Christianity and Heavy Metal as Impure Sacred within the Secular West

Transgressing the Sacred

Jason Lief

This book explores the symbolic connections between Christianity and Heavy Metal music in the context of the secular West. Heavy Metal uses symbols and imagery taken from Christianity, even if the purpose is to critique religion. This usage creates a positive connection with an interpretation of Christianity as a form of cultural critique. Given that Metal and Christianity are associated with Western culture, this book explores how Christianity and Heavy Metal function within the context of secularity as a form of ideological critique. Using the ideas of Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Charles Taylor as a starting point, this book explores the religious nature of secularism in the West interpreted in the immanent processes of politics and economics. In this connect, both Christianity and Heavy Metal provide a cultural critique through images of death, the grotesque, and sacrifice. By bringing this religious interpretation of secularism into conversation with the ideas of Georges Batailles, Slavoj Žižek, and Jürgen Moltmann, this book will demonstrate the positive relationship between Christianity and Heavy Metal.

Lexington Books

Pages: 142 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-4985-0632-8 • Hardback • June 2017 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-0633-5 • eBook • June 2017 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Subjects: Music / Genres & Styles / Heavy Metal, Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural, Social Science / Popular Culture, Social Science / Sociology of Religion

Christianity and Heavy Metal as Impure Sacred within the Secular West

Transgressing the Sacred

Hardback

eBook

Summary

This book explores the symbolic connections between Christianity and Heavy Metal music in the context of the secular West. Heavy Metal uses symbols and imagery taken from Christianity, even if the purpose is to critique religion. This usage creates a positive connection with an interpretation of Christianity as a form of cultural critique. Given that Metal and Christianity are associated with Western culture, this book explores how Christianity and Heavy Metal function within the context of secularity as a form of ideological critique. Using the ideas of Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Charles Taylor as a starting point, this book explores the religious nature of secularism in the West interpreted in the immanent processes of politics and economics. In this connect, both Christianity and Heavy Metal provide a cultural critique through images of death, the grotesque, and sacrifice. By bringing this religious interpretation of secularism into conversation with the ideas of Georges Batailles, Slavoj Žižek, and Jürgen Moltmann, this book will demonstrate the positive relationship between Christianity and Heavy Metal.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 142 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-4985-0632-8 • Hardback • June 2017 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-0633-5 • eBook • June 2017 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Subjects: Music / Genres & Styles / Heavy Metal, Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural, Social Science / Popular Culture, Social Science / Sociology of Religion

Author

Jason Lief teaches in the Religion Department at Northwestern College.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Finding God in the Dark
Chapter 1: Over the Hills and Far Away: The Mythology of Heavy Metal
Chapter 2: The Beautiful People: Heavy Metal as Ideological Transgression
Chapter 3: Into the Void: Heavy Metal as Cultural Tactic
Chapter 4: God is Dead: The Christ Event as Impure Sacred
Chapter 5: Why Have You Forsaken Me?: The Subversive Christian Core of Heavy Metal

Reviews

Jason Lief's Christian account of metal is thoughtful, creative, and impassioned. It will teach metal fans about new ways to make Christian sense of this music, and teach Christians new permissions for headbanging.
— Tom Beaudoin, Fordham University

Christianity and Heavy Metal as Impure Sacred within the Secular West

Transgressing the Sacred

Jason Lief

Christianity and Heavy Metal as Impure Sacred within the Secular West

Transgressing the Sacred

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