The Bible and Music

For spring break, my mom, my brother, and I decided to visit Prague. I had always been curious of Prague, as it was a city I hadn’t heard much about, and what I saw blew my mind. The city itself was so gorgeous, with buildings dating back to the 14th century, entangled with the modernity of life there today.

While there, our tour guide explained to us that approximately 70% of the population of Prague identify as “non-religious.” The 30 Years War (1618-1648) demonstrated conflict between the Protestant and Catholic states, which turned many away from religion as a whole. Later on, communism consumes Prague where, if they even had a religious preference, they were unable to freely practice it. These two factors together have let to the lack of faith in religion.

Now, I’m sure you are wondering why I am writing about this for my Bible and Music class. Well, this statistic gets more interesting when I go to visit the Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral. Upon walking into the outstanding cathedral, I was amazed by the great hall, spanning approximately 400 ft, with stained-glass windows adorning the walls on both sides. As I looked around, eventually turning around so my back faced the hall, I was shocked that there was no great organ greeting you at the front as you walked in. After talking to my tour guide, I found that the cathedral was taking donations in the hope of raising $60 million for the new organ. That amount of money seems astronomical to me, but in the eyes of the people that come to partake in the religious practices of the cathedral, music in service is just that important.

I immediately began to think about this class and our various discussions of how music is used in the church. My tour guide further explained that they rely so heavily on music in their service because of the lack of religious values found in the population. The church hopes that with the purchase of the organ, they will allow themselves to become more relatable and prevalent in the population’s eyes.

From: March 23, 2018