Can music "mirror" god? A theological-hermeneutical exploration of music in the light of Arvo Pärt's spiegel im Spiegel

Abstract

A theological exploration of the potential of non-liturgical instrumental music for the transmission of religious Christian faith experience, based on a hermeneutical tool drawn from Jean-Jacques Nattiez as applied to Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel. The article explores musical composition, reception, as well as the piece of music in itself, to discover common traits and keys to understanding its "meaning", and relate it to current thought and development in theology; in particular to themes of creativity, theological aesthetics, the Ascension, the artistic vocation and meaning-making in contemporary culture, through music and films. © 2014 by the author; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.