See All Buying Options
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle app

  • God Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music
  • To view this video, download

Follow the author

Leah Payne
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

God Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music Audio CD – CD, March 26 2024

by Leah Payne (Author, Reader)
4.2 out of 5 stars 64 ratings
3.9 on Goodreads
349 ratings

鶹

' + '' + decodeURIComponent(encodedIframeContent) + ''+''); doc.close(); } } this.iframeload = function () { var iframe = document.getElementById(iframeId); iframe.style.display = ''; setTimeout(function () { setIframeHeight(initialResizeCallback); }, 20); } function getDocHeight(doc) { var contentDiv = doc.getElementById("iframeContent"); var docHeight = 0; if(contentDiv){ docHeight = Math.max( contentDiv.scrollHeight, contentDiv.offsetHeight, contentDiv.clientHeight ); } return docHeight; } function setIframeHeight(resizeCallback) { var iframeDoc, iframe = document.getElementById(iframeId); iframeDoc = ((iframe.contentWindow && iframe.contentWindow.document) || iframe.contentDocument); if (iframeDoc) { var h = getDocHeight(iframeDoc); if (h && h != 0) { iframe.style.height = parseInt(h) + 'px'; if(typeof resizeCallback == "function") { resizeCallback(iframeId); } } else if (nTries < MAX_TRIES) { nTries++; setTimeout(function () { setIframeHeight(resizeCallback); }, 50); } } } this.resizeIframe = function(resizeCallback) { nTries = 0; setIframeHeight(resizeCallback); } } return DynamicIframe; });
Few things frightened conservative white Protestant parents of the 1950s and the 1960s more than thought of their children falling prey to the "menace to Christendom" known as rock and roll. The raucous sounds of Elvis Presley and Little Richard seemed tailor-made to destroy the faith of their young and, in the process, undermine the moral foundations of the United States. Parents and pastors launched a crusade against rock music, but they were fighting an uphill battle. Salvation came in a most unlikely form. When a revival swept through counterculture hippie communities of the West Coast in the 1960s and 1970s a new alternative emerged. Known as the Jesus Movement--and its members, more colloquially, as "Jesus freaks"--the revival was short-lived. But by combining the rock and folk music of the counterculture with religious ideas and aims of conservative white evangelicals, Jesus freaks and evangelical media moguls gave birth to an entire genre known as Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). In this book, Leah Payne traces the history and trajectory of CCM in America and, in the process, demonstrates how the industry, its artists, and its fans shaped--and continue to shape--conservative, (mostly) white, evangelical Protestantism.
Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Christianaudio
  3. Publication date
    March 26 2024
  4. Dimensions
    16.35 x 14.92 x 4.76 cm
  5. ISBN-10
    887469383A
  6. ISBN-13
    979-8874693831
Next slide of product details

Product description

About the Author

Leah Payne is associate professor of American religious history at Portland Seminary. She is also a 2022-2023 Public Fellow at the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), and her research has been supported by the Louisville Institute and the Wabash Center for Teaching in Theology and Religion. Her first book, Gender and Pentecostal Revivalism: Making a Female Ministry in the Early Twentieth Century, won the Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 2016 Book Award. Payne's work analyzing religion, politics, and popular culture has appeared in the Washington Post, NBC News, Religion News Service, and Christianity Today. She is also cohost of Weird Religion, a podcast about religion and popular culture, and Rock That Doesn't Roll, a podcast about Christian rock.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CW7FC2YJ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Christianaudio
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 26 2024
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Unabridged
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 887469383A
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8874693831
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 231 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.35 x 14.92 x 4.76 cm
  • 鶹 Rank: #11 in Contemporary Christian Music (Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 64 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Leah Payne

Leah Payne

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Leah Payne (PhD, Vanderbilt University) is Associate Professor of American religious history at Portland Seminary. Her first book, Gender and Pentecostal Revivalism: Making a Female Ministry in the Early Twentieth Century (Palgrave, 2015), won the 2016 Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies Book Award. Payne's second book, God Gave Rock and Roll to You: a History of Contemporary Christian Music (Oxford University Press, 2024), explores how Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) shaped American evangelical theology and politics. Payne's analysis of the intersection of American Charismatics and Pentecostals, politics, and popular culture has appeared in op-eds in The Washington Post, NBC News, Religion News Service, and Christianity Today.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
64 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from Canada

