Bach’s Music: A Testament to God’s Glory

Johan Sebastian Bach’s music has long been considered among the greatest artistic expressions in human history. When eminent scientist Lewis Thomas mused about what was the greatest testament of earth’s achievements to send into deep space, he replied, “I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again. We would be bragging, of course.” (The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher)

The Faith Behind Bach’s Music

In his lifetime, Bach was not one to brag. He lived a quiet life of hard work and dedication to his art, his faith, and his family. He received little recognition for his work in his lifetime, and he demanded little acclaim. Driven by a quiet, Lutheran piety, Bach worked as a church organist while he raised a large family and supplemented his income tutoring young students in music and Latin. He worked not for fame, but for God. Many of his music sheets were used as wastepaper after the performance. Of his one thousand known works, only 10 percent were published during Bach’s lifetime. “I was obliged to work hard,” Bach said. “Whoever is equally industrious will succeed just as well.” (Patrick Kavanaugh, Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers) But Bach’s compositions—such as the Brandenburg Concertos, the Cello Suites, the Mass in B Minor, and the Goldberg Variations—are evidence of a composer so profound that he shaped all subsequent Western music. Jazz musician Charles Mingus said, “Bach is how buildings got taller. It’s how we got to the moon.” (John F. Goodman, Mingus Speaks)

Bach’s music speaks of an inspiration that was dynamically tied to faith. Whether Bach was writing a profound religious work like the St. Matthew Passion or a comedic musical like the caffeine-laden Coffee Cantata,

Soli Deo Gloria: Music for God Alone

Bach considered all of his art for the glory of God. On his blank music sheets, Bach was known to write, “Help me, Jesus” and “In the name of Jesus.” At the end of each finished composition, he would sign his works, Soli Deo Gloria— “Glory to God Alone.” (Kavanaugh, Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers) Prayers and poems of praise were scribbled on Bach’s manuscripts, revealing a joyful delight in his life and in his God. “On land, on sea, at home, abroad,” Bach wrote, “I smoke my pipe and worship God.” (Kavanaugh, Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers) This simple, joyful faith inspired the greatest music in history, music which continues to speak of the transcendent truths and joys of Christianity to such a profound degree that Bach has been nicknamed the Fifth Evangelist.

MEDITATION: COCREATING WITH GOD

Bach’s Music and the Argument for God

God is the original artist. He speaks the universe into existence: spiraling galaxies, crystalline ice, erupting heat vents beneath the oceans, king-fishers in flight, ripening peaches, bellowing bison, hanging orchids, all pinnacling in the wonder of a human face. God is the master sculptor, composer, painter, scientist, gardener, rancher, chef, and architect. All the fearsome beauty of the natural world flows from his creative fingertips.

There are many rational arguments for the existence of God, but often the most compelling is the argument from aesthetic experience. We might frame it as a deductive argument: there is the music of Johann Sabastian Bach. Therefore there must be God.

Beauty as Evangelism: Lessons from Bach

Let that settle for a moment. This is the kind of argument that can only be accessed as the instinctive or gut level. As British philosopher Alain de Botton once quipped, “Although I don’t believe in God, Bach’s music shows me what a love of God must feel like.” (“110 Alain de Botton Quotes on Marriage, Success, and Work”) His mind is not convinced, but his heart is wooed. This is what the beauty of God, his world, and the God-like creativity of his image-bearers does to people. Every atheist must gaze out over the vastness of the Pacific or peer deep into the night sky or listen to Bach’s Cello Suites and wonder if they’ve missed something.

Cocreating with God Through Art

When Christians think about the call to evangelism, we often think about using words to persuade the minds of unbelievers. This is good and right. But is it enough, I wonder? If there is a God who entices and woos his people with beauty, should not his people join his divine creativity as a testimony to his goodness?

Using Creativity to Reflect the Imago Dei

The creative arts are not frivolous nonessentials; they are intrinsic to the imago Dei. When you create something good and beautiful, you are cocreating with God. You are also evangelizing. You are bearing witness to the existence of God.

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