Music has always been a key part of religion, yet music has reinvented itself many times over. But what of religious music? "The Reinvention of Religious Music: Oliver Messiaen's Breakthrough Toward the Beyond" is a scholarly study of religious music with a close focus on the work of Oliver Messiaen, and what it has meant to religious music as a whole. Arguing that Messiaen has changed religious music radically, and that his work is worthy of theological debate, "The Reinvention of Religious Music" is a choice pick for any college or community library collection focusing on music and religion.