  • Melissa white
    5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for former CCM kids
    Reviewed in Canada on July 21, 2024
    As a west coast native raised in a CCM household and non-denominational charismatic church by parents influenced by the Jesus Movement and a dad who loves the likes of Petra and Larry Norman, this book feels like a chronicle of my spiritual heritage in a way that no other similar book has been. A must-read for anyone who grew up with similar influences or is curious about the connection between CCM an the current American political climate.
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Average Pastor
    5.0 out of 5 stars An impeccable accounting of Christian Contemporary Music that is exhaustive and funny.
    Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    The book recounts the entire history of CCM in great detail starting with the early origins in revival meetings and concluding with the January 6th coup and the Asbury Revival. The book is incredibly researched and I can only imagine the work that went into writing this. It is detailed and covers all of the ups and downs of the industry. Yet, the most remarkable achievement is not the recounting but that the book is interesting. It does not read like a dry recounting of dates, events, and songs. It is sometimes funny, sometimes critical, and always engaging.

    The book also makes a point at showing how intertwined with politics CCM was. Politics is not the primary focus of the book. But as the story continues it becomes clear that you cannot tell the story of music without the politics that went alongside it. You may be able to tell the author's own political leanings, but she is always fair and presents people in their best light.

    If you grew up deeply influenced by CCM, this book is for you. It is not a popular level book but I would not be afraid of its more academic roots. It is accessible and easy to read. I grew up immersed in CCM but every page taught me something I had never heard before.

    I don't think I could recommend this book enough. It is a gift and will probably become the gold standard for interacting with CCM. It reminded me a lot of "A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship" by Lester Ruth & Lim Swee Hong, although that book was focused on worship music instead of CCM.

    Full Disclosure: My shortly-lived Christian heavy metal band is named in the introduction of the book. This has probably influenced my own feelings towards the book, but I would have loved this book anyway.
    Report
  • Paul Colligan
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Slice Into A Slice Of My Life - Can Fond Memories And Deconstruction Co-Exist?
    Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    CCM played a significant role in my life during my teens and twenties. Taking my passion for my faith and finding a musical expression for it was integral to my identity at that time. You know, kids ...

    I was aware it wasn't flawless, and I certainly favored the artists on the periphery more, yet I was still a part of it.

    I read Charlie Peacock's book on the subject (I was more a fan of Peacock than the topic itself) and felt a bit disheartened—yet, I remained a "fan" of the genre, though I'm not sure if "fan" is the apt word.

    Dumez's *Jesus and John Wayne* was profoundly influential to me. It connected the dots between some of the more potent influences on my faith journey (not all negative, just more clearly identified than ever before) and some significant errors made along the way—both by the figures involved and by myself.

    This book is partly a delightful trip down memory lane (oh, the stories I could share, including an incident with Petra and backmasking) and partly another critical examination of the powers that be and how they influenced me more than I perhaps realized.

    It's well written, well researched, and well thought out. It tells the whole story.

    It will remain with me for a while, influence some future decisions, and be something I recommend for some time to come.

    For those unfamiliar, the author hosts an excellent Podcast on the topic called "Rock That Doesn't Roll." I highly recommend giving it a listen.
    Report
  • Michael
    5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and enlightening!
    Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I enjoyed reading this, the author gives a clear and articulate account of history of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). I didn't realize the long history of the business. The author doesn't pull any punches about CCMs roots, its metamorphosis and proven history of making lots of money.
    If you're curious about understanding a background growing up around this music, which was true for me, it was helpful to know: "how did we get here?" If you have no idea what this industry is about but would like have a better idea what was playing on those radio stations you quickly skip, read-on!
    Author does a great job with pacing, I never felt bogged down by the depth of research, although its clearly well researched. Also, I'm a bit sensitive to agendas from authors and this is a welcome, objective perspective where i felt the author lets you make up your mind about how to think about the industry.
    I hope you enjoy this authors Nu Thang like I did.
    Report
  • Josh and Ben
    2.0 out of 5 stars Uneven, unfocused, and underdeveloped history of a fascinating subgenre and subculture.
    Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    As an ex-vangelical who is fascinated by both his own relationship to, and the history and effects of, CCM, I had hoped Leah Payne’s recounting of its origins would be illuminating. Unlike other reviewers here, I wasn’t seeking a warm walk down nostalgia lane – this music was both formative and destructive to my life in multiple ways – nor was I looking for an affirmation of the music’s messages. I wanted a thorough examination of the genre’s origins, evolution, and effects. In effect, what Leah Payne proposes is right up my alley: examining how Contemporary Christian Music can be used as a litmus test for where Christian culture and beliefs were at any given time during the last forty years, and how money spoke louder than theology as songs began influencing beliefs. This, in turn, influenced the continual blending of white evangelical and conservative politics in America… Dr. Payne is biting off a lot with her proposal, but I was in.

