Issue

In his article “Translation Frustration: The Delicate Art of Christian Speech,” Craig

Hovey discusses the issue of translation as he reviews Stanley Hauerwas’ Learning to Speak

Christian and Marcus J. Borg’s Speaking Christian.64 Since the linguistic and cultural translation of the gospel is an inescapable issue that is intricately intertwined with global evangelism, let us explore it. Hauerwas says that ’s task is to make sense of the world, not to make Christianity make sense to the world. With this stance, Hauerwas rejects a certain kind of translation because he fears two major fall points. First, one could say that no translation is required because the church reigned supreme within the society; however, this stance is futile because the church currently resides in a post-Christendom world.

Second, Hauerwas believes that there is a false social norm within Christianity that says that Christians are supposed to assimilate themselves within the world’s culture. Why does he say that this is false? He believes that, by adapting into the world’s culture, Christians risk falling captive to it. So, what does Hauerwas recommend that Christians do? He argues that

Christians need to learn how to speak Christian well. For example, he says that the term ‘god’ is acceptable in the realm of public discourse, but ‘god’ lacks the substantive, significant qualities of the words ‘God’ and ‘Jesus.’ We need to learn how to speak Christian well in order to articulate our Christianity in a comprehensible fashion. For example, a Christian saying to a non-Christian that God has incarnated Himself within Creation is effectively a worthless saying because the non-Christian probably does not understand the theological idea of incarnation. In order to speak Christian well in such an instance, one should say that, out of God’s love for the

64 Craig Hovey, “Translation Frustration: The Delicate Art of Christian Speech,” (in press) 1-7. Lattimer 28 people on earth that He created, He came down to earth as a being that is both fully man and fully human. In other words, we as Christians need to define our terms and use words properly.65

Next, Hovey shifts focus to review Marcus J. Borg’s text Speaking Christian; here, Borg calls for a reclamation and redemption of Christian words that have lost their significance and value. Borg argues that the realm of secular liberalism does not allow room for the fullness of revelation of Christian words and teaching. For example, Borg would say that ‘God’ has been unfortunately and inaccurately connotated as ‘bigger man,’ whilst the truer and fuller definition of ‘God’ would be ‘sacred being.’ From Hovey’s reading of Borg’s text, Borg calls for an expansive approach to translation. We must have confidence in the message of Christianity and trust that God will protect the process of translation. Furthermore, Hovey writes, “Some things about God are hidden until they emerge through the difficulty of communicating them in a new setting.” In this sense, translation, if done both carefully and properly, can reap the benefits of seeing more dimensions of the gospel message.66

What does scripture have to say?

So, Hovey, Hauerwas, and Borg appear to support the idea of translation as long as it is done carefully, intentionally, and accurately, yet Budde still fears that Christians interacting with the culture of the world presents a risk of falling captive to the way of the world. I believe that yes, there is a risk. But, it is a risk, not foolproof condemnation to secular living. Ephesians

6:10-20 speaks to this issue. The apostle Paul writes to the church in Ephesus to encourage them in the ways of Christian living, and he concludes this letter to them by advising them to put on

65 Ibid., 1-3.

66 Ibid., 3-7. Lattimer 29 the full armor of God (vs. 11).67 Why? Paul writes that putting on this armor will allow them to

“Take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (vs. 11). I believe that it is safe to say that at least one aspect of the devil’s desires for Christians is for them to not live in full accordance with

God’s plan for their lives and to not live in relationship with Him.

Additionally, Matthew 28:19-20 tells us that Jesus wants us to share His message with the entire world. How would it even be remotely possible to fulfill The without interacting with the world by way of translation? Such a concept is preposterous. Jesus meets humanity in the midst of their brokenness; for example, please see John 8:1-11 and the story of the woman caught in adultery. He comes down to us, not the other way around. It is only out of God’s initial act of loving us first that we are able to come to Him and love Him in response. So, by putting these two Biblical ideas together, we can say from the Ephesians 6 passage that donning the full armor of God will protect us from the devil’s schemes and allow us, by extension, to fulfill The Great Commission by safely stepping into the brokenness of the world and to aid in God’s redemptive plan without falling captive to the world’s brokenness in this process. I agree with Budde that there is an inherent danger with interacting with the world.

But I argue that we are failing Jesus’ Great Commission if we do not go into the world as Jesus went into the world, and concepts such as the full armor of God from Ephesians 6:10-20 aid in protecting us from those inherent dangers that those such as Budde discuss.68

67 From the passage, the full armor of God includes the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.

68 Additionally, Hovey turns to Andrew Walls to develop an idea that the gospel was initially translated from divinity to humanity via incarnation, and, “In a sense, the miracle of incarnation is repeated again and again as the church carries out the commission that Christ gave to it.” Ibid., 6-7. Lattimer 30

Seamands and How to Do Translation

Thus, we can deduce that Budde legitimately warns us to be discerning and cautious when introducing Christianity to culture, and Hovey, Hauerwas, and Borg stress the importance of speaking Christian well in order to accurately translate our messages. Now, let us look at an example of how to do translation of the gospel to the metal scene. In his text Tell it Well:

Communicating the Gospel across Cultures, John Seamands argues that it essential to translate the gospel to different cultures in order to expand the reach of the gospel; in other words, a gospel message that is not translated both linguistically and culturally is nothing more than incomprehensible text and broken analogies. However, Seamands does not state that this task should be taken lightly, but, rather, Seamands outlines a format for properly, safely, and effectively translating the gospel message across cultures.

He contends that the translation should be focused on meeting the needs of the target audience, and he suggests that psychologist’s Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Motives ought to be the basis for this enactment.69 Second, in addition to meeting the needs of the people, Seamands warns us to be alert to the spiritual conditions of the target audience.70 He

69 Furthermore, Seamands quotes Donald Soper who contests, “We must begin where people are, rather than where we would like them to be.” John Seamands, Tell It Well: Communicating the Gospel across Cultures (Missouri: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1981), 111.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Motives Consists of 5 levels: “1) Physiological needs, 2) Need for safety, 3) Need for belonging and for love, 4) Need for self-esteem, and 5) Need for self-actualization.” According to the hierarchy, certain needs come before other needs, but, as those needs are satisfied, an individual shifts their focus to a new need that is higher up on the hierarchy. For instance, if a person has no food (physiological need), then said person would theoretically not care, at least not to a relatively large degree, about having their need for safety satisfied. In other words, the starving person would eat a raw food product that may be undercooked. Some food that may or may not be safe would be preferable to no food at all for a truly starving person. Ibid., 112.

70 For this, Seamands consults James Engel and H. Wilbert Norton who outline an 8 stage progression on a Christian spirituality continuum: “1) Awareness of Supreme Being but not effective knowledge of the gospel, 2) Initial awareness of the gospel, 3) Awareness of the fundamentals of the gospel, 4) Grasp of implications of the gospel, 5) Lattimer 31 quotes James Engel and H. Wilbert Norton who say, “The responsibility of the Christian communicator is to approach people where they are in terms of their spiritual position and, through an appropriate combination of message and media, to cause them to progress in their decision process toward initial commitment and subsequent growth.”71 When we put these two pieces together, Maslow’s hierarchy and Engel and Norton’s spiritual conditions, we are left with

Seamands’ key to successful and necessary gospel translation: by taking care of peoples’ relevant needs and meeting them where they are spiritually at, we can expand the reach of the gospel in both a necessary and effective way.72

So, what does Seamands’ method practically look like within the metal scene? In an interview, Justin Singh, the lead vocalist for the Christian metal scene band The Great

Commission, observed that fatherlessness is a major theme that he has encountered amongst the bands’ audience. According to Maslow’s hierarchy, fatherlessness would fall under the third category of the need for belonging and love. And, according to the second piece of Seamands’ method, the evangelist ought to meet the person at where he or she currently is spiritually. So,

Seamands’ method would call for a gospel that addresses this spiritual and physical need for a father figure; thus, an effective translation of the gospel in this instance would spiritually emphasize that the one true God is a father to the fatherless and physically demonstrate the provision for this need by providing loving community with Christian father figures to step into

Positive attitude toward the gospel, 6) Personal problem recognition, 7) Decision to act, and 8) Repentance and faith in Christ.” Depending on where one is at on this continuum, a different gospel truth must be realized in order to progress to the salvation in phase 8. Ibid., 114.

71 Ibid., 114-115.

72 Ibid., 111-116. Lattimer 32 that realm where people may have been left abandoned.73 And, from here, Christians can use the

Seamands’ method as a bridge point to continue revealing the fullness and truth of the gospel to those in the metal scene.

