Yesterday we attended a performance of Bach’s St John Passion in the Berwaldhalle in Stockholm. It was a first for me; of course I know the St Matthew Passion, and have all of Bach’s cantatas (around 200 of them) on CD; but not this earlier version of the Easter story. It was a great experience; more overtly dramatic than the Matteuspassionen, and enlivened in this performance by a troupe of young student dancers from the Stockholm Ballet Academy. It left me almost wanting to return to Christianity again.

Returning home, we watched part 3 of a TV documentary on the life of Jesus; made I think originally for the BBC, with lots of convincing historical context; except that for my taste the characters weren’t brown-skinned enough. I of course was familiar with the story from my years of gentle (Methodist) biblical indoctrination when I was a boy. It’s a gripping one, isn’t it, even if you choose to reject its religious message, and the miracles. It was pretty new to Kajsa, however, who was brought up rather less enamoured of the Lutheran Svenska (State) Kyrken; and I think it confirmed the point I’ve suggested to her more than once: that Christianity has generally been corrupted by churches, and turned into a tribal allegiance rather than the humanitarian philosophy Jesus had intended it to be. (Look at the USA; and most Kristdemokraterna parties in Europe.) Kajsa herself remarked on how revolutionary, anti-establishment and indeed even socialist Jesus’s life and teachings appeared to be. If I could find a ‘Christian’ church that lived up Christ’s real teachings (as I understand them), and – crucially, for me – didn’t require my unquestioning ‘faith’ (I’ve written about this before – https://bernardjporter.com/2025/03/11/christianity-weaponised/), I think I might go for it.

Quakers? Christian Socialism? (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christian-Socialism)? Is that still a going concern?