    Sadly, God Gave Rock and Roll to You only half-delivers on its pledge to deliver compelling evidence to back up this take. It’s grand in scope, yet frustratingly short (clocking in at a scant 202 pages before we get to references); it’s deeply compassionate toward those who were on the outskirts of CCM, yet omits any evidence which might show nuance within the inner sanctum’s artists; and it is also woefully, amateurishly written at times.

    Let’s start with the good first: Dr. Payne’s exploration of the early Christian songbook industry is fascinating and well-researched, though I would have liked to read more of it. Her scope is impressive, touching on hot-button issues like the Jesus People, abortion messaging, pre-millennial dispensationalism’s influence on 20th and 21st century songwriters, Columbine’s mythical “Yes” martyrdom’s effect in music (though Flyleaf’s “Cassie” is curiously absent from her mentions), racial segregation, and purity culture. Her exploration of the morality standards imposed upon CCM artists is also well-done, and I was glad to see her referencing Jennifer Knapp, Lecrae and other artists who found themselves on the fringes after they ‘failed’ to adhere to those moral or political trappings. Her understanding of John Piper’s influence on worship ministry and songwriting is also admirable and insightful. These passages are some of Payne’s best.

    However, significant problems plague this book.

    'God Gave Rock and Roll to You' is in desperate need of deeper research, as well as a proper editor – not merely in terms of the overall book’s structure; mind you. The phrase “the following pages trace how…” is used twice in the introduction alone. Multiple spelling errors, redundancies, and confusing sentences obfuscate the book’s readability. Payne mentions Billy Graham sharing a call with President Nixon at a revival “the same week as the now-infamous Watergate Hotel break-in.” We already know what the Watergate break-in was – there’s no need to tell us it’s infamous. Later on, on page 117, her recounting of Sadie Robertson Huff’s capitalization on her family’s proximity is similarly littered with redundancies and clumsy sentences.

    Payne’s timelines are a jumbled mess. From claiming Jars of Clay’s success was nearly simultaneous with Switchfoot’s, to jumping all over the place with her release dates while claiming arguments specific to certain times – this is especially egregious as we get into the aughts and 2010s – Payne is set in search of evidence to back up her thesis, rather than letting history naturally lead to said evidence (which, I might argue, it definitely does). Rich Mullins, another widely influential artist with a resounding impact on the industry, barely gets a mention, despite his impact. It’s also bizarre that she doesn’t mention Mark Driscoll’s dramatic fall from grace after mentioning him as an influential figure in the guiding theology of Piper’s New Calvinist movement.

    Each decade of CCM music is only given one chapter’s attention, with the exception of the 90s, before we’re off to the next ten years. Payne doesn’t mention U2 – whose lyrics, sound, and mainstream success would become a major influence on not only CCM, but worship band soundscapes for over two decades – until they become relevant to her political and sociological thesis. Even then, their influence musically only gets one passing reference, while Bono’s work to recruit CCM singers for AIDS relief messaging is given multiple paragraphs. If we want to understand the importance of Bono asking these artists for help politically – and how Bono’s own political activism might have inspired Christian artists to take up conservative social causes of their own – it’s important to establish early on why he would hold such significant meaning to them.

    In addition, her claim that CCM was at its peak in the late 90s and early aughts is true – financially speaking, anyway – but it also doesn’t devote nearly enough time to post 9/11 reactions in the CCM world. Sure, it mentions MercyMe’s “I Can Only Imagine” as being a crossover hit in '03, but without referencing that specific song’s place in post 9/11 American culture, its context and impact is lost. Obama-era music is given even less attention; in general, the 2010s’ musical trends are barely discussed, with Payne’s sights mostly focused on the financial fall of CCM, and the sociopolitical landscape of the Obama and Trump years.

