Protestant Work Ethic

Today is Johann Sebastian Bach's birthday. The greatest composer of post-Reformation, pre-Enlightenment Europe, Bach wrested sacred choral music from Latin--a dying language--and set it to German--an unsingable one. True to the Baroque aesthetic, his life saw a constant "spinning out" of cantatas, concerti, toccatas and kids. (20 in all. Nine of 'em lived!)

At the heart of Protestantism is the belief that neither an elaborate church hierarchy nor even a single priest need act as intermediary between an individual and God's wrath. Like Job, we are each free to offer our pleas and lamentations directly to God and experience his derisive laughter or cold indifference for ourselves.

Appalled by the corruption, sensuality and empty ritual of the Latin Church, German Lutherans venerated hard work. Soon, constant, drudging labor became the Protestant way to crush the soul.

"Wachet Auf! You must clock in!"