Christian Missiology within the Metal Scene

Christianity as an Adaptive Religion

Throughout time the Christian religion has had to adapt to various societies and cultures.

For instance, when Christianity shifted, with the issuance of the Edict of Milan, from an illegal to a legal religion in the year 313 CE, the enactment of Christianity within the culture of the time had to adapt to the changing times.74 As one could imagine, the Christian life looks different when a major shift such as this occurs. For instance, if I’m a first century Christian who is inquired about his or her faith in Christ, then a truthful response would theoretically require a much greater level of boldness as opposed to a 5th century Christian who received the same inquiry.75 Furthermore, there are numerous other ways in which time and culture influence the enactment of Christianity. One of these instances is the Christian metal scene.

73 Furthermore, the Christian metal scene band Bloodline Severed from North Carolina addresses this particular need in the song “El Gibbor” where the vocalist screams that the one true God is a “father to the fatherless.”

74 J. H. Lynch, Early Christianity: A Brief History (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc, 2010), 122.

75 Rick Warren also supports this idea that Christianity must adapt to its generational and cultural contexts. He cites the example in Acts 13:36 that King David ministered to his own context and “in his own generation.” David’s ministry, along with the ministry of countless other Christians, was both doctrinally sound yet still relevant to his context. Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church: Growth without Compromising Your Message & Mission (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 396. Lattimer 33

The question is not so much whether or not it is acceptable or appropriate for Christianity to look culturally different in a different context, but, rather, this is a given aspect of the faith across its development in the past 2000 years. The question we want to ask is what elements of the faith are lost in the translation of Christianity to another culture, and what elements are more fully revealed during the translation? Let us explore this tension as we explore two key issues:

Christian missiology and emerging heavy worship within the metal scene. As we travel down this road, let us examine how this translation of the gospel into the Christian metal scene impacts both the enactment of Christian missiology and the Christian worship experience. Let us begin by inspecting the missiology.

Enter Christian Missiology within the Christian Metal Music Scene

Since the enactment of the Christian faith can differ greatly amongst the nations, the enactment of the faith should, not surprisingly, have the potential to aesthetically look a little bit different in the metal scene than in other enactments of the faith in other subculture contexts whilst still retaining the core elements of the faith. Now, I will exposit the enactment of

Christianity within the Christian metal scene, and I shall do this within five main spectrums: examining the content that is delivered from the scene, looking at how Christian band members can and do preach from the stage and share testimonies with the crowds, observing how some

Christian band members minister at their merch booths, discussing how the fans themselves can incarnate the amongst the crowd, and noting that non-Christians are exposed to

Christianity when bands worship the one true God before a crowd that may not regularly go to church.

Lattimer 34

What is the scene actually putting forth?

In order to fully inspect the enactment of the Christian mission within the Christian metal scene, we must examine the content that the scene is actually putting forth. First, recall from

Richard Floeckher’s article that the metal scene generally avoids the use of euphemisms; when this trait is applied to the Christian metal scene, the Christian messages reap the benefit of being crisp, clear cut, uncensored, and straight to the point.76 Also, the scene puts forth more than just musical ; it also produces , books, and testimonies. For an example of sermons,

Mattie Montgomery, in addition to his role as the lead vocalist for the Christian metalcore band

For Today, travels across the county as a traveling preacher, has a website where he posts sermons, blogs, and videos, and has released two solo albums where he delivers mini-sermons set to acoustic background music.

As an example of books, Tommy Green, the lead vocalist for the Christian metalcore band Sleeping Giant, has written a book entitled Religio-cide: A Primer on Deconstructing the

Current Religious Structure for the Sake of True Relationship. In this book, Green outlines the process of forming a real relationship with Jesus. For an audience who may or may not regularly attend a church on Sunday, Green is able to provide valuable spiritual insight and lessons to a target audience that may not otherwise be reached.77 And, for an example of testimonies, Brian

Welch, the ex-guitarist for the band , converted to Christianity in the early-mid

2000s, and, in 2008, he released his book : How I Found God, Quit Korn,

Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story. As the title suggest, Welch details his life’s testimony of how God rescued him from a myriad of things such as and addiction to

76 Richard J. Floeckher, “Fuck Euphemisms: How Heavy Metal Lyrics Speak the Truth about War.”

77 Tommy Green, Religio-cide: A Primer on Deconstructing the Current Religious Structure for the Sake of True Relationship (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2010). Lattimer 35 methamphetamine. Currently, Welch is part of a new, Christian band called Love and Death.

Through this inspiring testimony, Welch speaks to the metal scene about the redemptive power of Christ.78

So, there are many mediums that the Christian metal scene can utilize to spread the gospel message, but what precisely are the themes and messages that are promoted and shared?

Recall from Moberg’s work that Christian metal lyrics contain themes such as spiritual warfare, the battle between good and evil, the importance of Christ’s crucifixion, the apocalypse, and the approaching judgment, and, in addition to these themes, there are additional themes that I have observed throughout my field research such as forgiveness, praise, and perseverance.79 Where do we see these themes, and what are some examples? For instance, Stryper’s, one of the founding bands of the Christian metal scene, song “” speaks of spiritual warfare with this anti-Satan song. Also, in The Great Commission’s, a Christian metalcore band from California, song “Let Your Kingdom Come,” the vocalists shout, “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood! What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood!” This cry that nothing but the blood of Christ can bring restoration to the world depicts a theme of the

Christian metal scene that the crucifixion of Christ is the key event for human history and

78 , Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story (HarperOne, 2008).

79 Moberg, “The internet and the Christian metal music scene,” 87-90.

In an interview with noisecreep.com, a website dedicated towards various subgenres of metal, Vincent Bennet, the lead vocalist for , stated in response to a discussion about the lyrics of the band’s new album, “I think that's what most artists want you to do -- they want you to come up with your own interpretation of what you're looking at. When we write a song and release it, it's kind of like public domain at that point. People get to take it and make of it what they want. Who am I to tell one of our fans that a certain song isn't about a breakup, if that's what they think it's about? It's whatever the listener wants it to be about. It's a powerful thing and who am I to destroy that?” Thus, while discussing any lyrics put forth by any bands, I do hereby note that lyrics, like any piece of art, are subject to interpretation, but I will do my best to examine lyrics and messages in an unbiased fashion. Carlos Ramirez, “The Acacia Strain’s Vincent Bennet Discusses Art, the Importance of Good Merch and His Schoolteacher Mom,” Noisecreep, last modified September 19, 2012, http://www.noisecreep.com/2012/09/19/the- acacia-strain-vincent-bennett/. Lattimer 36 salvation. Furthermore, the band also sells a shirt with the lyrics “NOTHING BUT THE

BLOOD” imprinted on it.

For another example, ’s, a Christian deathcore band from California, song “There Will Be Violence” warns of the coming judgment for the world, the false prophets, and the unbelievers. And, another one of Impending Doom’s songs entitled “Murderer” expresses an acknowledgment of sin and a cry for forgiveness. Also, the Christian metalcore band August Burn Red’s song “Leveler” expresses the vocalist’s forgiveness of a “queen of hearts,” perhaps a woman or an ex-girlfriend, who has hurt him in the past. “Murderer” shows a theme of seeking forgiveness from God, and “Leveler” exemplifies forgiveness towards others.

For another example of lyrics from the Christian metal scene, Bloodline Severed’s, a Christian metalcore band from North Carolina, song “El Gibbor” lifts up The Almighty God with an intro that declares, “He is God; He is God alone,” and a chorus that , “You are worthy / We will sing / You are glory / Hosanna to our King.” Also, Gideon’s, a band from

Alabama, song “Virtue” speaks of persevering in the calling that God has for one’s life; the vocalist repeatedly shouts, “I’ve counted the cost; this is where I belong.”

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of bands that comprise the Christian metal scene, so there are surely other themes that are covered as well. But these are the major themes that are most prevalent throughout the scene. However, there are two serious risks that one must confront when considering the content produced by the Christian metal scene, and those risks are corrupted themes and underrepresented aspects of Christianity. On one hand, it can be quite exciting to see thousands of Christians form Christian metal bands in attempts to bring the light of Christ to the metal scene, and this is a truly incredible thing when handled properly, done with caution and prayer, and handled with careful preparation, but this can also be a tremendous Lattimer 37 downfall if and when false prophets with malicious intents of misrepresenting the gospel masquerade as Christian bands.

