Christianity and Heavy Metal as Impure Sacred within the Secular West: Transgressing the Sacred (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781498506328)

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 Zizek, and Jürgen Moltmann, this book will demonstrate the positive relationship between Christianity and Heavy Metal.

Author: Jason Lief
ISBN-10: 1498506321
ISBN-13: 9781498506328
Publisher: Lexington Books
Language: English
Published: 06/13/2017
Pages: 142
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.88lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.70d

About the Author
Jason Lief teaches in the Religion Department at Northwestern College.