Simon Cox Blog: A Fascinating Lost Email from Larry Norman on Music and Ministry

Thursday, 2 August 2018

A Fascinating Lost Email from Larry Norman on Music and Ministry

Our worship music is very often about 'us' and 'I' more than about God.

He is gone now, but you can (and really should) read Greg Thornbury’s book on Larry, Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?: Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock. I shared this email with Greg and he said, “I went through a mountain of this kind of stuff, but this one is special.”

After he gave me permission to quote “Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?” (watch the video— really— right here) I asked him a follow up question about Christian music. Here it is:

Ed Stetzer:

Thanks, Larry,

I appreciate it so much.

One of these days, I would like to get more of your thoughts on Christian music. It is such an important area.

I pray that your health will improve and I am sorry that I had to bother you during this challenging time.

Thanks,
Ed

Larry Norman:

Hi Ed,

I probably won’t call you because it’s 11:30 at night and you only need written permission, not a quote.

I’ve been very touchy about my lyrics in the past, and I’ve usually refused to give my permission. Especially when people want to use me as an example of rebellion. I never thought of myself as a rebel. I was operating as a satirical surgeon; trying to remove an ugly cancer from the church: The dogma which proclaimed that dance, modern music and the theater cannot be used by God because it is wholly profane.

Because I believed that God created all things in life, including the arts, then that meant that all things BELONGED to God. Christians had an obligation to reclaim the arts for the church. They are not the possession, nor the invention, of the secular realm.

But in aiming to set the arts free from a scriptural doctrine, I’ve been very disappointed to see the direction which this ...