The Gospel of ‘Blessed Assurance’ According to Johann Sebastian Bach, by Jules Gomes

“If Bach is not in Heaven, I am not going,” William F. Buckley, the iconic conservative writer, political commentator, and host of the talk show Firing Line once said.

Is there a more quintessentially Buckleian paradox than this? William Frank Buckley, a devout Catholic, beatifying Johann Sebastian Bach, a dyed-in-the-wool Lutheran?

“It may be that when the angels go about their task praising God, they play only Bach. I am sure, however, that when they are together en famille they play Mozart,” Swiss theologian Karl Barth wrote in his fictional A Letter of Thanks to Mozart. ….