The Bible and Music

Yesterday we talked about biblical allusions. As I begin my search for biblical allusions in popular, modern music, I’m realizing that many songs mention the bible, but do not reference specific passages or characters. Most of the biblical references are vague and to the most well-known sections of the bible. The artists or songwriters wouldn’t need to be familiar with the bible to know these passages and this makes me wonder if the mention of the bible is an artistic/personal expression or more of a selling point to improve the presentation of the song. Furthermore, the allusions are typically very general, which I’m not sure counts as an allusion as much as just mentioning religion as a whole. Ultimately, I am discovering that finding biblical allusions is much more difficult than I previously thought.