The Bible in Music and Poetry (BS3061W)

Content

On the 2007 album, Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!! Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave asks: “Does Jesus only love a man who loses?” This unit introduces students to ways in which the language, themes, motifs, and characters of the Bible have an enduring presence in music and poetry. The reception of biblical texts in popular music and poetry will be examined, with special attention given to Australian and Asia-Pacific contexts. Students will explore how the Bible is understood and portrayed in music and poetry and explore the intertextual dialogue between these texts.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

Prerequisites: one standard unit in Field B

Pedagogy

Online flipped classroom; videos, internet sites, ARK resources, activities. Synchronous tutorials.

Indicative Bibliography

• Beal, Timothy K, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015
• Cone, James H. The Spirituals and the Blues: An Interpretation. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991
• England, Emma, and William John Lyons, eds. Reception History and Biblical Studies: Theory and Practice. Scriptural Traces: Critical Perspectives on the Reception and Influence of the Bible, 6. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2015.
• Exum, J. Cheryl. Retelling: The Bible in Literature, Music, Art and Film. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
• Gilmour, Michael J. Gods and Guitars: Seeking the Sacred in Post-1960s Popular Music. Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 2009.
• Goroncy, Jason and Rod Pattenden, eds. Imagination in an Age of Crisis: Soundings from the Arts and Theology. Eugene: Pickwick, 2022.
• Grohmann, Marianne, and Hyun Chul Paul Kim, eds. Second Wave Intertextuality and the Hebrew Bible. Resources for Biblical Study, Number 93. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2019.
• Hart, Kevin, ed. Oxford Book of Australian Religious Verse. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1994.
• Lake, Meredith. The Bible in Australia: A Cultural History. Updated Edition. Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2020.
• Murray, Les, ed. Anthology of Australian Religious Poetry. North Blackburn, Vic: CollinsDove, 1986.
• Sionhán Dowling Long and John F.A Sawyer. The Bible in Music: A Dictionary of Songs, Works, and More. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015.
• Wainwright, Elaine Mary, and Philip Leroy Culbertson. The Bible in/and Popular Culture: A Creative Encounter. Society of Biblical Literature : Semeia Studies, 65.. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2010.

Assessment