Volume 4 - Number 2
August 2009
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VOICE From Co-Director
Richard C. Resch
he Good Shepherd Institute is more than an annual conference. Its mission is to be a thoughtful, vibrant, ongoing resource for the church in the areas of pastoral theology and sacred music. I would like to take this newsletter opportunity to bring you up-to-date on what resources are now available from the Institute, and at the same time to let you hear how these resources are being received by the church.
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Comfort & Peace:
Without a doubt, our CD, Hymns of Comfort and Peace: Hearing God’s Promises in Time of Need, is meeting a need for those overwhelmed, sick, lonely, grieving, depressed, and dying. Pastors and churches have ordered 20, 50, 100 copies at a time. We also have a growing file of letters from clergy, laity, and members of the military telling us how this sung proclamation has given Christ to their hearts and minds in the time of need. Concordia Publishing House offered to administer sales of this CD through iTunes, and GSI accepted. We received our first monthly report of healthy sales and have discovered that more than half of the sales were from countries using the Euro. You may access this CD on iTunes by entering Hymns of Comfort and Peace at the iTunes Store. Friends of GSI may simply contact Yohko Masaki at 260-452-2224 for the best quantity price. We are very happy to report that the Institute’s DVD, Singing the Faith: Living the Lutheran Musical Heritage, is being used all over the world, with quantities being sent to Africa, Japan, Russia, and Sweden. Reviews and responses to this resource have been wonderfully positive, and we offer here a sampling: One cannot watch this DVD without much joy and thanksgiving that here, at last, is told and sung the story of the godly musical heritage that we in the Lutheran church have been given, and at a time when so many have already tragically surrendered or are about to exchange their birthright for a mess of pop-cultural pottage. Pastors and musicians in the congregation will find in it a serviceable tool for reclaiming and celebrating this heritage. As such it will help them understand and teach not only the history of our hymnody but also the divine blessing that is given as we sing it. . . . Once in a great while, a work is produced for which the whole church on earth can give unreserved thanks to God. This is such a work. Thomas V. Aadland, in a review for Lutheran Forum
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continued from previous page The DVD is beautifully done—the narrative and the music are excellent. Parishes should find it very useful in their education programs. Philip Gehring, Professor and University Organist Emeritus, Valparaiso University It’s hard to find a word to describe the overall impression, but I think “voluptuous” works. It’s a feast for the eyes as well as the ears! However, I think it should come with a warning: “This DVD warrants a ‘two tissue alert,’ even for the most unemotional Lutherans.” Dennis Marzolf, Professor and Choral Director, Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, Minnesota A number of great hymns are modeled in live congregational singing. Without exception, these vibrant examples of hymn singing lift the spirit and give powerful voice to faith. The audio is clear. An abundance of art works provides counterpoint to the music. These videos are a rich experience for mind, eye, and ear. Victor E. Gebauer, in a review for Cross Accent: Journal of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, vol. 17, no. 1 (2009) The pictorial and musical production values are excellent. Although the DVD was produced for Lutheran congregational study, it would be of interest to hymnology classes of any type, especially the first portion of the video which deals with Martin Luther’s views on music and the evolution of the Lutheran chorale tradition. Larry Wolz, in a review for The Hymn: A Journal of Congregational Song 60 (Winter 2009)
This reviewer is profoundly grateful for the gift of Singing the Faith. This DVD is not merely educational in a sense of giving some hard data on important facts, events, persons, and contributions of the past. It is also devotional; it “cheers our hearts” because it teaches us not only about what it means to sing the faith but it actually proclaims Christ to us. . . . It should be translated into many languages and brought into many countries. Naomichi Masaki, in a forthcoming review for Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology For me the high point is to see how J. S. Bach treats the chorale melody “Come, Creator Spirit” for organ, laying it in the pedals, using a triple beat to symbolize the Trinity. Stefan Pehrson, in a review from Sweden
Singing the Faith is also being enthusiastically embraced outside of Lutheranism. Although CPH has sole distribution rights, the New Reformation Press wanted to market this product so badly that they arranged to purchase copies from CPH at full price and have been given permission to sell the product at a higher price. As a result of this broadened outlet, the extremely popular conservative Baptist website, Internetmonk, has given it a glowing review and the highest recommendation. One amusing response to this endorsement tells of how they love that the words go along the bottom of the page while the hymns are being sung; it’s like a “Lutheran karaoke.” continued on next page
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Copies are still available of the GSI monograph Music for the Church: The Life and Work of Walter E. Buszin, by Kirby Koriath. Buszin’s ten essays on a variety of church music topics have been used often at our Seminary and in various parishes to study the theological heart of Lutheran church music. The GSI journals continue to be an excellent resource for individuals to study at home, in small group discussions, and in a Sunday morning Bible class. The topics are thematic and quite naturally provide an outline for reading, topical discussion, and group study. Here are the journals available from our Bookstore or online; however, some are close to being sold out.
