The Connection Between Music and Belief in God

Gavin Ortlund—writer and pastor at First Baptist Church of Ojai (California)—ponders the question, why do we feel a sense of transcendence when we listen to beautiful music? Where does that feeling come from? What's the best explanation for it? Ortlund compares the naturalistic and theistic answers to these questions, ultimately concluding that music is not a distraction from reality but a window into reality—and that the theistic framework gives a much more satisfying explanation for why it moves us emotionally.

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