Theo-political Discourse and Rock ’n’ Roll in the Reagan Era

Abstract

Part of an ongoing study of religious rhetoric in politics and art, this essay identifies some of the uses to which theological language has been put in academic discourses about human relationships as they are ethically and politically constructed. It reviews the “Reagan Era” (1980–1988) in the United States through the works of certain songwriters who use theological language to critique the dominant politics of the era.