To an unbeliever, most Christian thinking, beginning with the proclamation of the cosmic kingship of an executed Palestinian carpenter, must seem like an insane, if touching, attempt to rationalize tragedy and failure. Yet the history of my romance with the greatest of all composers concretely and compellingly illustrates the ancient Christian doctrine that God’s Providence…

It is not often that I feel like a cultural alien. My formative years, which afforded me the priceless opportunity to forge a fine intellect and noble character, were instead spent imbibing cable TV, movies, magazines and every significant album in the rock and rap canons. I therefore know the weight and nuance of the…