A Theological Defense of Moshing

Last night I went to a metal concert, my friend is in a band called Grand Master, they were launching their EP, and had a concert with three other bands at a local club. During the 3rd band, people began to mosh. While I didn't join in immediately, Grand Master's finale was my favourite song of theirs, so I joined in for the last dance.

Moshing, for those who don't know, is a form of dancing, which is pretty physical, mostly it consists of people flailing their bodies around, pushing each other and other forms of dancing/fighting.

Now, as a Mennonite I believe that peace is a consequence of the Kingdom of God, so from the outside it would seem rather disingenuous for me to participate in it, however, I would like to posit for your consideration that moshing can be theologically justified.

First of all, yes, in some contexts moshing has been known to result in physical injury, however in general, people in a moshpit are hyper-aware of their surroundings, and very careful. If people actually do fall down, people surrounding them stop moshing, and help them up. In general if you fall you aren't going to get hurt.

Secondly, Metal music has a sense of emotionality that is missing from the world around us. We live in a hedonistic utilitarian society where's people do whatever they want and try to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain. Previously I've talked about how it is okay to be upset, even to the point of wanting to kill babies. Metal music provides a generative outlet for people to express their sorrows, pains, anger, frustration, etc, in a way that is sub-culturely acceptable. It's okay to be angry, it's okay to be depressed, the music speaks to what you are feeling in a way that isn't trivializing it.

Thirdly, people are allowed to respond to these emotions through moshing. Moshing is a physical way to express how you are feeling, if you feel the need to push somebody, to slam all of your body weight against another person, it is okay to do that, nobody takes it personal, in fact, all they are feeling the same way and will push you back.

Fourthly Moshing is voluntary. People go to a metal concert knowing that there is a strong chance that moshing is going to happen if they don't want to mosh, then there is ample space to move away from the pit and continue to enjoy the music.

As such Moshing is an active form of community building. It is a group of people gathered together, listening to the music they feel best expresses themselves and are able to be vulnerable (showing that you aren't okay) with the people around them.


Now, there are going to be cases of people who don't live up to this ideal, people will get hurt, or take it personally, for some it might not be a healthy expression for their feelings. But I would argue that these people are not representative of those I've met in the pit, and that Moshing should be seen as a form of active relationship building