Never not talking about Contemporary Christian Music
Also, what's Denis Villeneuve Dune 2 the Gospel Coalition?
Modern Relics is a weekly(ish) newsletter that frolics through the esoteric areas of the internet and pop culture, hooting and hollering as it goes.
I know I say it every time, but I really do want you to forward this email to a friend. “Oh, I think you’ll really like this”, you’ll say. “Hey look at this fun email my friend has sent me” they’ll say. To that friend I say: Please subscribe!
This music is too Christiaaaan!
Last week I highlighted some work I did on Taylor Swift and Buddhism over at my day job at Soul Search. This week I want to highlight the other two episodes in our music series, which are both about the Contemporary Christian Music industry — and the second episode is very queer! I also feature heavily, doing most of the interviews.
Episode 1: Christian music is more important that you think
For this episode of Soul Search I interviewed Leah Payne, author of God Gave Rock and Roll to You, a comprehensive history of the Contemporary Christian Music industry and its close ties to conservative politics in the United States and around the globe. Also remember when I waxed lyrical about the Rock That Doesn’t Roll podcast? She's co-host of that podcast. It was such a delight to speak with Leah, and her book is very good! It’s a new experience for me to read a history of something that I've experienced parts of myself.
Episode 2: Christian music, but… queer??
Christian music is gradually becoming more diverse than Christian record executives would have allowed if they were still fully in charge. Flamy Grant and Mikali Anagnostis are both queer singer/songwriters publishing into the Christian music industry, and I love both their music. Also, I was able to play some in this episode, including ‘What Did You Drag Me Into’ and ‘Good Day’ by Flamy, and ‘Garden’ and ‘God is Coming’ by Mikali. (These are all on the Modern Relics playlist now too). This was a special episode for me to work on for obvious reasons.
BONUS EPISODE: Quick! Say something smart about Christian music!
While working on these episodes I was on the Quick Smart podcast, which interviews ABC staff to explain a story they’re working on in no more than 10 minutes. In this episode the host, Tegan Taylor, outs herself as a fellow CCM tragic and we basically spend the whole time geeking out.
Please listen to these episodes, and if you like them I encourage you to tell someone about that — perhaps even someone at the ABC? Haha just kidding... unless?
I say thank you to Siri but still tempted to do this to Copilot
Solomon's baby 50% off
What's Denis Villeneuve Dune 2 the Gospel Coalition?
Saw Dune: Part Two last week and I reckon I'm going to see it at least one more time at the movies. It's really good! I probably can't say anything more profound about it than what's already been written, but it was stunningly beautiful and really cool. A good movie about fate and prophecy and religion and myth and colonialism and culture.
Oh, and the endless light of Islam.
On another note, I saw this post from Karl Bart: Mall Cop, and it genuinely made me wonder what the (famously conservative) Gospel Coalition actually had to say about Dune given... everything. In this 2021 review, Jaclyn S Parrish reacts to the first Dune film positively, finishing with an introspective reflection on injustice in a society that purports to be Christian.
It would indeed be easy to characterize Herbert’s universe as nothing more than a stark and depressing depiction of a world without a true savior. And yet our world does have Christ and isn’t remotely free of the evils Herbert so vividly portrays. The Crusades were driven by priests, not pagans. The antebellum South was professedly Christian. And if you rifled through my closet, I guarantee you’d find more than one tag reading “Made in Bangladesh.”
Go hard Jaclyn.
Meanwhile, Brett McCracken's 2024 review of Dune: Part Two isn't negative per se, but calls the film "an artifact of a post-Christian age". Giving his review the thorough response it deserves is beyond the scope of this little newsletter, but I can say it's at turns insightful and bizarre.
As much as Dune Two plays with religious archetypes and the universal appeal of “messiah” narratives, it adopts a decidedly skeptical posture toward the religious enterprise. Is the messiah narrative of Christ—indeed, the entire New Testament—merely propaganda to inflame religious fervor and consolidate power among religious leaders? Are the writings of the apostle Paul, like the machinations of Paul Atreides, less the product of divine orchestration than of fleshly opportunism?
Anyway, similar to how Brett can't quite endorse Dune 2's contents but nonetheless thinks it's thought-provoking, his review is worth reading if you're into that sort of thing.
This joke doesn't actually make sense in my accent
Dancing in church
Click through to watch the video.
Spirituality packs
Ramadan is coming
Alright that's all from me this week have a good one.