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@RobertEllsberg
@RobertEllsberg
Theologian Karl Barth regarded Mozart as a great religious artist, not because of the liturgical settings of his music but because of his “childlike awareness of the essence or center—as also the beginning and the end—of all things.” Barth dreamed that he was assigned to examine
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@RobertEllsberg
@RobertEllsberg
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died Dec 5, 1791. "I never lie down at night without reflecting that--young as I am--I may not live to see another day. Yet no one of all my acquaintances could say that in company I am morose and disgruntled. For this blessing I daily thank my Creator."
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@RobertEllsberg
@RobertEllsberg
...Mozart on points of theology and dogmatics and tried to pitch him easy questions, but the composer remained silent. Thomas Merton wondered if perhaps Barth was “striving to admit that he will be saved more by Mozart in himself than by his theology.”
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@RobertEllsberg
@RobertEllsberg
“Fear not, Karl Barth! Trust in the divine mercy. Though you have grown up to become a theologian, Christ remains a child in you. Your books (and mine) matter less than we might think! There is in us a Mozart who will be our salvation.” (Merton)
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@RobertEllsberg
@RobertEllsberg
Barth said that if he ever arrived in heaven he would seek out Mozart before his fellow theologians. Mozart died Dec 5, 1791. Karl Barth and Thomas Merton died on the same day: December 10 1968.
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