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Letters

Ross Douthat’s summary of the state of the Catholic conversation (“Catholic Ideas and Catholic Realities,” August/September) demonstrates the author’s typical precision in observing his own intellectual communities. On multiple readings I can find nothing substantially to disagree with; and . . . . Continue Reading »

Bach and Pythagoras

Anyone who begins playing Bach as an adult will notice two things: that he should have started earlier, ideally by studying the piano as a child instead of chasing a leathery orb around some field; and that there is something of the divine in Bach. Philosophers have always drawn a connection between . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted

Bach & God by michael marissen oxford, 288 pages, $35Michael Marissen, emeritus professor of music at Swarthmore, argues that Johann Sebastian Bach’s music embodies the theology of its text, and an acquaintance with that theology helps listeners understand and appreciate Bach’s music more . . . . Continue Reading »

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