Also, the gospel can be corrupted if an overly ambitious 18 year old with a guitar and basic understanding of scripture decides to make a Christian metal band. In the latter example, such a person’s heart and motivation could be genuine, but Christian leadership is not a task to be taken lightly. The Apostle Paul speaks to this issue in I Timothy 5:22 where he warns his disciple Timothy to not be too hasty in the laying on of hands; in other words, we must be cautious to appoint people to Christian leadership who are not yet ready for such a drastic and weighty undertaking. If the Christian metal musicians are underprepared to minister the gospel to the scene, then the gospel can become both intentionally as well as inadvertently corrupted.

Also, themes such as the wrath of God can be and are overemphasized within the Christian metal scene because these themes of death and destruction can mesh better with traditional lyrical content of the metal scene. And, while the wrath of God is a real issue and theme of scripture, an omission or under proportioned display of other themes of scripture such as the forgiveness of

God does the gospel a serious injustice, and such an underrepresentation of certain scriptural themes is a gross misrepresentation of the fullness of the gospel.

Case Studies within the Christian Metal Music Scene

So, we have looked at what the scene actually produces, and, in order to see what this may actually look like, I have conducted several research trips to observe the Christian metal scene in action. At the June 30th, 2012, date of the annual “Scream the Prayer” tour, I witnessed Lattimer 38

Tommy Green, the front man for Sleeping Giant, share his testimony throughout the band’s set.80

He shared about how, before he met Jesus, he had sex with a married woman; this woman’s husband was so distraught upon learning the news that he committed suicide.81 This event tore

Tommy apart from the inside out, but, upon finding Christ, Tommy experienced redemption and forgiveness from his sins. Through sharing this powerful testimony, two key things happened that allowed the Sleeping Giant band to have an impact on the crowd. First, by simply being a band on the stage, Sleeping Giant gained access to the attention of the entire audience at the concert; second, the Christian band utilized this opportunity to highlight Christ and, by doing so, open a doorway for the audience members to meet Christ in that moment.82 Following their set, fans spontaneously broke out into prayer groups of approximately five to fifteen people each, and people came to Christ in that moment. I know this because the new believers professed their newfound faith through tear filled eyes in front of their peers.83

Also, Christian band members can evangelize concert goers with merch booth ministry.

By personally selling the bands merchandise to concertgoers, Christian band members receive an opportunity to minister to the crowds. During the 2012 Scream the Prayer tour, I observed

80 “Scream the Prayer” is an annual tour in the US that features prominent Christian bands in the metal and hardcore scene; it takes place every summer. And, Sleeping Giant is a Christian metalcore band from Redlands, CA; they were third from headliner on the 2012 iteration of the “Scream the Prayer” tour.

81 Sleeping Giant actually wrote a song entitled “Whoremonger” in memoir to this event; the song is featured on the band’s 2007 release Dread Champions of the Last Days.

82 For example, a girl standing next to me during the concert began weeping during Tommy’s testimony; this potentially indicated that she was having a perceived spiritual experience and was meeting Jesus in that moment.

83 For another example of Christian band member preaching as fulfillment of the Christian mission within the metal music scene, Justin Singh of The Great Commission, a Christian metalcore band from Inland Empire, CA, shares a brief message about his personal faith in Christ following the band’s sets. In response to these messages, one fan wrote to Justin, “I went to the show a complete atheist and left a Christian because of what y’all said at the end of the show.” In response, Justin shared this awesome testimony on his facebook page and wrote, “I love hearing testimonies like this. There have been times where people/bands have come against The Great Commission & I for preaching my testimony from stage, but even if one kid gets saved at the show it makes it all worth it. I am posting this to encourage you to share your testimonies and your faith because even atheists can be made believers! Don't let anyone tell you different.” Excerpts taken from Justin Singh’s facebook page on August 5th, 2012. Lattimer 39

Tommy Green from Sleeping Giant praying for a fan at Sleeping Giant’s merch booth, and I also surveyed The Great Commission’s merch booth where Justin Singh, lead vocalist, and Angela

Razo, guitarist and backup vocalist, were interacting with fans during the concert. For another example, at the August 7th, 2012, date of the “Scream It Like You Mean It” tour, Brook Reeves from the Christian deathcore band Impending Doom of Riverside, CA, also makes himself present at the band’s merch booth to interact with fans; at this particular concert, Brook specifically, at the end of Impending Doom’s set, stated that he would be there for anyone who would like to talk to him about anything pertaining to his own personal faith or Christianity in general.

Inspired and intrigued by this “merch booth evangelism,” I pondered a way to learn more about this technique. At first, I considered making myself a confederate to go under cover as a non-Christian and having a conversation with one of the Christian band members at the merch booth. But, this idea seemed unethical to me, so, instead, I decided to just go up to one of them and ask them what it was like to share the gospel and be a light of Christ at the merch booth.

And, at The Unshakeable Tour 2012, I met Tommy Green from the aforementioned Christian metalcore band Sleeping Giant.84 I explained my thesis project to him and asked him what his experience has been like doing this “merch booth evangelism,” and he responded to me, “This is it.” We just make ourselves available to people and “meet God in the middle.” Tommy said that some people might want to talk about something that is going on in their life, or they might want prayer for something. It could really be anything, but Tommy and the other “merch booth evangelists” use these opportunities to meet people where they currently are in life and inject the love of Christ into those situations.

84 The Unshakeable Tour 2012 was headlined by the Christian metalcore band For Today and sponsored by World Vision. It also featured other Christian metal scene bands such as Impending Doom, Sleeping Giant, and in July. Lattimer 40

Additionally, the Christian mission can be fulfilled within the metal scene by the

Christian partition of the crowd. During my field research, I observed this occurrence on two fronts: picking up each other in the pit and praying for one another.85 On the first front, the mosh pits at concerts have great potential to become quite energetic, rough, and borderline violent.

Upon talking to several metal fans on various field research trips to metal concerts, the overall consensus from the mosh pitters is that moshing is a fun activity. There are always exceptions to things, but, in general, the moshers are aiming to jump around and have fun, not get into brutal fist fights and mug each other at shows. Nonetheless, there is a potential danger for harm; and, at both metal and nonmetal concerts alike, there have been from crushing, trampling, fire, and smoke inhalation.86 Given that the freak fire incidents at venues are indeed rare occurrences, the potential hazards are the mosh pits are regularly present at metal concerts, and, thus, the

Christians at concerts have the opportunity to safe guard those who may fall down onto the floor or into otherwise dangerous territory.

On the second front, I saw prayer groups break out after Sleeping Giant’s set at both the

2011 and 2012 Scream the Prayer tour. In these prayer groups, concertgoers openly prayed for one another, and this provided an opportunity for non-churchgoers and Christians alike to receive prayer and pray for one another. Furthermore, Christians can intentionally set out to proselytize concertgoers at metal concerts. For example, a few of my friends, including colleague Cory

Smith, and I ventured to Peabody’s Concert Club in Cleveland, OH, to do what we dubbed

“Metal Concert Evangelism.” We attended a metal show at the venue, and, during the 20

85 The term “pit” refers to the moshing “pit area” that typically occurs a few rows back from the front of the stage. In the pit area, fans participate in various dance methods such as slam pits, hardcore dancing, the wall of death, circle pits, and more.

86 Ryan Cooper, “Death at a Concert: Some of the Worst Concert Tragedies of All Time,” About.com, Accessed October 24, 2012, http://punkmusic.about.com/od/liveperformances/tp/Death-At-A-Concert.htm. Lattimer 41 minutes between sets that bands use for tear down and set up of equipment, we talked to several different concertgoers and offered to pray for them. We were met with several different reactions ranging from “Get the fuck away from me” to “Well, that’s certainly not what I was expecting to encounter tonight, but, yeah, I could use prayer for this.” We discovered that, yes, there are hostiles who were not interested whatsoever in being prayed for or hearing about Jesus, but there were also those who were open to the hope that Christ can provide to deliver people out of dark situations.

In an interview with Justin Singh, the lead vocalist for The Great Commission, Justin pointed out that the atypical worship venues that The Great Commission uses attracts people who would not normally enter into a church, yet Justin closed the band’s set at the Dayton, OH, date of the 2011 Scream the Prayer tour by stating, “Thank you for attending our service.” Christian metal bands such as The Great Commission bring the gospel message to places that normally would turn deaf ears, but, as a result of their boldness in Christ, heavy music fans receive a catalyst opportunity to meet Jesus and commence a relationship with Him either on the spot or right after the show. All of these different techniques and aspects of the enactment of the

Christian mission within the metal scene combine in the culminate product that results in thousands of people hearing the gospel and coming to Christ. It may be atypical or somewhat different from the enactment of the Christian mission within other , but God is definitely moving to redeem this broken music scene.

