Abstract This chapter consists of a constructive (yet critical) conversation with two of the finest and most stimulating studies of Bach currently available, John Butt’s, Bach’s Dialogue with Modernity and Karol Berger’s Bach’s Cycle, Mozart’s Arrow. Both situate Bach in relation to the emergence of modernity. The chapter focuses on three main loci raised by these books: subjectivity and creativity, openness and order, and time and eternity, and on the ways these are embodied in Bach’s work. It is argued that Butt offers a far more theologically nuanced reading than Berger of Bach in his time, especially with regard to the time–eternity relation. Concluding comments are made about the implications of Bach’s output for the way the role of theology is conceived in today’s late modern context.
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