Dialogicality and Spiritual Quest in Christian Metal Lyrics

• Published in: Journal of religion and popular culture Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 273 - 286
• Main Author: Jousmaki, Henna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Toronto University of Toronto Press 22.06.2013
• Subjects: Analysis; Christianity; Contemporary Christian music; Heavy metal music; Lyrics; Moynihan, Michael; Popular culture; Religious music; Spirituality; Finland
• ISSN: 1703-289X; 1703-289X
• DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.25.2.273

Christian metal (CM) music provides a good example of how religious discourse is undergoing change in today's world. CM merges religion with popular cultural forms and ways of expression, thereby also transforming the meaning of religion and religious practice. However, the phenomenon has attracted surprisingly little scholarly attention; most writers have treated CM as yet another example of North American Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). The present article takes a detailed look into what is "said" by Finnish CM groups with a particular focus on religious ideology in a context outside the original national and religious context of the genre. Drawing on the sociology of language and religion (SLR; Omoniyi 2010b; Omoniyi and Fishman 2006) and the idea of dialogicality as an inherent property of language (Bakhtin 1984), it studies the representation of one figure with a spiritual quest and of another with a solution to this and how these two are used in CM song lyrics to embody an overcoming of spiritual and existential questions through engaging in a dialogue with the aim of prompting conversion into Christianity. The analysis of this will contribute to a broader picture of CM religiosity in songs by Finnish CM groups.