Review: All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians and Popular Culture

All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians and Popular Culture by Kenneth A. Myers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first heard of this book in early 2000s, buying it not to much later than that. I now wish I had read it back then instead of waiting all these years. Had I done so I suspect my child rearing over these years since may have indeed been drastically different. The early second of the book contain a lot of the history of pop culture, and while quite interesting, it was the latter half of the book that was most captivating to me.

Born in the mid-60s, raised through the 70s with TV, and becoming hooked on rock in the mid-70s, I am that generation that was born after the start of the cultural revolution, and that is all I know. Being a rock musician myself, his description of music's energy and influence in chapter 9 hit me right between the eyes.
As a child of God since the early 80s, I was there during most of the height of the Christian rock debate and controversy. However I do not recall the opposition ever taking the discussion in the direction this book does, or they may have had a better influence than they did with their "rock music is of the devil" and backward masking arguments. The same goes for arguments over using contemporary pop music in church worship of not.

I agree with one other reviewer I read who said this book should be required reading for pastors and church leaders. I think it should likewise be so for about all Christians, especially new parents.
In the end I forms this book very informative and was saddened knowing all of this was going on right before I was born for the most part. It also makes me much better understand what it meant when my parents said my music growing up was "noise."
Yeah, the examples in this title are outdated (I got them all since I lived thru them mostly) , but the philosophy behind the examples is still sound. Read it if you haven't.

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