Bach Among the Theologians

by Jaroslav Pelikan

This superb and enduring contribution to the Johann Sebastian Bach tricentennial focuses on Bach's vocation as a musician of the church and on his work as a theologian. Although Bach is most often remembered for his music, Jaroslav Pelikan here reminds us of the message of Bach's works and of his understanding and devotion to his vocation within the church. By relating Bach's work to the heritage of the Lutheran Reformation -- musical as well as theological -- Pelikan places Bach within the context of the theological currents of his time. Maintaining that the Reformation heritage provides the underlying thematic and religious inspiration for Bach's work, Pelikan delves into three main movements within Lutheran theology of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as a framework for understanding Bach. He also demonstrates how Bach's sacred music complements and illustrates these theological trends. In the second portion of the book, Pelikan examines the theological motifs that are reflected in the texts Bach used and in the settings he provided for these texts. The author points to Bach's particular interest in the meaning of the cross, and to redemption and atonement through the death and resurrection of Christ. He notes the centrality of the 'Passions' in Bach's lifework and their importance for the history of the doctrine of atonement. 'Bach Among the Theologians' represents a unique inspirational complement to the many works that concentrate primarily on the composer's personal or secular life.

Genres: Theology, Music, Religion, History, Biography, Philosophy, Nonfiction

172 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1986

About the author

Jaroslav Jan Pelikan was born in Akron, Ohio, to a Slovak father and mother, Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Sr. and Anna Buzekova Pelikan. His father was pastor of Trinity Slovak Lutheran Church in Chicago, Illinois, and his paternal grandfather a bishop of the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches then known as the Slovak Lutheran Church in America.

According to family members, Pelikan's mother taught him how to use a typewriter when he was three years old, as he could not yet hold a pen properly but wanted to write. A polyglot, Pelikan's facility with languages may be traced to his multilingual childhood and early training. That linguistic facility was to serve him in the career he ultimately chose (after contemplating becoming a concert pianist)--as a historian of Christian doctrine. He did not confine his studies to Roman Catholic and Protestant theological history, but also embraced that of the Christian East.

In 1946 when he was 22, he earned both a seminary degree from Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri and a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.

Pelikan wrote more than 30 books, including the five-volume The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (1971–1989). Some of his later works attained crossover appeal, reaching beyond the scholarly sphere into the general reading public (notably, Mary Through the Centuries, Jesus Through the Centuries and Whose Bible Is It?).

His 1984 book The Vindication of Tradition gave rise to an often quoted one liner. In an interview in U.S. News & World Report (June 26, 1989), he said: "Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering where we are and when we are and that it is we who have to decide.

"Traditionalism supposes that nothing should ever be done for the first time, so all that is needed to solve any problem is to arrive at the supposedly unanimous testimony of this homogenized tradition."

Reviews

[Ian Hodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes you find fascinating and important theological insights in unexpected places. In this book, the author not only provides a history of J.S. Bach and his music, but also important insights into the theological changes underway at the time. Bach straddled the period from older Christianity to the new Pietism and the influence of the Enlightenment, and Pelikan shows how his music bypassed the contemporary religious movements by restating orthodox Christianity in musical form. At the same time, however, he allowed his art to reshape how those statements were to be made.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pelikan's work is an unsentimental look at the influence of Pietism and evangelical thought on a composer who has been too often oversimplified as "staunchly Lutheran." He questions the assumptions we make based on a standardized "psychobiography."

Not surprisingly, there is not an in-depth engagement with the music (he relies heavily on Spitta, Schweitzer, etc.), but Pelikan does offer some excellent textual analyses. He promotes a re-reading of Bach's career, demonstrating that a lack of sacred output in Cöthen did not necessarily define a "low point" for the composer.

While the book as a whole seems to lack cohesion in some places, it does function very well as a set of separate essays. Particularly cogent are the chapters on ""Mediation on Human Redemption" in the St. Matthew Passion" and "Pietism, Piety and Devotion in Bach's Cantatas." The book is an important contribution to interdisciplinary dialogue about the figureheads of Classical music and should be embraced in that spirit.

[Jaek Wraf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost gave 3 stars, mostly just because of my personal preference-- it's an academic-style book, and can feel slow and boring and like a contribution to some weird debate that isn't mentioned explicitly and that you wouldn't recognize if it were. But honestly it isn't too dry or turgid considering the genre it belongs to. As a musician and a Christian, I loved the specific analysis of musical theology in Bach, not just in his librettos but in his actual composition. Pelikan's fighting a losing battle here, though, since the best way to learn about these moments is to listen to the major Bach works, preferably with score in hand (something I've never done, despite loving Bach's "secular" works). This book has inspired me to do just that, in order to learn more about composition and to grow nearer to God. The book itself feels secondary, but it's drawn me nearer to the real thing, so I'd recommend it!

