Bachs Sacred Music in the Post-Secular Age

Despite ongoing secularization Bachs sacred music is more popular than ever before. How do we negotiate the tension between enjoying this music and struggling to connect with its Christian doctrinal content? Using Habermass concept of the post-secular as a translation of religious content that can enrich secular society, Jeroen van Gessel takes a closer look at complete recordings of Bachs cantatas, staged and filmed versions of the Passions and efforts to reenact performances from Bachs time. Based on these case studies he argues that contemporary performances of Bachs sacred music move ever further away from the original Christian context of this repertoire, but simultaneously try to hold on to it.