In this cultural history of evangelical Christianity and popular
music, David Stowe demonstrates how mainstream rock of the 1960s
and 1970s has influenced conservative evangelical Christianity
through the development of Christian pop music. The chart-topping,
spiritually inflected music created a space in popular culture for
talk of Jesus, God, and Christianity, thus lessening for baby
boomers and their children the stigma associated with religion
while helping to fill churches and create new modes of worship.
Stowe shows how evangelicals' increasing acceptance of Christian
pop music ultimately has reinforced a variety of conservative
cultural, economic, theological, and political messages.