What Sorts of People Does the Scene Produce?

Furthermore, there is the issue of what sorts of people does the Christian metal scene produce; let us turn to James K. A. Smith and his text Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Lattimer 42

Worldview, and Cultural Formation to address this issue. Smith quotes Craig Dykstra and

Dorothy Bass who define Christian practices as “things Christian people do together over time in response to and in the light of God’s active presence for the life of the world.”87 This is more than just Sunday morning worship services; it’s everything that Christians do. It’s a simple truth, yet a profound one. Worship is beyond Sunday mornings, and these “extra-Sunday practices” constitute a significant and substantial opportunity for God to form Christians’ lives via these extra-liturgical practices. Furthermore, Smith argues that liturgies, repeated practices, shape us as human creatures.88 And, thus, one may ask, what kind of people does the liturgy of heavy worship produce? From what I have seen throughout my research, the heavy worship scene cultivates a passionate generation of Christ-followers. It creates a people who through the blood and the lamb and the word of their testimonies have overcome both communal and personal histories of darkness, a people who have been beaten and battered, but have turned to Christ and prevailed, “I have overcome.” It produces a people who have found and secured an alternative

Christian identity in Christ and through the scene.

But what does such a life transformation actually look like? From Floeckher’s article

“Fuck Euphemisms: How Heavy Metal Lyrics Speak the Truth about War” that we studied in the literature review, we learned that one inherent aspect of the metal scene in general is a personality trait that yearns to speak the truth bluntly. And, when this trait is infused with

Christianity, the liturgy of the Christian metal scene can produce a person who is not afraid to speak Christian truth boldly. For example, if Joe is a Christian who has been influenced by the

Christian metal scene and encounters a situation where his friends are taking the LORD’s name

87 James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 212.

88 Ibid., 133, 211-213. Lattimer 43 in vain in a conversation, then Joe would theoretically be conditioned from the scene to confront his friends about this issue. This is not to say that other subcultures of Christianity would not produce similar Christians, but it is to say that the Christian metal scene does indeed do this.

Also, if Joe was bothered by a political issue such as the military’s invasion of a certain country, then Joe would speak clearly and un-euphemistically about the issue without sugar-coating either the issue of the pending military invasion or of the tension between ancient Israel’s bloody past of warfare and Jesus’ call to “pray for those who persecute you.”

Furthermore, recall that Hoffstadt and Nagenborg’s article “You’re too Fuckin’ Metal for

Your Own Good!” reveals that another inherent trait of the metal scene is a concept where fans may be prone to certain emotional outbursts such as anger expression. This aspect of the scene presents a problem for Christianity because God does not intend for his people to be consumed with anger and hatred. So, how is this aspect of the scene redeemed, and what happens when we inject Christianity into this aspect of the scene? Ultimately, there are two plausible and combinable outcomes. First, Christians in the metal scene can turn to the sense of peace that the

Holy Spirit as the Comforter provides in order to alleviate any sensations of anger, and, second, anger in the form of righteous indignation can be regulated throughout the inherent nature and structure of the scene to accommodate controlled anger expression. Thus, the liturgy of the

Christian metal scene can take a people that have been historically consumed by anger and hatred and facilitate a release of those feelings unto God.89

Christian Worship within the Metal Scene

89 There are other means of releasing anger and pent up frustration such as yoga, but perhaps not everyone enjoys yoga. The Christian metal scene does not claim to be the only vehicle for ministering to people, but it does claim to be a way. Lattimer 44

Hart v Dallh: What Constitutes Beauteous Worship Music?

These are the sorts of Christians that the liturgy of the scene produces, and, now that we have studied the metal scene’s influence on Christian missiology, let us examine how the

Christian worship experience is lived out within the metal scene. But first, let us place David

Bentley Hart and Minlib Dallh in dialogue as a prompt to discuss two opposing views on what constitutes beauteous worship of the LORD. On one hand, theologian David Bentley Hart declares that Bach is the “greatest of Christian theologians” because of his unsurpassed ability to express the beauty of the infinite through music. The variations and interplay within Bach’s compositions paint pictures of the intricacy of the beauteous nature of both the Creator and His creations, and Bach’s fugues90 can display the marvelous beauty of creation through musical accumulation and the intimacy of the with ingenious layering of musical patterns. On this side of the musical appreciation spectrum, Hart reveals to us a supreme appreciation for the musical qualities of Bach’s divine compositions.91 But, there are others such as Minlib Dallh who assert that, “The Credo of the B Minor Mass by Bach is not holier or more beautiful than a

Zulu dance during .”92 There are a couple of different explanations for this incongruence in regards to Bach’s music. In one respect, we could dismiss those like Minlib

Dallh as ignorant of the true beauty and intricacies of Bach’s music; in other words, we would say that Minlib Dallh simply does not know what he is talking about. However, on the other hand, we could take Minlib Dallh’s view seriously and abstract a greater argument: Bach’s

90 A fugue is a musical technique where a theme is replicated throughout the musical piece by way of repeated voices and variations.

91 David Bentley Hart, The Beauty of the Infinite (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003), 282-285.

92 Cited in Tracy Rowland, “Joseph Ratzinger and the Hermeneutic of Continuity,” 17. Lattimer 45 music is truly beautiful, but other forms of music and worship expression can be equally as beautiful too.

Why is this? Is not Bach’s music transcendent of the inadequacies of other forms? In less than fully human eyes, yes, Bach’s compositions may indeed be the best musical expression for depicting the Creator and His creation. But there is something else that we must consider: how does God view musical expression through His eyes? In John 4:24, Jesus says, “God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.” What does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth? Kenneth Gangel, a biblical scholar, explains that worship “in spirit” is not bounded by the confines of the physical world, but, rather, it is “an attitude of the heart which acknowledges God and His sovereignty over our lives.”93 And, worship “in truth” refers to worship that is honest, Bible-based, and Christ-centered.94 Gangel also expresses that verses 21-

24 of John 4 establish a key difference between religion and the gospel: religion is humanity’s effortful approach to seeking God, but the gospel is God coming down to us.95 Placing these components together, Gangel quotes Marcus Dods who says, “Rich music, striking combinations of colour and of architectural forms, are nothing to God so far as worship goes, except insofar as they bring the human spirit into fellowship with him.”96

Additionally, in Matthew 22:37, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 to say that the greatest commandment is to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” From this verse, we have three ways in which we ought to love God: the heart, soul, and mind. Ideally, one would theoretically prefer to find a way to worship the LORD that

93 Kenneth Gangel, Holman Commentary: John, ed. Max Anders (Nashville: Holman Reference, 200), 77.

94 Ibid., 77.

95 Ibid., 77.

96 Ibid., 78. Lattimer 46 encompasses all three spectrums from the verse; however, in reality, one can fall short from such ideal efficiency and ultimately slant to one direction or another. Returning to the case of Hart’s claim that Bach is the greatest Christian theologian, Hart makes a very strong case that, indeed,

Bach’s musical compositions accommodate the intricacies of both the creation and the Creator in ways that are profoundly beyond other musical pieces; in this sense, Bach’s music, while still playable with the heart and soul, may perhaps slant towards loving the LORD with the mind because a great degree of mental aptitude is required to both compose and appreciate such intricate compositions.

In a similar way, a case can be made from the perspective of the Christian metal scene that, whilst the musical compositions may or may not be as complex or theologically sophisticated as other compositions, the worship music from the Christian metal scene may be just as God honoring as Bach’s compositions; it just slants in a different direction. In other words, the metal can grab the soul like Bach can captivate the mind. Sure, the worship from the heart may not be as mentally sophisticated as the worship from the mind, but it sure is at equivalent levels of heart passion. And those equivalencies allow us to compare Hart and

Dallh’s seemingly opposing views as actually just multiple glimpses at the same substance.

Thus, I am not saying that either Hart or Dallh are in the wrong, but, rather, I am suggesting that there is a greater framework in play that, within this frame, both Hart and Dallh are correct.

With this in mind, let us examine the musical worship style of the Christian metal scene, not with judgmental eyes, but with a pair of theological glasses to analyze the true inner workings of the scene.

Lattimer 47

Is Heavy Worship97 Actually Worship?

