Christ as A440 and the cross-song of Bach
Dr. Friesen-Carper, my musicianship professor in college, commented once that he loved the sound of an orchestra tuning. This was not a shocking or shattering comment for his pupils to hear, considering he was the conductor of Valparaiso University's orchestra. However, it made me stop and listen the next few times I went to hear an orchestra play. Once the A440, or "concert pitch" was sounded by the Oboe or Clarinet, I would tune my own ears in to the sound of the orchestra adjusting pitch to the 440 cycles per second.
One of my seminary professors yesterday referred in class to the "concert pitch", and pushed the metaphor to how we might atune our lives to God. Christ as the great A440- imagery I'd never thought of. Is the sounding of this pitch the cross? Are our lives in the eschatalogical "now...not yet" the amalgamation of countless instruments striving to atune to that pitch?
Just some thoughts...
Another metaphor:
Douglas John Hall, in his book The Cross In Our Context discusses what theology would look like if it were played in this key: in the key of the theologia crucis. Hall hypothesizes that some might say the theology of the cross fits well with a minor key, seeming gloomy compared to so much of the jubilant theological expressions of popular Christianity today. Hall claims that life is often found in a minor key, and to neglect that reality in favor of the "all things bright and beautiful" mentality that so many Christian sects embrace today is to be "out of touch with life".
However, Hall's suggestion moves beyond the categorization of theologia crucis as strictly minor. He claims that there is a great modulation between major and minor that the "thin tradition" adopts (without, he claims, the sentimental diminished or dominant fifths and sevenths) akin to the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. Hall claims that this theological tradition that was "never much loved" (Moltmann) is played well in the pens of Luther and Bonhoeffer. The reference to Bach is also a nod to that Lutheran tradition, "That is to say, he knew enough about death to look for life in the midst of it and not be pretending that death in all its guises did not exist." (Hall, The Cross in Our Context, 9)
Interesting imagery...
One of my seminary professors yesterday referred in class to the "concert pitch", and pushed the metaphor to how we might atune our lives to God. Christ as the great A440- imagery I'd never thought of. Is the sounding of this pitch the cross? Are our lives in the eschatalogical "now...not yet" the amalgamation of countless instruments striving to atune to that pitch?
Just some thoughts...
Another metaphor:
Douglas John Hall, in his book The Cross In Our Context discusses what theology would look like if it were played in this key: in the key of the theologia crucis. Hall hypothesizes that some might say the theology of the cross fits well with a minor key, seeming gloomy compared to so much of the jubilant theological expressions of popular Christianity today. Hall claims that life is often found in a minor key, and to neglect that reality in favor of the "all things bright and beautiful" mentality that so many Christian sects embrace today is to be "out of touch with life".
However, Hall's suggestion moves beyond the categorization of theologia crucis as strictly minor. He claims that there is a great modulation between major and minor that the "thin tradition" adopts (without, he claims, the sentimental diminished or dominant fifths and sevenths) akin to the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. Hall claims that this theological tradition that was "never much loved" (Moltmann) is played well in the pens of Luther and Bonhoeffer. The reference to Bach is also a nod to that Lutheran tradition, "That is to say, he knew enough about death to look for life in the midst of it and not be pretending that death in all its guises did not exist." (Hall, The Cross in Our Context, 9)
Interesting imagery...
posted by abigail @ Tuesday, April 19, 2005
9 comments
