Episode 77: On Contemporary Christian Music w/Leah Payne & Gregory Alan Thornbury

The Englewood Review of Books Podcast

Joel hosted a conversation with two first-time podcast guests all about 'CCM' or 'Contemporary Christian Music.' They explore various cultural aspects of 'CCM,' as well as the reality of profit-driven corporate influence. Larry Norman figures prominently in their discussion, and Joel reflects a bit on his experience as a 90s kid immersed in this industry.
Leah Payne is Associate Professor of American Religious History at Portland Seminary and a 2023–2024 Public Fellow at the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). She holds a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University and her research explores the intersection of religion, politics, and popular culture. Payne is co-host of Rock That Doesn’t Roll, a Public Radio Exchange (PRX) podcast about Christian rock and its listeners and Weird Religion, a religion and pop culture podcast, as well as the author of the new book God Gave Rock & Roll to You: a History of Contemporary Christian Music (Oxford University Press, 2024).

Gregory Alan Thornbury, currently serves as Executive Director of Silver Art Projects at the World Trade Center. He has spent the past 25 years in higher education and arts nonprofits, as a professor, college dean, vice president, and president. Most recently, he served in senior leadership as Vice President at the New York Academy of Art in Tribeca, founded by Andy Warhol. In addition to being a curator, he is a scholar of art, philosophy, and religion, and his most recent book is "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?: Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock" (Convergent Books, 2018).

Books Mentioned in this Episode:
If you’d like to order any of the following books, we encourage you to do so from Hearts and Minds Books(An independent bookstore in Dallastown, PA, run by Byron and Beth Borger)

• God Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music by Leah Payne
• Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock by Gregory Alan Thornbury
• Evangelicals, Incorporated: Books and the Business of Religion in America by Daniel Vaca
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
• Missions Begin with Blood: Suffering and Salvation in the Borderlands of New Spain by Brandon Bayne
• From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: Plain-Folk Religion, Grassroots Politics and the Rise of Conservative Evangelicalism by Darren Dochuck
• The Heaven and Earth Grocery Story by James McBride
• Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
• Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences by D. W. Pasulka
• Why We Can't Sleep by Darian Leader
• Modern Genre Theory: An Introduction for Biblical Studies by Andrew Judd
• You Like it Darker: Stories by Stephen King