Fundamentalism and Possession of the Jazz Age

by Constance Semponis

The 1920s were not only an era of rebelliousness against the Victorian age by women cutting the hair and throwing all standards out the window, but also a time of religious rebelliousness. The most well known form was lead by Christian Fundamentalists who were Protestant Christians that supported prohibition in hopes of preventing alcoholism (although we now know it only encouraged drinking). However, at the time they believed that drinking, Jazz music, and all other forms of partying in the 1920s were First Class tickets to Hell. 

“Fundamentalism was a movement that arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries within American Protestantism reacting against “modernist” theology and biblical criticism as well as changes in the nation’s cultural and social scene. Taking its name from The Fundamentals (1910-1915), a twelve-volume set of essays designed to combat Liberal theology, the movement grew by leaps and bounds after World War I” (Eskridge). 

During the Jazz Age the Fundamentalist movement grew as immorality grew. Fundamentalist preachers and missionaries now believed that humanity was losing God’s favor, so a governmental stance needed to be taken. “Secularism, liberalism, and immorality in the 1920s were believed to be signs that humanity had again failed God's testing. This means that the world is on the verge of the last stage, where a final battle will take place at Armageddon, followed by Christ's return and 1,000 year reign” (Diaz).

Armageddon? All because people were having some fun? How did they jump to that conclusion? The answer is simply history mixed with some folklore. The American South was where a lot of Fundamentalism was rooted (especially in Tennessee where the Scopes Trial of 1925 ruled that evolution would not be taught in schools, only to be overturned in 1940) and where stories about the Devil and possessions were everywhere. One of the tales describes a young woman who went dancing against her parents will. Her dance partner ended up being the devil, who spun her around until she died, enabling him to take her soul to hell (Schlosser). 

There is much more folklore in which the devil is the main antagonist and wins due to a human’s moral weaknesses that allow him to possess them. The general idea of possessions themselves has actually not changed too much throughout time. The devil, whether due to the person’s sinfulness or fall to temptation, claims a body as his own. Normally when the devil would take over a body there would be swearing, speaking of different tongues, violent acts, the disrespect of God, and obscene acts of sexuality. Hence the Jazz Age. Armageddon is here!

Considering this it makes sense that the Fundamentalists considered the Jazz Age as weak and susceptible to evil. So jazz music became the devil’s music because it caused people to dance and party. 

Works Cited:

1. www.americanfolklore.net; S.E. Schlosser.
2. www.wheaton.edu; Larry Ekridge.
3. www.boundless.com; Ariel Diaz