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The Musicality of the Triune God in Selected Medieval Writings
Bertoglio, Chiara (Papieski Wydział Teologiczny we Wrocławiu, 2023)
The ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity has always represented a complex challenge for authors and theologians wishing to express meaningful truths about it through words. In the quest for a language which could be not entirely inappropriate and inadequate, musical terms have found their way in theological writings. This happened already in the Patristic era, when, for instance, terms such as symphonia and harmonia were employed, by both orthodox and heretical writers, in their discussions about the Trinity. When the lexicon for a proper orthodox discussion of Trinitarian subjects was finally established and became commonly employed in theological and spiritual writings, musical or musically related terms were set aside in favour of the theologically sanctioned vocabulary; yet, in the Middle Ages, some remnants of these early practices survived. Not only so; in fact, they gave life to a whole new stream of theological and spiritual literature, which, in turn, was deeply intertwined with the mystical experiences of holy men and women who claimed to have experienced the Trinitarian mystery in visions or in contemplation, and who related about the “musicality” of their experiences of the Triune God. Spiritual poetry, in turn, frequently employed musical metaphors or analogies for expressing something of God’s Trinitarian nature, thus strengthening a shared narrative and the role of music in it. Paying homage to Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI’s masterful theology of music, to his experience as a musician and to the depth of his understanding of how music and theology intertwine, this article discusses some themes connecting music and the Trinity, as found in the spiritual theology of medieval authors.