There are several different perspectives about Christian worship, and I shall refer to the texts Perspective on Christian Worship: 5 Views and Diverse Worship: African-American,

Caribbean & Hispanic Perspectives to illuminate aspects of 6 different styles98 of Christian worship as well as use them as a basis for comparison with the Christian metal scene. In other words, I’m going to compare and contrast components of 6 major worship styles with the heavy worship style so that we can see what is lost in translation as well as discover what new revelations unfold. But first, let me begin with a general introduction to the idea of Christian worship. There are thousands of Christian denominations, and all of those thousands of denominations consist of thousands of worshippers who all have their own thoughts, preferences, and feelings about what elements should constitute worship. Fortunately, the Christian faith has a Bible that Christians can turn to in order to seek truth in the midst of a myriad of opinions.

And, in regards to Christian worship, both and Christian practice yield four basic aspects of a Christian worship service: “assembling the people, Scripture readings and preaching, breaking bread and pouring wine along with prayers and thanksgiving, and sending the people forth;” furthermore, songs, scriptures, prayers, and more can all be used to fulfill these four basic aspects of a Christian worship service.99 Now, let us examine some of the major perspectives of worship and use a systematic typology to analyze the Christian Heavy Worship perspective.

97 Credit goes to Justin Singh and The Great Commission for coining the term “heavy worship” with their 2011 album entitled “Heavy Worship” that was released on Ain’t No Grave Records.

98 The six perspectives are liturgical worship, traditional evangelical worship, , blended worship, emerging worship, and diverse worship.

99 Robert E. Webber, Worship Old & New (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 150. Lattimer 48

Liturgical Worship

The term liturgy comes from the Greek word leitourgia which can be translated as

“public service” or, more recently, as “work of the people,” and the modern use of the word liturgy has come to be associated with the concept of structured worship services.100 Timothy

Quill, a former parish pastor at the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, provides his perspective on liturgical worship. Quill informs that the “Structure of Historic Liturgy” has three main phases that consist of various elements: The Preparation, The Service of the Word, and The Service of

Holy Communion.101 By in large, the Christian metal scene does not commonly embrace and utilize this order of service, but there are bands that utilize a few aspects of this ordered service structure.102

Nevertheless, the liturgical worship style is by far, at least in the literal sense, the least reminiscent of the Christian metal scene’s worship style, but, if we look at the concept of liturgy in a broader context, then we can see liturgical concepts within the scene. Catherine Pickstock,

100 Ligon Duncan et al., Perspectives on Christian Worship: 5 Views, ed. Matthew Pinson (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2009), 18.

101 The Preparation phase consists of the Trinitarian Invocation and the Confession and Absolution. The Service of the Word consists of the Introit (Entrance Psalm), Kyrie, Gloria in Excelsis, Salutation and Response, Collect of the Day, Reading, Gradual (Psalm), Epistle Reading, Verse and Alleluia, Holy Gospel, , , and Prayer of the Church. And, the Service of Holy Communion consists of the Preface, Sanctus, [Eucharistic Prayer], Lord’s Prayer, Words of Institution (Consecration), Peace, Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), Communion, [Nunc Dimittis], Final Prayer, and Dismissal or Blessing. Ibid., 45.

Additionally, a few benefits of the ordered service structure of the liturgy are the great deal of unity that it supplies for the congregation, the safety and structure of the routine, and the efficiency of covering all the key features of the worship service.

102 For example, Sleeping Giant, a Christian metalcore band from Redlands, California, began their set of the Dayton, OH, date of the 2011 Scream the Prayer tour with their song “Morning Star;” in this song, the lyrics resemble an Invocation: “Jesus come; Kingdom come!” As the band and the crowd shouted these words in unison, Jesus was certainly being invited into the service. While this Invocation was not Trinitarian, God was still being verbally invited into the worship service nonetheless.

Also, recall from the literature review that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland has a liturgical worship service with metal music. Marcus Moberg, “Turn or Burn? The Peculiar Case of Christian Metal Music,” 369-373. Lattimer 49 states that liturgy is a special case that is more than a mere ritual; it is a structure within time and space that allows for sustained and consistent enjoyment.103 In this sense, liturgy is a structure that exists as an entity in and of itself rather than as a mere set of rules or practices to follow. In her thesis “Liturgy, Time, and Secularism’s Imitation,” Stephanie Rickel gives an example of an expanded liturgy: the Pledge of Allegiance; when schoolchildren recite this pledge day after day, their minds are shaped and formed to believe and accept the ideals of the pledge.104 In Rickel’s discussion, she explains that this day to day repetition of the pledge acts as a sort of liturgy much like a church liturgy such as the Lord’s Prayer.

With this expanded view of the liturgical concept, we can in fact see that the Christian metal scene does possess some broader liturgies that we can study. For instance, the concert structure provides a format that can provide a sense of organized, communal, and sustained enjoyment for the concert crowd. Throughout my field research at both Christian and non-

Christian concerts, there has been a general format that the concertgoers experience. First, the concertgoer arrives and waits outside of the venue to get inside. Once inside, the lineup of the bands progresses in a twofold fashion: proximity and prominence within the scene. In between the set times of each band, there is about 15 to 30 minutes of tear down and set up time where bands transition equipment on and off of the stage. As the end of the evening approaches, excitement builds until the last band ultimately exits the stage; at this point, energy levels taper off as fans the building. In an expanded sense, there is a liturgical nature of the concert experience where anticipation and excitement builds throughout the evening and then tapers off as the last note is played.

103 Catherine Pickstock, “Liturgy and Modernity,” 139, 143.

104 Stephanie Rickel, “Liturgy, Time, and Secularism’s Imitation,” 5-6. Lattimer 50

But, is there more to the liturgy of the concert experience than mere standing in line, getting excited for a few hours, and returning home? Yes, there is the liturgy of atmospheric escape within the scene. Much like one could enter a liturgical church service to escape from the strains of everyday life, the concert experience can be viewed by the metal fans as a special event where they can be carefree within that sacred space. Imagine going through a stressful work week, and then you receive an opportunity to break that dreary cycle and step into the excitement of the metal concert experience. Given that this is your music genre choice of preference, the concert experience serves as a fantastical night where concertgoers can break free from their daily routines and transcend into the and sounds of the show. Only then is the rising excitement an element of superior importance; the liturgy of atmospheric escape creates a sacred space for a memorable experience. Tying this into the sacred spectrum of the scene, Christianity receives a valuable opportunity both on the fronts of worship and Christian mission. On one hand, current Christians can utilize this liturgy of atmospheric escape to truly enter into an encounter with the Lord via musical worship in an expanded, more powerful sense than that which may be achieved during a non-liturgical, Sunday morning church service because of this inherit nature of the scene’s rising excitement and atmospheric escape, and, on the other hand, non-Christians may knowingly or not step into a catalyst moment where they can have a life changing experience with the God of all creation. And that’s something to get excited about.

Traditional Evangelical Worship

Ligon Duncan, a senior minister at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi, provides his view on traditional evangelical worship. Duncan places a strong emphasis on deriving worship practices from the use of scripture; he says that traditional evangelical worship Lattimer 51 consists of Bible reading, Bible preaching, Bible praying, Bible , and biblical observance.105 I don’t think that any Christian would argue against biblical usage for crafting worship practices, but the important point here is Duncan’s emphasis on a regulative approach to scripture reading.106 And this regulative approach poses a problem to the Christian metal scene.

The psalmist speaks of worshipping with harps and lyres, not with double bass drums and electric guitars. With this in mind, the traditional evangelical perspective of worship would not regulatively welcome the Christian metal scene, at least not in terms of instrument usage.

However, Duncan does argue that biblical substance trumps musical styles, so, by considering this, there is still a hope for placing the Christian metal scene within traditional evangelical worship as long as it is thoroughly, biblically sound.107

The question of musical styles is certainly an interesting one. How do musical styles contribute to the shaping of the worship atmosphere? A peaceful melody played by organ or an acoustic guitar would theoretically be better at conveying a sense of the God’s peace to the congregation as opposed to a battery of double-bass drums from a metal band. However, the onslaught of intense guitar riffs could potentially be better suited for creating an atmosphere for a sermon about the fear of the Lord whereas a flute may not deliver such intensity as adequately.

Duncan says that it is the biblical backing to worship that matters most, not the actual musical style. And I suggest that this is true with the addition that certain instruments and melodies may be better suited for crafting different atmospheres within worship.108 Furthermore, Duncan

105 Ligon Duncan et al., Perspectives on Christian Worship, 105-110.

106 In a regulative approach to scripture reading, if the Bible doesn’t have it, then don’t do it. On the contrary, the normative approach to scripture reading proposes that, if the Bible doesn’t condemn it, then it’s okay.

