Is Christian Rock Becoming Secular? Stanford Professor Ari Kelman Investigates Commercialization

Every Sunday around the country pastors use Christian-themed rock music to engage their parishioners. Sounding much like standard top-40 pop music fare, these scripture-based tunes are also becoming more popular on the radio and with consumers.

However, as popular Christian worship music gains a larger audience, Ari Kelman, associate professor of education at Stanford, has uncovered a surprising paradox. The very musicians, songwriters and music producers who create the music are increasingly sensitive to the "precarious relationship between rock music and worship," Kelman said.

Kelman, the director of a new doctoral program in Stanford's Graduate School of Education that integrates education and Jewish studies, has found that evangelical musicians, like any other musical artists, aim to make the very best music they can. They hope their music will "at best, lead people in prayer, and at least, not mislead them," Kelman said. Read more