2000 Christ’s Gifts for Healing the Soul: Toward a Lutheran Identity in the New Millennium 2001 Christ’s Gifts in the Liturgy: The Theology and Music of the Divine Service 2002 Day by Day We Magnify Thee: Psalms in the Life of the Church 2003 Hymns in the Life of the Church 2004 Singing and Preaching the Close of the Year: “Zion Hears the Watchmen Singing” 2005 Luther on Liturgy and Hymns 2006 The History and Practice of Lutheran Service Book 2007 Celebrating the Life and Hymns of Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676) and Martin Franzmann (1907–1976)
All resources produced by The Good Shepherd Institute are available from the Concordia Theological Seminary Bookstore online or at 260-452-2160.
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Recommended
PASTORAL RESOURCES by JOHN PLESS
Timothy J. Wengert, Martin Luther’s Catechisms: Forming the Faith
John W. Kleinig, “Pastoring by Blessing,”
Written in a conversational tone yet packed with insightful scholarship, Timothy Wengert’s book will prove to be a reliable guide for those who ponder, pray, and teach the Catechism. Striking just the right balance between historical detail and theological exposition, Wengert shows how Luther addressed biblical illiteracy, doctrinal ignorance, and chaotic social conditions in the sixteenth century. Especially helpful is chapter eight, “The Catechisms as a Vocational School.” _______________________________________
John W. Kleinig has long been recognized as a scholar who combines a profound knowledge of the Old Testament with a view toward pastoral practice in the context of the church’s liturgical life. Working with the understanding that by the performance of a benediction “God enlivens and empowers his creatures; he provides good gifts for them and empowers them to work with him” (29), Kleinig seeks to correct a deficit in pastoral care—namely the failure to value or use blessing. Drawing on the work of Claus Westermann, Peter Brunner, and Ulrich Heckel, Kleinig seeks to provide a biblical foundation for the recovery of this aspect of liturgical life and pastoral care. _______________________________________
(Fortress Press, 2009), 196 pp. [$18.00]
Albrecht Peters, Commentary on Luther’s Catechisms: Ten Commandments,
trans. Holger Sonntag (Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 333 pp. [$42.99]
Albrecht Peters (1924–1987), a professor at Heidelberg, was a leading Lutheran systematic theologian and Reformation scholar. Long recognized as the standard treatment of Luther’s Catechisms, Peters’s five-volume Kommentar zu Luthers Katechismen has been foundational for scholarly work on these documents for the last twenty-five years. Now the first volume in this series is available in English, with the remaining volumes on their way over the next few years. Peters provides a treasure chest of exegetical, historical, and theological insights on Luther’s understanding of the Decalogue. Well-acquainted with the relevant secondary literature and immersed in the primary texts, Peters sets Luther’s catechetical use of the Ten Commandments in the context of the distinction of the Law from the Gospel. This volume, along with those that are to follow, deserves a place in the study of every Lutheran pastor. _______________________________________
HIS Voice • August 2009
Lutheran Theological Journal 43 (May 2009): 28–38.
Stephen Pietsch, “Seelsorge: A Living Tradition in Pastoral Theology Practice,”
Lutheran Theological Journal 43 (May 2009): 49–62.
Stephen Pietsch, a lecturer in pastoral theology at the Australian Lutheran College in Adelaide, draws on twenty years of pastoral experience as well as his reading of Luther and Löhe to outline a proposal for the care of souls in our day. _______________________________________
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PASTORAL RESOURCES
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John T. Pless, “The Hammer of God as Catechesis,”
Robert Kolb, Martin Luther: Confessor of the Faith
What C.F.W. Walther does systematically by way of his propositions on the right distinction of the Law from the Gospel, Bo Giertz does in the form of a novel, The Hammer of God. The pattern of repentance, faith, and holy living that shapes the structure of the Catechism is at the heart of this Lutheran novel. This article offers insights as to how the six chief parts of Christian doctrine inform Giertz’s work and how the novel itself might be used in teaching Lutheran doctrine. _______________________________________
It is a good practice for the pastor to read and study a new and reliable work on Luther at least once a year, preferably in the weeks leading up to Reformation Sunday. My recommendation of a book to fit this niche for 2009 is Robert Kolb’s Martin Luther: Confessor of the Faith. Kolb is a master teacher of Luther, and his lifetime engagement with his writings and with current secondary literature is clearly reflected in this introduction to Luther’s life and thought. _______________________________________
Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology 18 (Holy Trinity 2009): 65–72.
