Stairway to heaven or highway to hell? : the potential missiological efficacy of liturgical rock music in Canada

Abstract

Music is a sacred language that facilitates divine encounter. The church has developed a unique musical language which is distinct from other contemporary genres. This thesis explores the efficacy of liturgies that use vernacular, functional, and communal forms to fulfill a missiology of radical welcome. Living in the midst of a consumer-driven environment, the church can employ popular forms to facilitate life-changing encounters with the living God, but it also must wrestle with a populace who has been raised to believe that relationality is expressed transactionally. Contemporary rock artists have already been authentically grappling with this reality for decades, making their music an ideal liturgical choice to facilitate contemporary peoples' encounter with the paschal mystery which is the eternal rhythmic heart-beat of Christ's living Body.