107 Ibid., 111.

108 As discussed earlier in the “Literature Review” section, Dietmar Elflein’s article “Slaying the Pulse: Rhythmic Organisation and Rhythmic Interplay within Heavy Metal” discusses how manipulating different guitar riffs can Lattimer 52 appears to agree with this idea because he gives an example of singing “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “Gilligan’s Island;” the tune would not suit the tone of the content of the “Amazing

Grace” song.109

Delving deeper, Duncan expresses that traditional evangelical worship must be scriptural, simple, spiritual, God-centered, historic, reverent, joyful, Christ-minded, corporate, evangelistic, yet not evangelism, delightful, initiative, receptive, and occurring on Sunday.110 All of these aspects sound good on the surface, but there are two from this description that we do not see within the Christian metal scene: occurring on Sunday and evangelistic yet not evangelism.

Christian metal concerts can take place on any day of the week, so the limitation to the traditional Sunday locale poses a problem for the Christian metal scene to find a home under the umbrella of traditional evangelical worship.111 Furthermore, recall from the earlier literature review that Moberg maintains that evangelism is a core element and purpose of the Christian metal scene; the worship and evangelism are intricately connected within the scene. Thus, in the eyes of traditional evangelical worship, the heightened emphasis on the core purpose of evangelism within the Christian metal music scene would be seen as compromising the purity of the worship atmosphere.112

All in all, Duncan’s description of traditional evangelical worship appears to only partially allow for the Christian metal scene. Traditional evangelical worship calls for a produce different melodies within the music; this sort of manipulation can produce different musical atmospheres with the metal music.

109 Ibid., 111-112.

110 Ibid., 114-123.

111 Furthermore, playing strictly Sundays would pose a major financial obstacle to touring Christian metal bands because those bands would not be able to play a different state each day of the week, but, rather, they would have to sit and wait around 6 days out of every week.

112 Note that Duncan is not condemning evangelism, but, rather, he is simply arguing that its place is not within the worship service. Lattimer 53 biblically sound Christian metal scene, but the scene’s core value of evangelism would be seen as out of place within the worship sphere from the eyes of traditional evangelicalism. This poses a question: Is the Christian metal scene’s added focus on evangelism within worship a positive addition or a negative detraction? Considering that evangelism brings glory to God, I argue that evangelism should be considered worship.113 Thus, the Christian metal scene’s successful combination of worship and evangelism is a positive addition that Christianity can glean by translating Christianity into the metal subculture. However, I must note that this positive addition also comes paired with a glitch; by introducing non-Christians into the worship service, the Christian metal scene runs the risk of presenting less than pure worship to God. For example, a nonbeliever could be a big fan of a Christian metal band, and said person may show up to that band’s concert and sing along with passion for the song itself but not for God. By not orienting one’s words to God, what may seem like worship on the surface may actually be just a mere waste of exhaled breath. Thus, the emphasis of evangelism along with worship in the

Christian metal scene is not a mere black and white issue, but, rather, it is an aspect that inherently possesses both pros and cons.

Contemporary Worship

Dan Wilt, the Director of the Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies in partnership with St. Stephen’s University in New Brunswick, , provides his view on

Contemporary worship. Wilt informs that the primary goal of contemporary worship is to meet with the Lord right now, wherever you are, and with whatever musical style you prefer.114

113 For examples, Romans 12:1 says that all aspects of life can be an act of worship to the LORD; thus, if evangelism is a part of one’s lifestyle, then it can be done in a worshipful way towards the LORD.

Lattimer 54

Furthermore, Wilt argues that the church is an inseparable part of culture, but it is also beyond culture in a way that can renew culture.115 Wilt says that music is a key that God can use to unlock his people’s hearts, and, as stewards of the Lord, Christian artists can utilize new songs and new genres of music to help reach different people.116 Furthermore, he explains that contemporary worship songs can help reorient worshippers for a “Godward orientation in a disorienting world.”117 Lastly, Wilt says that contemporary worship expects God to “show up” during the service.118

Of all of the perspectives of worship discussed in this text, the Christian metal scene is perhaps most similar to Wilt’s description of contemporary worship because it does all of these things. Christian metal musicians come with a passion for establishing an alternative Christian identity.119 Furthermore, the Christian metal scene revitalizes the general metal scene in a new way. If I had to pick just one of these perspectives of Christian worship to place the Christian metal scene under, then I would have to choose the contemporary umbrella.120

In an interview with Brian Doerksen, Wilt gleans that singing is an important aspect of worship because singing is a very communal act that allows for the to worship in

114 Ligon Duncan et al., Perspectives on Christian Worship, 144, 146.

115 Ibid., 164-166.

116 Ibid., 178.

117 Ibid., 153-154. Also, we can see an example of this reorientation within the Christian metal scene with the Christian metalcore band ’s song “Cutting the Ties.” In this song, the lyrics begin by expresses an empathy for those who are having a difficult time hearing God’s voice and discerning God’s will for their lives, but, as the song progresses toward the end, the speaker encourages the audience to be patient and trust in the LORD because He will revive them.

118 Ibid., 187.

119 Marcus Moberg, “Turn or Burn? The Peculiar Case of Christian Metal Music,” 373-380.

120 However, I do think that the Christian metal scene does not actually fit under just one worship perspective umbrella, but, rather, it contains elements from all six perspectives as well as some new elements that are discussed throughout this “Heavy Worship” section. Lattimer 55 a unified, corporate way.121 During my field research at several metal concerts, I observed an interesting phenomenon that was not present at my Sunday morning church: crowd members would jump onto the stage and grab the microphone from the band’s singer. This element actually comes from the hardcore scene, and it allows for greater community and equality within the Christian metal music scene.122 According to Wilt, this corporate element of worship is certainly a major component of any contemporary worship service, but the set-up of smaller scale metal concerts allows for a more active participation in communal worship by way of

“microphone sharing.”123

Additionally, Wilt notes that the presence of new songs, rather than traditional hymns, is a key feature of contemporary worship; he claims that new songs written from within one’s current culture can give new relevance, significance, and meaning to worship songs. The meanings of the new songs may indeed be timeless Christian messages, but the rephrasing of these messages allows for the worshipping community to make those messages truly their own.124 When we look at the Christian metal scene, new songs are certainly being written daily, but this comes with the danger of injecting heresies. Sure, there is the potential benefit that Wilt

121 Ligon Duncan et al., 151.

122 The hardcore scene is a branch-off from punk, and several subgenres within the metal scenes such as metalcore, deathcore, and incorporate hardcore elements into their music. One of these elements that has been assimilated into certain subgenres within the metal scene is the act of the singer either handing the microphone to crowd members and fans jumping onstage themselves to grab the microphone. Due to the intimate nature of several metal and hardcore venues, there is often no real division, either physical or perceived, between the crowd and the stage, so acts such as this are possible with the relatively smaller crowd size contrasted with international acts of more popular music genres. Unless, it was a major , the concerts that I observed numbered in approximately 15 to 300 fans in a smaller venue with capacities no larger than 500 or a thousand. The smaller size gathering allows for this “microphone sharing” whereas an arena with 20,000 fans would not allow for such a practice. In this way, this aspect of the Christian metal scene can actually promote communal elements of worship to a greater degree. By sharing the microphone, there is no real separation between the fans and the band’s actual vocalist. Microphone sharing removes the band’s vocalist from any perceived platform, and band members often thank fans for supporting their music.

123 My claim is not that “microphone sharing” supersedes singing together in worship, but, rather, it is a new way to participate in corporate worship.

124 Ibid., 153-154. Lattimer 56 discusses of updating worship to new cultural aspects, but this should be done discerningly to protect from misconstruing or falsifying Christian truths.

For example, A Plea for Purging, a Christian metalcore band from Nashville, TN, wrote a song entitled “Traitor” for their 2009 album Depravity; in this song, singer Andy Atkins screams,

“Your love is dead; I can’t see your face. You’re dead to me.” When referring to a traitor, these words can certainly be empathetically identified with, but these words are also not very true to

Christian teaching. In Luke 6:27-31, Jesus instructs us to love our enemies. Even though our fleshly reaction to betrayal may be hatred towards the traitor, Christ’s teachings call us to rise above that fleshly, emotional reaction and choose to love our enemies instead of . This instance serves as an example of the potential danger of writing new songs; they possess the capacity to corrupt Christian teachings.125

All in all, the contemporary worship umbrella does nicely house the Christian metal scene, but there are both pros and cons to its rendition of worship style. Through contemporary worship’s eyes, we can see the scene’s amplified ability to foster the communal element of corporate worship; however, we can also observe the serious danger of injecting heresy and false teachings into the scene by writing new songs that may or may not be scripturally sound.

