ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two important developments relating to the use of pop/rock music in a Christian context from the 1960s to the 1990s. As already stated, the main focus of the research is to study the relationship between ‘secular’ electronic dance music and Christianity. This chapter offers a historical context for a later discussion by considering how popular music cultures have been integrated into certain Christian sectors. I am going to focus on a significant development, namely the Jesus People Movement in the late 1960s. It was chosen because it exemplifies the pivotal models which contemporary Christian groups follow in the area of using popular music as a ‘tool’ for evangelism among young people in particular. Some key elements of the models, such as using music as a way to connect with non-Christians and adopting the language of youth culture in a Christian context, have comparisons to findings within the Christian groups that are discussed in the case studies. It is chosen also because it raises issues about the dualistic ‘secular’/’sacred’ Christian worldview and the role of popular music in evangelical Christianity which are both central to the analysis of the use of electronic dance music in a Christian context. Although the music genres arising from the movement are quite distinct from EDM, the movement undoubtedly provides a significant historical backdrop for the prevalent use of popular music in the case materials.
