The Development of Christian Heavy Metal: From the Cold War through the War on Terror

Dear Colleges,

In the twenty-first century, scholars continue to debate various perspectives on the militarized expansion of the US, as the “culture war” continues to polarize the world over topics such as capitalism, socialism, immigration, race, gender, and sexuality.  As the rapid spread of a new nationalism underscores the continued severity of our global disconnectedness, we are all gripped with a collective sense of urgency as we deal with disease, climate crisis, civil unrest, terrorism, and the rise of new threats from the cyber world.

The Trump era awakened us all to a new normal, one where our daily lives revolved around masks, social distancing, conspiracy theories, domestic terror, and (seemingly) an unashamed fascism that affected even those closest to us.  This special issue reconsiders the relationship between evangelical Christianity and the culture war, as it has been articulated through heavy metal music. Accordingly, this special issue asks how we are to understand the relationship between Christian belief, heavy metal, politics, mythology, globalism and nationalism.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

• The origins of Christian metal
• The 1980s and the “satanic panic”
• Atheism and/or agnosticism among former Christian metal artists
• LGBTQ and the Christian metal universe
• Modern Christian metal
• Spiritual warfare
• The politics of war and Christianity in heavy metal lyrics
• US military, militarism, and Christian metal imagery
• Christian metal and the Cold War
• Christian metal and terrorism
• Race and Christian metal
• Economics and Christian metal
• Christian metal around the world (e.g. North America, Latin America, Europe, elsewhere)
• Christian metal and national politics

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Marcus Moberg
Dr. Shawn David Young
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• Christian Heavy Metal
• Politics of War
• Atheism
• Agnosticism