Blended Worship

Michael Lawrence, an associate pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, and Mark Dever, the senior pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, provide their insight on blended worship.

Lawrence and Dever begin their chapter with a firm statement that, “The style of music you use

125 To the band’s credit, not all songs are misrepresentations of Christianity; A Plea for Purging also has several scripturally sound songs as well. For instance, they conclude that same album Depravity with a prayer that expresses a desire to cling to God despite suffering horrible trials. Nonetheless, the danger of corrupting Christian teachings is a real danger that the Christian metal scene faces when translating the gospel to a new culture. Lattimer 57 on Sunday mornings is incredibly unimportant,” and they define worship as “our service to

God.”126 Blended worship claims that the elements are what is truly important, not the form.127

Thus, from the perspective of blended worship, metal music would theoretically be just as suitable for worship music as any other music genre would be. Lawrence and Dever argue that elevating the importance of any particular music genre can detract from focusing on God during worship because the music genre can become an idol if it is placed on a higher pedestal than the actual content of the worship songs.128

However, Lawrence and Dever use Leviticus 10 and the story of Nadab and Abihu to argue that God cares about how He is approached, and they propose that the question of how to approach God in worship can only be answered by turning to scripture.129 Such a study yields these elements of biblical worship: prayer, song, scripture readings, preaching, tithes, offerings, , and the Lord’s Supper.130 So, which of these biblical elements can we see at worship concerts within the Christian metal scene? Neither in any of my field research nor in any of the texts that I have read have I ever seen any indication of the Lord’s Supper or tithes, but I have seen a presence of the other elements. And, some, but not all, bands within the Christian metal scene exhibit some combination of prayer, scripture readings, preaching, offerings, and baptism.

From this, we can determine that the Christian metal scene, while not fully inclusively, exhibits several aspects of biblical worship according to Lawrence and Dever’s description.

126 Ibid., 218.

127 The term “elements” refers to what is done in worship, and the term “form” refers to how the elements are enacted in worship.

128 Ibid., 219.

129 Ibid., 233.

130 Ibid., 236-240. Lattimer 58

Let us look at some examples of these bible-based elements that can be seen within the

Christian metal scene. During the Dayton, OH, date of the 2011 Scream the Prayer tour,

Sleeping Giant utilized prayer for two purposes during their set. First, Tommy Green, the lead vocalist for the band, actually prayed for the crowd, and, second, he led the audience in a corporate prayer of intercession on behalf of human trafficking victims all across the world in conjunction with the band’s song “Eyes Wide Open.” However, during my research, I have not come across any Christian metal scene bands who actually pulled out a Bible to read scriptures at concerts, but I have observed bands that quote scriptures from memory to go along with either testimonies, messages, or song introductions during bands’ sets. Furthermore, some of the band’s lyrics actually contain sections of scripture verses within them. For example, For

Today’s, a Christian metalcore band from Iowa, song “Isaiah (The Willing)” has the line, “Here I am God. Send me to the world.” from Isaiah 6:8, and Creations’, a Christian metalcore band from Australia, song “Gaining Ground” begins with the line, “If God is for me, who can be against me?” from Romans 8:31.

Also, Mattie Montgomery, the lead vocalist for For Today, actually has two solo albums consisting of mini-sermons set to relatively softer background music and travels as preacher in addition to providing vocals for the For Today band. Additionally, during the Scream the Prayer

2012 tour, Your Memorial, a Christian metalcore band from Minnesota, placed an offering box on their merch table in order to collect donations to provide food for underprivileged children.

During the band’s set, the band’s lead vocalist advertised this charity opportunity to the crowd.

While, of course, this is not by any means the weekly 10% tithe option that regular churches have, outlets such as this serve as additional offering opportunities for both Christians and non-

Christians alike within the metal scene. Other Christian metal scene bands engage in similar Lattimer 59 behavior; on the same tour, Hundredth, a Christian hardcore band from South Carolina had a donation box to fund well-digging in impoverished areas to provide clean water for a thousand people via the Hope into Humanity project. In Mathew 25:40, Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” By hosting charities for underprivileged persons across the world, the Christian metal scene is blessing Jesus by way of offerings that bless “the least of these.” And, lastly, near the close of the Scream the Prayer 2011 tour date in Dayton, OH, I observed new converts being baptized with water bottles. While unconventional and untraditional, this makeshift baptism still served as a symbolic death to self and a welcoming into the Christian metal scene community.

Emerging Worship

Dan Kimball, overseer of Sunday worship gatherings and teaching at Vintage Faith

Church in Santa Cruz, California, provides his insight on emerging worship. Kimball recalls from his high school years that “organ music and droning responsive readings caused me to get very sleepy.”131 Furthermore, Kimball felt lost and confused without a tutorial or manual while in traditional or liturgical worship services, and these experiences led him to appreciate the emerging worship style that can seem more edgy or exciting to an outsider looking in.132 Much like the other authors in this text, Kimball turns to scripture to exegete worship practices; from

Acts 2:42-47, Kimball gathers that New Testament worship consists of “teaching, fellowship,

131 Ibid., 288.

132 Ibid., 288-290. However, when we put this idea of edginess and excitement in tandem with the Christian metal scene, there is a serious risk that comes with this translation. By focusing on the excitement of the music style, Christians risk detracting their attention from God and shifting it to the music itself. In such an instance, the music can then become an idol that is worshipped, and this becomes an obstacle to true worship of the one true God. Lattimer 60 prayer, miracles and healing, sharing of life, and eating meals together in homes.”133 So far, these observations are nothing that is particularly revolutionary, but Kimball does contest that the

Bible does not outline what forms or techniques should be used to conduct worship.134

Continuing with this idea, Kimball argues that “worship is a lifestyle, not just what happens in a weekly meeting.”135 Within an actual worship service, Kimball suggests several multisensory elements that can be utilized for worship: prayer, scripture, video, film, sacred space, prayer stations, musical worship, fine arts, painting, photography, teaching, and spoken word.136 Returning to Kimball’s comment that “worship is a lifestyle,” recall from the literature review that Glanzer’s article “Christ and the Heavy Metal Subculture” expresses that the

Christian metal scene is a prevalent aspect of its adherents’ lives that persists beyond the realm of an individual concert experience or playing of album.137 In this sense, the Christian metal scene coalesces very well with emerging worship’s aspect of lifestyle worship; in other words, translating the gospel to the Christian metal scene evokes a strengthened benefit of worshipping the Lord outside of a weekly gathering because an inherent aspect of the scene is its encompassment of the whole lifestyle of the heavy metal fan.

133 Ibid., 291.

134 Yes, the Old Testament outlines worship practices very precisely with outlines for temple construction, sacrifice and offering procedures, etc. But Kimball is debating this statement in regards to New Testament worship where there is not so much detailed instruction for form and specific procedures.

135 Ibid., 296.

136 Ibid., 304.

137 Perry L. Glanzer, “Christ and the Heavy Metal Subculture.” Lattimer 61

Diverse Worship

Pedrito U. Maynard-Reid, a professor of biblical studies and missiology at Walla Walla

University, provides a perspective of diverse worship.138 church, preaching is a core element that must be both highly intellectual and greatly emotional, and this is one area that the high energy levels and enthusiasm of preachers from the Christian metal scene can come in handy within the worship service setting.139 Much like an enthusiastic sermon can captivate the audience of a black church, an enthusiastic preacher from the Christian metal scene can benefit from that same atmosphere. However, according to Maynard-Reid, the other factor for a superior sermon in the black church is the cognitive sophistication of the message, and this presents a potential risk for the Christian metal scene because the average metal musician has not attended seminary. This is not to say that sermons that spawn from the scene are doomed to low- level cognition or blasphemy, but, rather, one should simply be watchful and not blindly accept everything that goes in an ear.140

In terms of worship music, Maynard-Reid claims that music genres affect passion levels within worship; for example, some Hispanic worship communities “find it difficult to put their soul into” musical expressions such as traditional hymns.141 Likewise, the Spiritual , an

Afrocentric church denomination, place a strong emphasis on hand-clapping, bongos, and rattles that can amplify the tempo of the worship music; this in conjunction with vocal singing leads the

138 The study of diverse worship is an extremely vast field since there are so many nations and over 7 billion people on the planet today. The scope of this section is not to cover the entirety of diverse worship, but, rather, I shall briefly extricate a few aspects of diverse worship that we can look at in comparison with the Christian metal scene. Pedrito U. Maynard-Reid, Diverse Worship: African-American, Caribbean & Hispanic Perspectives (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2000).

