Lowell Mason, Pete Seeger, and Lady Gaga created music in vastly different eras and styles, but they hold one thing in common. Listeners cannot fully understand their music without knowing the Bible.
Since the earliest colonial settlements, the Bible has played a significant role in the creation and performance of music in America. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs were imported from Europe and newly created on American shores. Singing schools were established with the expressed purpose of enabling each and every churchgoer to participate fully in religious music-making.
Classical music was also an important force in American community and church life. The Handel and Haydn Society, founded in 1815 in Boston, is America’s oldest continuously performing arts organization. Two of their first major presentations were of Handel’s Messiah and Haydn’s The Creation, both of which are based on biblical texts.
Later, musical themes from Handel’s Messiah were used in the hymn tune “Antioch” (arranged by American music educator and composer Lowell Mason in 1839), which is now best known as the Christmas carol, “Joy to the World.” In 1907, the hymn “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” was set to a melody from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
The biblical imagery and language in Christian hymns, in turn, greatly influenced folk music, including African-American spirituals. Beginning in the early 19th century, slaves sang songs of deliverance like “Go Down, Moses” (Exodus 7), “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (2 Kings 2), and “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?” (Daniel 6).
It is hardly surprising that biblical allusions and quotations would abound in sacred music, Gospel, and the Contemporary Christian Music industry, but the Bible’s influence was—and is—not confined to religious circles. Popular songs by mainstream artists in every conceivable style have included references to biblical stories, such as Joseph in country legend Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors” (Genesis 37) and one of the miracles of Jesus in alternative rock band CAKE’s “Hem of Your Garment” (Luke 8).
The bluegrass trio Nickel Creek released “Doubting Thomas” in 2005, which contains references to two of Jesus’s disciples: the title figure Thomas and Peter, to whom Jesus said, “You of little faith. Why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14). One of their most recent songs, “21st of May,” is about the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4).
Lauryn Hill—who is best known for her work with the hip hop band Fugees—also recorded the song, “Forgive Them Father,” which takes its title from Luke 23, quotes the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6), and contains references to Cain and Abel, Jesus and Judas, “turning the other cheek” (Luke 7), and “wolves in sheep’s coats” (Matthew 7).
Other popular musicians directly quote the Bible: “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by the Byrds (written in the 1950s by folksinger Pete Seeger) is drawn from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, “40” by U2 (from the 1983 album War) is a modification of Psalm 40, and “A Light in the Darkened World” by metal/hardcore band Killswitch Engage (released in 2009) quotes Joshua 24:15. Contemporary folk band Mumford and Sons regularly references the Bible in such songs as “Babel” (Genesis 11) and “Awake My Soul” (Psalm 57).
Artists have always been drawn to the Bible’s more colorful characters and salacious stories: David and Bathsheba and Samson and Delilah (both in Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”), Mary Magdalene (“Bloody Mary” by Lady Gaga), and the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot (U2’s “Until the End of the World” and Lady Gaga’s “Judas”).
Musicians sometimes choose biblical texts or imagery as a testament to personal faith; however, some appear to court controversy. Consider the music videos and performances of Madonna and Lady Gaga, which often contain violence and sex mixed with religious imagery. Still, these songs and their videos—like much of music in American life, whether classical or popular—depend upon a wide-spread cultural awareness of biblical stories, themes, and iconography for their very power. Those who don’t know the biblical references can’t fully understand what these artists are trying to communicate.
• Sarah Grace Shewbert is a professor at Concordia University- Portland, Oregon who will be teaching about music and the Bible in the online course The Bible and Its Influence beginning in March 2015.
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