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Christian History Magazine—Issue 95: The Gospel according to J. S. Bach is unavailable, but you can change that!

Johann Sebastian Bach was certainly one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time. Today’s Bach festivals, concerts, recordings and biographies testify to his immense worldwide popularity. Few realize, however, that Bach was firmly rooted in a musical tradition begun by Martin Luther two centuries earlier. In fact, Bach composed most of his music for Sunday morning church services. In this...

Luther thought it was biblical to use every form of God-honoring expression to praise the God of grace, just so long as that praise did not violate biblical truth. Lutheran church music, as a result, almost immediately created a rich culture of choir directors, choristers, organists, composers, and performers. In 1538, Luther expressed this theology in yet another preface, this time to a full collection of masses, vespers, antiphons, responsories, and hymns that was published by Georg Rhau (whose