    The author’s determination to leave musician biographies “material insofar as they were used to sell music to consumers and to serve as models for Christian living” is both shortsighted and disingenuous. She ignores career paths and trajectories, failing to mention, for example, that Jars of Clay’s last record was for all intents and purposes a secular one made under an independent label, while Five Iron Frenzy’s last record was a Kickstarted anti-religious-right punk manifesto, along with a litany of other artists whose careers went secular rather than fully end. Casting Crowns and Tenth Avenue North’s attentions to church hypocrisy and calling out toxic shame are never discussed either, despite being (wildly imperfect) examples of artists who often spoke against not liberal ideologies, but religious inconsistencies and moral failings. She also fails to articulate any sense of how the sound of CCM changed beyond basic genre name-drops and comparing DC Talk’s 'Jesus Freak' to Nirvana. If we want to understand how a musical industry changes, a musical vocabulary needs to be established, not just a sociological and historical one.

    In addition, this lack of focus on artistry and artists means that Payne misses the connecting threads between people like Chris Tomlin, Matt Maher, and David Crowder, who made a business out of writing congregational worship, and the corporate worship engine we see in the CCM business today (think Hillsong, Elevation, etc.), and why listeners and record companies might seek these out. After all, why bother signing individual artists who might stumble theologically or personally, when you could have a collective monolith ‘serving the church’ whose members can come and go if necessary? This is part of why Hillsong continues to have a significant musical presence on Christian radio despite the scandals which have rocked it in the last five years. A deeper inspection in the musical, not merely financial, journeys of these artists might have given us clearer insight into why both American white evangelicalism and the CCM industry are in their current states.

    Again, I want to stress – I agree fundamentally with what Payne is proposing here. I’m also not offended by her obvious lack of affection for any of this music. She’s clear in her introduction that her initial understanding of CCM was vague at best, and I think that’s fine. That’s why research is so important. Objectivity when it comes to a subject, rather than nostalgia, is one of our most powerful tools when discerning a genre’s impact and influence. I have no interest in being pandered to with the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia. However, significant errors can occur when we rely on strangers to fill in the blanks for us without providing context.

    Payne explicitly states that she relied on an online survey asking for peoples’ stories, experiences, and history with CCM, and quotes many of these 1,200 survey responses in her book. This confuses and muddles the text, as most of this information is vague at best, highly anecdotal at worst. Not that these stories have no place in the conversation – far from it. However, confusing personal anecdotes with the proposed “history” occurring here, without providing us much context or insight into those speaking beyond one or two pull quotes, does not instill confidence in the objectivity required for the scope of Payne’s argument. Because of the strong presence of millennials on Twitter as compared to baby boomers and Gen Z – and even then, not every millennial is online, nor would have seen said poll – it is an extremely selective and biased group to pull from, even if I agree with what they say. Payne rarely uses statistics, which is unfortunate considering how many Pew and Gallup polls have been conducted on white evangelicalism over the last two decades in efforts to understand its trajectory.

    In addition, Payne often omits critical context which might give a reader a broader understanding of CCM’s role in both culture and music. She doesn’t compare record sales of CCM with the sales of other genres and doesn’t discuss the attendance numbers at concerts compared to secular artists’ shows. When she mentions the success of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ – a major moment of national attention on Christianity’s media presence in the aughts – and its coinciding CCM tie-in record, she merely cites that it grossed $612.1 million. Mentioning that it was the fourth highest-grossing film of 2004 worldwide, is (unadjusted for inflation) the highest-grossing Christian film of all time, the highest-grossing independent film of all time, and remains the highest-grossing R-rated film in the United States would have undeniably bolstered her argument and give the reader further context to understand why its success – and its soundtrack's success – was important to the recognition of evangelicalism as a force in the entertainment marketplace.

    On a more discouraging note, Payne seems to not care about whether or not she’s correctly representing her sources. She cites a 2017 Billboard article wherein significant CCM artists are asked to comment on then-President Donald J. Trump’s recent election. She claims the article “inquired… about the effect of Trumpism or Black Lives Matter on their careers, Amy Grant, Skillet, [David] Crowder, DC Talk, Britt Nicole, and TobyMac either did not respond or decline to speak on the record” (page 180). Sounds like damning stuff, right? However, when we actually read the article, we see that her statement is misleading.