[Lucy Pollard-Gott · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this short book, renowned Christian historian Jaroslav Pelikan looks at the strands of Lutheran orthodoxy, Pietism, and even Calvinism present in his chosen liturgical texts and musical achievement. His illuminating discussions of the Cantatas and his comparison of the emphases of the St. Matthew's Passion and St. John's Passion on atonement and victory, respectively, will surely enrich my listening understanding of these longer works, which I am just beginning to explore for myself. Pelikan sees the B Minor Mass as a unifying synthesis of the many strands that Bach imbibed during his life and continued to express anew through his unique genius.

[Edward]

The Pietists significantly influenced theology which, in turn, led to a change in music, both inside and outside the church. Jaroslav Pelikan, in his book Bach Among the Theologians observed that “Pietist spirituality had, by the time of Bach, acquired an increasingly distinctive tone in its description of the relation between the individual soul and Jesus.”


Pelikan noted that “a study of Pietist vocabulary would certainly show that in both homiletics and hymnody ‘Jesus’ superseded ‘Christ’ or ‘Jesus Christ’ as the most common name, and—perhaps even more significant—that ‘Savior [Heiland]‘ replaced ‘Lord [Herr]‘ as the most common title.”

http://biblicallandmarks.com/wpl/how-...

[Patrick O'Hannigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is dryer than I had hoped it would be, but deep and fascinating nevertheless. Among other things, Pelikan helpfully provides English translations immediately following original German quotes from various Bach cantatas.

I do not think it merits a "spoiler alert" to say that Pelikan very reasonably concludes that Johann Sebastian Bach's Christian faith was not something that would lend itself to any facile divide between "sacred" and "secular," despite what some misguided scholars of that master musician and composer later claimed, when they had their own axes to grind one way or the other.

[David Grindberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this back when it first came out (1986, I believe). Some of its insight's still walk with me. The chapter on the St Matthew Passion is positively stunning.

I was recently in a conversation with a musician and good friend and was again reminded of the power that this work holds---thus this belated review.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating exploration of Bach’s theology in relation to Luther, the creeds, Catholicism, Pietism and the Enlightenment. Pelikan’s genius is partly revealed through just how much he packs into merely 140 pages. He shows how Bach’s faith was neither simplistic nor irrelevant to his brilliance as a composer. Any serious study of Bach should include this book.

[Tim Sanduleac · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book deals with the theology of Bach's composition. The introduction presents the Lutheran Church calendar as the context for Bach's work. The first half of the book deals with theological movements (such as The Reformation, The Enlightenment, Lutheranism and Pietism) and their influence to Bach's work. The second half deals with 3 big compositions of Bach, namely "The Passion according to St. Matthew", "The Passion according to St. John" and "Mass in B minor". The book ends with a brief analysis of Bach as a person and his attitude towards his work (though, no doubt, this topic is present throughout the whole volume).

This was an interesting read. The discussions of themes in his cantatas in relation to theological ideas floating about in the 18th Century were fascinating. In particular, the immense heritage left by Luther often goes unnoticed when it comes to Bach's musical work. Seeing how he implemented both Luther's theological ideas, as well as his musical compositions into his own work gives the reader a new perspective on Bach as a composer, as well as a theologian.

I personally wish this book was longer. I feel like separate chapters could have been attributed to his Christmas and Easter oratorios, as well as maybe his Magnificat.

There are a couple of things to consider about this book:

1. As other readers have pointed out, it often uses very academic language and can feel bland at times.
This wasn't an issue for me, as I am passionate about the topic, but it might be for others.

2. English text for the Cantatas which are discussed is only provided for those which already have translations. For the ones that do not already have translations (which comprise maybe 40-45% of those mentioned), an English version of at least the meaning of the words is not included, so if you don't know German, you'll most likely need a translator of some sort.

3. This book does not do close to any musical analysis. It merely deals with the theological content and text of Bach's music.


Overall, this is a short book worthy of reading for anyone who is interested in the topic of Bach's theology, but it does have some minor cons which could have been improved.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not an easy read - it takes full concentration to follow the train of thought in each chapter. But that said, it was a rich and informative little volume which dug into 8 aspects of Bach's theology which are revealed by his compositions. Pelikan does this by comparing Bach in each chapter to another musician (or theologian) of his time. Most interesting to me personally were chapters four and five revealing Bach as an orthodox (vs. the liberals) and Bach as a pietist.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've given this book two stars because I've categorized it as a series of essays instead of a holistic work (in which case it would receive one star). Even so, the work is messy and unedited, and its premises are ambiguous and poorly argued.

I may try to read it again to derive more of a four-star experience that so many others seem to have had. I truly don't know what I missed.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid.

[sam tannehill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first work I read by Jaroslav Pelikan was "The Christian Tradition" volumes. After having read those, I would have been surprised that Pelikan had ever written such a short book, but he did, and it's this one, and it's good! The thesis, that J.S. Bach's works emanated from his theological worldview, is presented throughout the book, and Pelikan firmly but humbly wraps up with a nifty formula, along the lines of: you may think that I'm off my base, but whammy... here's the irrefutable QED.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful