The Bible and Music

The scavenger hunt that we participated in really opened my eyes to how often we see biblical allusions and references in modern day music.

When listening to Kanye West’s song wolves over the weekend, I heard a biblical allusion that I hadn’t noticed before.

Lyrics:

I said baby what if you was clubbin’
Thuggin’, hustlin’ before you met your husband?
Then I said, “What if Mary was in the club
‘Fore she met Joseph around hella thugs?

Cover Nori in lambs’ wool
We surrounded by the ‘ wolves”
(What if Mary) “What if Mary
(Was in the club) was in the club
‘Fore she met Joseph with no love?
Cover Saint in lambs’ wool
(And she was) We surrounded by
(Surrounded by) the wolves”

Analysis:

In these verses, Kanye West alludes to the Marry and Joseph and compares his relationship with Kim Kardashian. Many people know Kim Kardashian for her situation with artist Ray-J prior to meeting Kanye West. He also acknowledges that he was once involved in the drug dealing game and taking part in many illegal activities. He compares himself and Kim to Marry and Joseph because he says that although Marry and Joseph were very religious people they weren’t perfect (like Kanye and Kim). Both relationships involved two people with previous backgrounds what were part of their life.

After we presented out scavenger hunt on Thursday, I was interested if songs with biblical allusions were easy to find without really looking for them. It was mentioned in class that songs with biblical allusions are all over and in a lot of songs that we did not think would have biblical allusions. So, this weekend, I just listened to the radio, spotify, and pandora to try to find songs.

I wanted to find song that either I did not find on my list, or was not mentioned in class. I was able to find songs, but it was harder because I really had to think if the artist really was alluding to the bible or if it was just a coincidence. If a song started taking about water, that is when I really started to listen. Water is a big theme or major item mentioned in songs alluding to the bible.

Over the course of a weekend, I found that it is hard to find songs with biblical allusions, but they are everywhere. If you really want to find a song with a biblical allusion, there is a good chance that your favorite song has one.

So I just wanted to have an appreciation post for those who know how to play an instrument. It is a wonderful skill that is so hard to learn. I have been trying to pick up the piano this semester, and it has been one of the hardest things that I have attempted to do. I wanted to be able to compose and play something for my final project, but I do not think that I will be able to do so. If anyone has any experience playing the piano and wants to help me out, let me know!

On Saturday, April 8th, I attended the Passion Play, “Behold Your Savior”, at Lutheran High School, Indianapolis. The play emphasized the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod’s 2017 theme of “It’s Still All About Jesus”. The play was 12 scenes long, beginning with Jesus’s miracle of Feeding the 5000, and ending with the Ascension. I found the play very well done, considering the actors are volunteer members of the Indianapolis Lutheran community. There was emotion, and added context which helped provide analysis of the text found in the Bible.

While the story was obviously Biblical, there was limited music because the focus was put on the dialogue. The music was instead used for transitions, and added emotion. The songs were sung from backstage during transitions, which were used as a summary of the scene prior. I thought that this artistic choice of singing live while backstage was really interesting, as it added mystery as well as acting as a collective mood. There was one recording, which was played during the Crucifixion scene, I think merely because of how emotional the death of Jesus is, as well as how many events contribute to his death.

Overall, I think that because the production focused on the life and dialogue surrounding Jesus, music was added when it was felt it was necessary for the audience to understand what just happened, as well as adding emotion to the story. This is what I think we’ve been talking about all semester; the power of music to unify the listeners in emotion and understanding.

I think that the challenge of this exercise was distinguishing if an allusion was a common expression in English or a  Biblical reference. I find that many common cliches were originally Bible verses, or if they haven’t, they allude to themes found in the Christian religion. I think that this is where I struggled, as well as some of my peers. This also presents a challenge between defining the boundary between text and paraphrase. While paraphrasing offers a simpler answer to many religious questions, the question becomes if some meaning is lost with the shortening. But is intention necessary in order for the song to carry meaning, or the meaning to be understood?

I believe that meaning has two levels; a collective and an individual aspect. This is how symbols carry so much power. Symbols are understood on a societal, collective level, yet each person can value them in an individual way. We discussed this phenomena in Carrie Underwood’s “Something in the Water”, because it symbolizes a collective understanding of baptism, yet Carrie has a personal connection through her own experience  in her personal faith journey.

(I cannot believe I did not put “Let it Be”-Beatles on my list so here it is now.)

Typically we have class on Tuesday, but last Tuesday class was canceled to looked for biblical allusions/references to the Bible. I found it quite amazing to participate in a project like this because a lot of artists reference God, and I have no idea that there were that many.

I think that this was very informative for me to do. Sometimes I know that I listen to music without listening very closely to the lyrics. After I decided to listen closely, I was shocked that there were so many references. One that I noticed that was also talked about in class was Forbidden Fruit by J. Cole. I knew that the song was referring to the story of Adam and Eve. After I listened to the song, it was amazing how many references there were to the Bible itself.

Instead of meeting for class on Tuesday, we were asked to make a list of music that references the bible.  I was intrigued by this project because a lot of artists reference God, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re referencing the Bible.  One trend I found during my search was that if an artist has one song referencing the bible, they usually have multiple.

One example an artist like this is Eric Church.  He is a self identified Christian, but he often sings his imperfection when it comes to practicing religion.  In his song Sinners Like Me, Church is toasting all the sinners of his family that came before him and all that will come after him.  He is clearly referencing the bible and sinning, but he is recognizing that he isn’t perfect.  He uses a similar, almost sarcastic, tone in his song Before She Does.  In this song, he references some of his beliefs, including the bible being fact and the Sabbath being the day of rest.  The sarcasm comes in when he’s talking about a girl who left him.  He sings that he believes Jesus is coming back before she does.  This is his way of recognizing his beliefs but they are almost background thoughts, rather than his point of the song.

Artists like Eric Church are some of the more honest people out there when it comes to the bible and their beliefs.  By acknowledging that they aren’t perfect but still believe in the bible, they are relating to the audience on a deeper level than just simply stating what they believe.  Even the most devout Christians have most likely sinned, but the important part is the recognition of what they have done and the fact that they continue to believe in their religion.  Eric Church brings this attitude to his songs and shows how he integrates his beliefs into everything he does.

In my previous blog post I mentioned the significance of the bell tower on Butler’s campus, and the quotes engraved in it. Continuing with this trend, the observatory has a seemingly religious quote on it as well. From what I could tell when passing, the quote states “The Heavens Declare the Glory of God.” When I googled this, results for Psalm 19 appeared. Psalm 19 is “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Going back to the observatory I found Psalm 19 wrapped around it, and the first half of the quotation is not the only engraving on the structure.

While I had known this quote was on the observatory, I did not think of its background. After discovering this engraving was a portion of Psalm 19, I wondered why this quote would be included on an observatory on a non-religious affiliated university. As it turns out, the observatory, or J.I. Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium, was completed during the fall of 1954. This happened to be four years before the Christian Theological Seminary split from Butler in 1958. It is very puzzling a split between the CTS and Butler occurred at this time, especially due to the Cold War in the 1950s. At that time “many people in the United States worried that communists … could destroy American society from the inside as well as from the outside.” Adding onto the need for reassurance of its citizens’ commitment to the country’s “morals,” President Dwight D. Eisenhower added “one nation under God” onto the pledge of allegiance. Butler choosing to break off from its religious affiliations might have caused some suspicion in the midst of this tension wreaking havoc on the country. It is interesting to see the influence the nation’s history had on Butler during the construction of our campus as we know it.

Works Cited and References:

http://legacy.butler.edu/media/2606542/16_named_spaces.pdf

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+19&version=ESV

http://map.butler.edu/map/accessible.php?id=416#125575

https://www.butler.edu/holcomb-observatory/history

http://www.history.com/topics/1950s

https://www.britannica.com/event/Pledge-of-Allegiance-to-the-Flag-of-the-United-States-of-America

While I was abroad, I was able to attend mass in Germany for the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday.  Although I was in a catholic church, the mass was vastly different than a mass at home.  From the music, the ceremony, and especially the language barrier, the mass was a unique experience.  The music during the mass had a deeper, much different tone than the usual uplifting music in America.  The music was much more solemn which changed the way that I viewed the ceremony and the passages were interpreted differently because of this tone.

This does not have a lot to do with music and the Bible, but I thought I would share anyway. Today, I went to a URC presentation about how different Bible verses affect people’s perspectives on social justice issues (the ones mentioned was the death penalty, protesting, and abortion rights). It was interesting area of research because I never would have never thought about this area of study. Anyway, they had 2 experimental groups – one read a disciplinary verse and the other read a verse of forgiveness. There was then a control group that read a verse with a mixture of these aspects. They then answered a series of questions on a scale of 1 through 5 that asked them about how sympathetic they were toward a cause or hypothetical situation. It was still very early in their research so they have a small sample population, but they found a trend in their data. The people who read the disciplinary verse were more sympathetic than the other experimental group and control group – which is actually the opposite of what I thought would happen. I cannot really think of why this happened, perhaps some psychological trigger.

Anyway, just thought this was interesting