Klaus Detlev Schulz, Mission from the Cross: The Lutheran Theology of Missions (Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 337 pp. [$29.99]
American Lutherans have been notorious for patching together theologies for missions from nonLutheran sources. At long last we have a distinctively Lutheran theology of missions grounded in God’s justification of the ungodly and framed by the theology of the cross. Bringing extensive experience from his time as a missionary in South Africa (where he also grew up as the son of a missionary) and over a decade of teaching missiology at Concordia Theological Seminary, Detlev Schulz has written a carefully argued systematic theology of missions that reflects sound biblical and confessional thinking and engages current trends with precision. This would be an excellent text for ongoing study and discussion at pastoral conferences. _______________________________________
HIS Voice • August 2009
(Oxford University Press, 2009), 215 pp. [$35.00]
Roy A. Harrisville, “Christian Life in Light of the Cross,”
Lutheran Quarterly 23 (Summer 2009): 218–32.
Veteran New Testament scholar Roy Harrisville uses his considerable skill as an exegete to examine the claims of Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life and related literature, concluding that “this life with Christ is hidden, so that there may be no empirical or perceptible difference between the believer and the person apart from Christ. However we may define this new existence, hiddenness is its hallmark. And again, the event that establishes such hiddenness is the cross by which Christ made his appearance under the sign of its opposite” (229). _______________________________________
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PASTORAL RESOURCES Matthew C. Harrison, At Home in the House of My Fathers (Lutheran Legacy Press, 2009), 850 pp.
This volume contains sermons, letters, convention addresses, and essays of the first German-born presidents of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod: C.F.W. Walther, F.C.D. Wyneken (who was also pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne), H.C. Schwan, Franz Pieper, and F. Pfotenhauer. The key to the future of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod lies in her past. In other segments of American Lutheranism, the great names of Charles Porterfield Krauth, Herman Amberg Preus, and J. Michel Reu are all but forgotten. The results of such spiritual and historical amnesia are clear. Thankfully, there are those in the Missouri Synod who still remember that the early decades of the life of the Synod were marked with unity and growth, as Walther and others who followed him were unashamed to be confessing Lutherans in a religious context hostile to the truth of the Reformation. Now Matthew Harrison has collected and translated the literary legacy of these years in sermons, essays, and correspondence. Not only an item for church historians but for pastors and laity, this anthology will give insights into the Missouri Synod’s theological vitality and missionary zeal in the nineteenth century, and it promises to encourage and inspire similar faithfulness today. _______________________________________
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Holger Sonntag, “The Night Will Soon Be Ending: Jochen Klepper: Lutheran Hymn-writer in Dark Times,”
Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology 18 (Eastertide 2009): 31–40.
Holger Sonntag tells the tragic story of Lutheran hymnist Jochen Klepper (1903–1942), who, along with his wife and daughter, committed suicide under the duress of Nazism. Two of Klepper’s hymns, “The Night Will Soon Be Ending” (337) and “I Lie, O Lord, within Your Care” (885) are in the Lutheran Service Book. Sonntag’s article reflects on the pathos of Klepper’s life and the Lutheran themes that informed his poetry. _______________________________________
Carl Axel Aurelius, “God’s Smile: Worship as Source of Christian Life,” trans. Holger Sonntag, Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology 18 (Eastertide 2009): 5–10.
