music with religious themes

[danser_in_the_parc]

I'm not a religious person myself but I do enjoy some choral music. some contemporary gospel too. One of my favourite albums is Prince's The Rainbow Children that came about after him becoming a Jehovah's Witness, its a briliant jazz/R&B set the best work he has done so far, how does everyone else feel about christian or other religion inspired music?

[Janszoon]

I tend to not like music that's written to be part of a religious service (such as gospel, hymns, etc.) but there are a decent amount of songs by people expressing their feelings about their religion that I like quite a bit. Here's one of my favorites, by Mike Scott (formerly of the Waterboys):

[Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra]

Themes from a much cooler religion:

[Love-song]

...I Love the Prayer of St. Francis...and try to live it as best I can...


Prayer of St. Francis



Make Me a Channel of Your Peace

[pooka]

[Zaqarbal]

Pagan religions too?

King Crimson: In the Wake of Poseidon.




Celtas Cortos: Odin.

[Howard the Duck]

Bach's St. Matthew Passion

Christian Rock I really like Delirious? and this is my fave by them:-



of course, on the flip side of the coin, my fave is this:-

[richardjhoney]

There will be lots of sing a song with have religious themes. If you make any film in India then you will be follow religious themes.

[dankrsta]

Originally Posted by danser_in_the_parc

how does everyone else feel about christian or other religion inspired music?

Just like about any other music with some different theme or inspiration. It can be good and it can be bad. Like always, the most important thing is honesty, emotion and staying away from calculated preachiness. I find it funny that when people "confess" liking religion inspired music they very often have the need to say something like "but I'm not religious". What does it matter, it shouldn't be relevant at all. I approach every type of music from an aesthetic point of view, as in not valuing the theme in itself, but the way it has been rendered.

That said, two excellent bands come to mind immediately, that I have already mentioned here a couple of times:

Woven Hand, David Eugene Edwards second band, apart from 16 Horsepower. His christian religious convictions are well known and he expresses them through his music in a very personal, conflicting, always searching way. Here's a song "To Make a Ring", very powerful and intense, that is more ritualistic, about praise and celebration


The other band is Lift to Experience, a short lived Texas band with only one album The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads. And what an album that is. The leader of this band is a peculiar figure, a real recluse and ascetic, almost like some prophet. And the apocalyptic theme is dominant on the album, all with New Jerusalem, Second Coming, fallen angels etc. But despite all these big themes, the feel of the album is very personal, like a hope of a little man in the upcoming, unpredictable times.


Neofolk or apocalyptic folk as a genre has a lot of religious themes, pagan, occult, magick, satanic, christian etc. But I'll post another band with Christian themes, just because that's so not "cool".
The Green Man, excellent Italian neofolk band. The themes are actually more esoteric than canonical Christianity with a big influence from apocrypha, gnostic gospels of early Christianity, myths etc. From the album From Irem To Summerisle:


I also like some liturgical music, especially Orthodox Chants of Byzantine tradition. Despite my love of instrumental music there's just something powerful in purity and immediacy of human voice. As if without any instruments as mediators, a man was naked before God.

[Howard the Duck]

^^yeah I love How Great Thou Art as well