Churches will be on display this week.  Whatever complex – and complicated – relationship I have with organized religion of any kind, I often stand in awe at what was built in the name of it, from cathedrals to mosques to synagogues. For some moments I can forget the issues of money, power, oppression, proselytizing, misogyny and the like, and just marvel at the mountains of stones moved by faith.

This is particularly true for medieval cathedrals where those who started the project did not live to see its completion, with sometimes three generations of stone masons from a family consecutively working on the same building. The grandeur of these churches, their overwhelming size but also their interior beauty surely helped to keep the locals in check, remind them of power relations; but it was also, I strongly believe, testament to deeply felt devotion to a God who deserved beauty and sacrifice beyond a sermon on the mount, in the minds of his followers.

It is also true that the church was a patron to the arts for centuries, certainly across the middle ages. During that era religion was integrated into every day life. Its rites, feasts and fasts, in line with the seasonal rhythms, provided the structure of the Catholic existence. Religion flourished through this integration, and ecclesiastical patronage tried to be inspirational to keep it that way  – as well as keep an eye on the artistic output being in line with what was to be taught. These days, of course, religion and life are separate for most people, and the dearth of inspirational art is one of the consequences.

 

There is an exception, though. Music is interwoven with our daily life, and it is astonishing to see how many widely distributed forms of music are inspired by religion and communicating that inspiration. For this week, then, I have picked a number of diverse contemporary, popular musicians for us to listen to, who are deeply grounded in one or another faith tradition.

My first choice is this song by Bob Dylan, since I had just read this article about the exploitation of nuns, who were historically required to serve the church males….