When Evangelicals Were Cool
At Real Clear Religion, Baylor University history professor Philip Jenkins examines when evangelicals were cool. For him, this was during the “1970s religious revival, which some call a Fourth Great Awakening.” Jenkins traces the beginning of the revival to 1960s music, specifically when the Byrds released Sweetheart of the Rodeo. The album “revived and legitimized Christian themes in music for an audience wholly unaccustomed to them.” allowing young listeners to hear “key evangelical messages, which suddenly became cool and contemporary.”