The Unanswered Question (1908). Charles Ives /congregationalist/

While discussing  organized religion, Scott  Spiegelberg makes the point that Charles Ives, despite some of his music's ambivalence, was a devoted Congregationalist:

Instead, Ives shows that religion doesn't have to be all about revelations. "The Cage" ponders if life is simply pacing back and forth, with no goal in sight. The Unanswered Question realizes that some questions have no answers, and is at peace with that, while still asking the question.

I don't know much about Congregationalists. I see that they were called, appropriately for Charles Ives,  "separatists" or "independents." The idea of autonomy of congregation is attributed to John Wyclif, a fourteenth-century theologian and Platonist. I just finished the book "The Last Night: The Twilight of the Middle Ages and the Birth of the Modern Era," by Norman Cantor. He describes aristrocratic medieval life through the lens of the life of John of Gaunt, whom the author considers the last medieval knight, before social changes shook up the status quo. Regarding Wyclif, although England unlike other countries, didn't necessarily persecute heretics, Wyclif's radical writings, including the notion the Church at the time should divest itself of its land and property, resulted in his being brought to an inquistional court of the Church. However, Gaunt, pursuing spiritual questions brought on by the Black Death and sympathetic to Wyclif, ended up protecting him by starting a riot during the trial and attacking the residing Bishop.

Anyway, my point is that Wyclif, to his benefit, had aristocratic protection in the form of  billionaire prince Gaunt. However, Charles Ives had to fend for himself. He did provide for himself financially via his very successful insurance career, but had he been born in earlier times, maybe Ives would  had a benefactor or protector. This might have allowed him to focus solely, in his early adult years, on his heretical music. I'm guessing but it's probably hard being a heretical artist and a responsible, faithful, devout citizen at the same time.

Real stream of The Unanswered Question here, via classique.abeillemusique.com.