I found the following, which addresses some recent Bach issues discussed
on the List, to be of interest:

http://odur.let.rug.nl/Linguistics/diversen/bach/cantatas/introduction.html

Here are some passages that particularly apply to discussions on the List

   Second, it is somewhat anachronistic to see Bach's church music
   as religious art per se. Unlike the later Romantics, the Baroque
   composer does not seek to express his personal religious feelings
   and other ego-emotions. Central to a Baroque composer's concerns
   is the expression of objectively conceived Affekten (passions),
   such as the elementary wonder, love, hatred, desire, joy, and
   sadness and their various composites.

Then there is this idea:

   Bach's creative life stretches from the early 1700s till his
   death in 1750.  In contradistinction to his somewhat undeserved
   hyper-religious image, Bach only devoted relatively short periods
   of this half century to the composition of church music.  On the
   whole, one gets the impression that Bach, whenever free to do
   as he wanted, put most of his energy in keyboard and other
   instrumental music.  Much of his cantata production is connected
   to the duties of office or to the preparation of career steps.

Larry Sherwood