Religious Music for Godless Ears

Abstract

Abstract This essay sets out from two thoughts, one an empirical observation, the other a worry. The observation is that many atheists regard certain pieces of religious music as among the greatest works of art. The worry is that there must be something compromised in the atheists’ experience of such works. Taken together, these thoughts seem to point to the sceptical conclusion that the high regard in which many atheists hold religious works must itself be compromised. Most of the essay is devoted to clarifying the initial worry through the investigation of a series of attempts to avoid the sceptical conclusion, before it is argued that, for at least one sort of atheist, there is, after all, a mode of engagement with great religious music that might afford an experience of it which would underwrite the judgement that the work is, indeed, great.