    The aforementioned artists didn’t go on record, true – but two significant CCM musicians DID give interviews to Billboard for that article. Matt Maher, an acclaimed and prolific songwriter and performer, and Mike Donehey, lead singer of the successful CCM band Tenth Avenue North, both shared their reactions to Trump and their rebukes both of his behavior and conviction about the anger and confusion he stirred within them. Further, nothing about the article implies that they were asked about Black Lives Matter – the article only mentions the activist group in relation to a video released by TobyMac.
    Payne is straight-up deceiving in her statement that these artists were asked about BLM, and through her phrasing, she leads the reader to believe that NO Christian artists were able to be reached for this article, further bolstering her stance that CCM has been wholly and thoroughly corrupted by Trumpism and white nationalism, or at the very least, that its artists are so afraid to lose their audience that they would rather remain silent than risk speaking rationally (and, I might add, theologically soundly) about Trump’s effect on political discourse and American Christianity. If Payne is applying this kind of bias to this article, who knows what other biases are clouding her citation of sources?

    I’ll repeat myself once more: on paper, I agree with Payne’s central thesis. I am not claiming any kind of right-wing affiliation, nor am I saying that she’s wrong to write critically of CCM or Trump. We must write critically of art in any form – especially when that art has been weaponized to manipulate and hurt others – and we must absolutely write critically of those in power when they pose a threat to democracy. However, just because I agree with her doesn’t mean I condone how her points are written, nor that we shouldn’t hold her to a higher degree of journalistic integrity. A proper editor ought to have caught this flagrant omission early in the writing process; better yet, Payne should know better than to obstruct information and mislead her reader if she wants to convince them of her argument. She is undoubtedly knowledgeable (she has a PhD and more accomplishments than I ever will!) but I was extremely let down by the quality of her work here.

    God Gave Rock and Roll to You is an underwhelming and undercooked surface observation of both CCM and the culture which gave rise to the religious right and Christian nationalism. Most of the book feels like a slightly-elongated thesis – Dr. Leah Payne’s writing never transcends structure or achieves a deeper analysis deserving of a book-length historical examination. Despite my own predisposition to its proposal and conclusion, I can’t recommend reading it without a very discerning eye – not because of any nostalgic or political biases, but because it’s wildly, sometimes irresponsibly flawed and often doesn’t go deep enough into its subject matter beyond a surface level reading. Not only does the curious, bizarre, and often toxic subgenre of CCM and the subculture around it deserve a proper history – it deserves a critical reading with more nuance and dedicated time than this work.

    (A note: I listened to Leah Payne’s podcast, “Rock That Doesn’t Roll” after finishing this book, in an effort to understand why she wrote this. The podcast is both more in-depth than the book, featuring interviews with known figures who spent time in CCM or around it, and I found it to be far more insightful, nuanced, and thought-out than her work here, though still not comprehensive.)
    Report
  • Karen Ezra
    3.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, but not what I was hoping for
    Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    As someone converted into and nurtured by evangelical charismatic Christianity in the 1980s, I eagerly purchased this book as soon as I became aware of it. CCM played a significantly positive role in my teens, twenties, and early thirties. I was looking forward to a warmly nostalgic review of CCM from Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill (whose songs were sung in my youth group) to WhiteHeart and Margaret Becker through Third Day and Relient K (still the greatest Christmas album ever -- check out "Let it Snow Baby... Let it Reindeer").

    This book is not the warmly nostalgic review of CCM I was hoping for.

    Sure, It was well researched, though another round of proofreading was needed. (Mylon "LeFever"? Mariah "Carrey"? Peter Furler was the lead singer for Newsboys "Not Ashamed"??? I think not.) I learned a lot of details and trivia I had not previously known, and I was fully immersed in the CCM subculture for a couple of decades. My CD and record shelves are living proof. So kudos for the thorough research and extensive footnotes.

    What this book turned out to be, however, was another academic treatise endeavoring to make everything about race, sex, politics, sexual orientation, and economics. It's not wrong for Christian artists and businesses to make a financial profit. And not every industry decision was motivated by racism or sexism.

    Five stars for a comprehensive overview of CCM when it comes to the timeline, some facts, and some trivia. (How did I not know that Brown Bannister was Amy Grant's youth pastor? Must have missed that article in CCM Magazine.) One star for biased statements presented as neutral facts. That averages out to three stars.
    Report