139 Ibid., 86.

140 And this would also be sound advice for any message heard.

141 Ibid., 188-189. Lattimer 62

Spiritual Baptists into a trancelike state.142 Much like Spiritual Baptist worship and clubculture can induce participants into trance, the synchronized lighting effects and varying of the metal music could also potentially induce the metal fans into trance. What does this say for worship? This is a serious danger for worshippers because Christians ought to desire possession from the Holy Spirit, not from lights and a drum beat. Trance research and

African possession rituals illuminate our eyes to the potential danger of the music itself in the

Christian metal scene to be the possessor, rather than God, of the worshippers’ being during musical worship.

Lastly, Maynard-Reid posits that, in African worship, dance is an essential element of worship because it allows the worshipper’s whole body to respond to the presence of God.143

Not only do we see this in 2 Samuel 6 where David, wearing only a linen ephod, before the ark of the Lord, but, during a personal interview with the lead vocalist Justin Singh from the

Christian metalcore band The Great Commission, Justin shared that, when people are getting on the floor and jumping around at heavy worship concerts, the physical movement and energy in the atmosphere opens doors for the Holy Spirit to enter and move throughout the worship space as well as the worshippers. In this sense, dance does two things: it allows worshippers to worship God with their whole body, and it ushers a disarming of people’s guards to make more room for the Holy Spirit to move in people’s beings. Recall from the earlier literature review

142 Ibid., 129-131. In her article “Spirituality through the Science of Sound: The DJ as Technoshaman in Rave Culture,” Melanie Takahashi records that elements such as lighting effects, musical beat, and MDMA can result in a trance-like state for the ravers that can trigger alternative levels of consciousness. When synchronized with dynamic lighting, the beat and tempo of rave music can induce ravers into a trance, and this is extremely similar to trance induction within the worship of the Spiritual Baptists. When worshippers twirl torches in concordance with a heavy and consistent drum beat, they are just as susceptible to entering into a trance as the ravers are, but the worshippers don’t even require MDMA. Melanie Takahashi, “Spirituality through the Science of Sound: The DJ as Technoshaman in Rave Culture,” in Call Me the Seeker: Listening to Religion in Popular Music, ed. Michael J. Gilmour (New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005), 251-261.

143 Pedrito U. Maynard-Reid, Diverse Worship, 100-101. Lattimer 63 that Hoffstadt and Nagenborg recorded that the heavy metal subculture has a unique dance style that is somewhat organized by various ‘concert games’ such as moshing and the wall of death.144

The Christian metal scene utilizes these dance styles too, and, if the worshipper is truly focusing on God during it, then, as we see with diverse worship, the dance expression can be a facet for the worshipper to more fully express his or her love for God.

Tying the Six Perspectives Together

In summation, these six perspectives on Christian worship allow us to see both the benefits of translating Christian worship into the metal culture as well as expose the serious dangers and fall points of such translation. From the eyes of liturgical worship, the Christian metal scene certain does not resemble a Lutheran or church service on a Sunday morning, but there is a liturgy in an expanded sense within the traditional concert format that creates an atmosphere of structured enjoyment. Traditional evangelical worship exposes us to the importance of biblical foundations, the role of musical instruments and melodies, and the grey area of whether or not the incorporation of evangelism either detracts or adds to the substance of heavy worship. Looking at contemporary worship, we can see how the metal scene allows for enhanced community within corporate worship, but there is a danger of introducing heresy and false teachings when utilizing the contemporary element of writing new songs.

Lawrence and Dever’s explanation of blended worship exposes us to several biblical elements of worship that we can look for within heavy worship. Kimball’s view of emerging worship reveals that the heavy metal subculture can reap the benefit of a stronger emphasis on lifestyle worship, but the excitement that stems from the music itself endangers the purity of worship by potentially

144 Christian Hoffstadt and Michael Nagenborg, “You’re too Fuckin’ Metal for Your Own Good!” 39-42. Lattimer 64 shifting the worshippers focus from God to the music itself. And, lastly, Maynard-Reid’s perspective on diverse worship exposed us to the dangers of trance possession and the benefits of dancing and preaching emphatically within the Christian metal music scene.

Conclusion

Vocalist Brook Reeves from the metal band Impending Doom puts it well in the song “Silence the Oppressors:” “We aren't doing this for our own, but for one name holy and alone. These venues are our church. We are the gospel in the darkness, and this is our exaltation. We are the gospel in the darkness; we bring our light to a new realm, a realm you dare not enter…”145 That’s what the Christian metal scene does; it brings the gospel to new places. Through translation of the gospel into the metal scene, the portrayal of that message may indeed become a new creation that can superficially look different than the portrayal of the same message at a traditional Sunday church service, but those stylistic discrepancies come with the territory of translation. It is the content behind the message that truly matters, and the technique of delivery is an added element that can enhance the effectiveness of the message’s delivery.

And, by translating the gospel to the metal music subculture, Christianity has been able to more successfully expand its reach, while staying true to the core content of the faith, and redeem both a music style and a people that are in desperate need for the love of Christ.

However, while there have been great strides from many Christians in the scene to advance the gospel in that subculture, one cannot deny the dangers of doing so. There is a risk of false teaching and underrepresentation of certain Christian themes, and we do see this present in the scene. So, should we give up and surrender the scene to darkness once again? Throughout

145 Lyrics taken from Impending Doom’s 2007 album “Nailed. Dead. Risen.” Lattimer 65 this thesis, I have argued for the legitimacy of the Christian metal scene by doing three main things: reviewing major pieces of literature from the field, studying the enactment of the

Christian mission, and studying the enactment of Christian worship, and, throughout all of this, I have found that the Christian metal scene is indeed a legitimate form of Christian expression.

However, there is something greater at stake here, and that is the accuracy and substance of the translation of the gospel into the scene. By translating the gospel into any culture, we do risk losing something, and it is the responsibility of the translators and cultural missionaries to do their best with God-given strength and abilities to protect the gospel and deliver the entire message without omitting pieces that may not be as pretty or socially acceptable for the target audience. So, yes, on one hand there is a beauteous opportunity for the gospel to spread throughout the metal scene, but this task should not be taken lightly. It is outlandish to neglect

The Great Commission and call it quits on the scene, but Christians must seriously consider the risks of misleading of underrepresenting aspects of the gospel when bringing it to the metal scene or to any subculture. And, if we can bring the fullness and truth of the gospel to this scene, then we will have partnered with the Lord to advance the Kingdom one step further towards

God’s eternal glory.

Lattimer 66

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Author’s Biography

Paul Lattimer was born in Akron, OH, and grew up with his parents Robert and Mary

Lattimer and his brother Scott Lattimer in Hudson, OH. He attended Cuyahoga Valley Christian

Academy for high school where he played football and wrestling and was heavily involved with the Venture Crew division of the Boy Scouts of America. Then, Paul ventured to Ashland

University for college as a math education major, but he switched to a religion major with minors in mathematics and psychology after Jesus transformed and renewed his life while on a mission trip to Las Vegas. Paul thanks Jesus Christ for completely transforming his life during his college years and redirecting his path. While at Ashland University, Paul was inducted into several academic honoraries such as Alpha Lambda Delta, Theta Alpha Kappa, Psi Chi, Omicron

Delta Kappa, and ’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities; also, he has been involved with several other campus organizations such as the academic Honors

Program, Student Senate as the Religious Life Representative, the leadership team for a campus church called The Well, Religious Life small groups, and the Dorm Prayer ministry as a co- founder and current leader. Additionally, he has partaken in two separate internships during his college years: a summer internship with one of Youth With A Mission’s missionary bases in Las

Vegas, NV, and a second internship at 5 Stones Community Church in Ashland, OH. Also, he has traveled the world on mission trips to locations such Las Vegas, NV, Cleveland, OH,

Nashville, TN, and Hong Kong, China, and he met his wife Micaela during spring break in Las

Vegas ;) (on a mission trip). After graduation, Paul and Micaela intend on traveling to Asia on a year-long mission trip to share the gospel and love of Jesus Christ with the nations. You can follow them at http://lattimers.blogspot.com/ 