Listening to Popular Music

Many Christians regularly enjoy listening to rock and roll, blues, country, and hip-hop while driving in the car, jogging, or relaxing in the den, and most would not censor lyrical themes rarely found in Christian music. Often we justify our practices by describing this guilty pleasure as just entertainment or relaxation, accepting the divide between what liturgical theologian Don Saliers has called Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Reflecting on music from the Beatles to Los Lobos, Don Compier argues that Christian faith shapes what we hear while in turn positively contributing to Christian spiritual formation. In exploring how musical styles have been received and resisted throughout Christian history, and critically engaging issues of commerce and social justice, he shows how attention to the situated spirituality of listening breaks down the supposed split between the sacred and the secular in contemporary Western culture.