Using Lucas Cranach’s altarpiece at St. Mary’s Church in Wittenberg as a template for approaching Luther’s theology of the Divine Service, Aurelius demonstrates how Luther’s reading of the Psalms lead him to confess “the worship service as the place of justification” (6). _______________________________________ Concordia Publishing House www.cph.org Fortress Press www.augsburgfortress.org Lutheran Legacy Press www.lutheranlegacy.org
Oxford University Press www.oup.com
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Five
EASY CHOIR IDEAS FOR REFORMATION ith choir season starting again very soon, now is the time to consider plans for the coming months. The following are a few ideas for Reformation Sunday to consider (or reconsider) for your choir:
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1. “A Mighty Fortress”: stanza 2 in a setting by Franz Tunder
✠ unison, triple meter, with some rhythmic and melodic variations. ✠ in A Second Morning Star Choir Book (CPH 97-4702, $7.50) _______________________________________
2. “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word”
✠ Henry Kihlken, unison, two-part, and SAB with organ (Northwestern Publishing House, OL286072, $1.60) ✠ Carl Schalk, two-part mixed and keyboard, in A Third Crown Choir Book (CPH 97-5969, $7.00) _______________________________________
3. Settings of Psalm 46
✠ David Cherwien, Psalm 46: God is Our Refuge and Strength, unison, refrain and psalm verses with lush organ accompaniment (MorningStar Music, 80-800, $1.25) ✠ setting by Henry Gerike in Psallite: Psalm Settings for the Church Year, refrain of Psalm 46 is based on “A Mighty Fortress” (CPH 976987, $40.00, reproducible scores and parts of several psalms, including Psalm 46) _______________________________________
HIS Voice • August 2009
by KEVIN HILDEBRAND
4. Carl Schalk, Thy Strong Word
✠ concertato rearranged for SATB choir and brass quartet (CPH 98-3881, choir score, $1.50; 977175, full score with reproducible parts, $40.00) _______________________________________
5. Take an opportunity to reintroduce a chorale.
✠ Consider one of the chorales used within Divine Service, Setting 5. If the chorale is unfamiliar to the congregation, it could be sung by the choir, perhaps during the offering or during distribution of the Lord’s Supper. ✠ Or the choir could sing “Kyrie! God, Father” (LSB 942) in place of the Kyrie, for example. _______________________________________ Concordia Publishing House www.cph.org
MorningStar Music Publishers www.morningstarmusic.com
Northwestern Publishing House www.nph.net
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READING AND LISTENING by DANIEL ZAGER
READING
Robin A. Leaver, “Luther as Composer,”
Christopher Boyd Brown, “Devotional Life in Hymns, Liturgy, Music, and Prayer,” in Lutheran Ecclesiastical Culture, 1550–1675,
Leaver’s article is “a revision and expansion of the entry ‘Luther’s Chorale Melodies,’” which will eventually appear in the forthcoming Dictionary of Hymnology, currently in preparation under the general editorship of J. Richard Watson. Leaver explores Luther’s musical background and substantial ability as well as the kinds of preexistent music, e.g., Latin chant melodies, that would have provided him a repository of musical ideas. Leaver concludes that “Luther was able to create memorable melodies that surpass the models that inspired them” (395). Two tables provide important information at a glance: “Luther’s Melodies for his Hymns and Liturgical Texts” (subdivided into “1. Composed by Luther” [separate lists of hymns melodies and liturgical chants], and “2. Adapted by Luther”), and “Melodies Associated with Luther’s Hymn Texts During his Lifetime.” _______________________________________
ed. Robert Kolb, Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition, 11 (Brill, 2008), 205–58. [$185.00]
Brown points to the publication in 1529 of “three closely related volumes”: the Small Catechism, a prayerbook, and a new hymnal. He writes that “These books formed an enduring foundation for Lutheran piety, bridging between the public worship and teaching of the church and the private devotion of the household and reflecting an enduring Lutheran commitment to the use of the arts in the proclamation of the gospel” (205–6). Brown explores numerous topics related to Luther and music, e.g., hymns, hymn-books, Luther’s theology of music, liturgy as proclamation, congregational singing, and hymnals and the home. The second part of the chapter considers “Prayer and Prayerbooks in Lutheran Culture.” This chapter is essential reading for Lutheran church musicians and pastors who desire a deeper understanding of our rich heritage. _______________________________________
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Lutheran Quarterly 22 (Winter 2008): 387–400.
Jon D. Vieker, “August Crull and His Legacy as Lutheran Hymnal Editor and Translator,” Cross Accent: Journal of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians 16, no. 3 (2008): 39–51.
Vieker provides a thorough study of Missouri Synod pastor and professor August Crull (1845–1923). As a hymn translator and hymnal editor, Crull “played a critical role in compiling the first English-language hymnals of the Missouri Synod and thus in shaping its hymnic tradition as it moved from German to English” (39). _______________________________________
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READING AND LISTENING Jon D. Vieker, “ What a Friend We Have in Jesus’: Missouri Lutherans Encounter Revivalism and the Gospel Song,”
Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology 17 (Eastertide 2008): 17–28.
Vieker explores the gospel songs of the revival movements associated with Ira David Sankey (1840–1908) and Dwight L. Moody (1836–1899). Noting that “some of these gospel songs even made their way into Missouri Synod hymnals and Sunday school hymnals” (17), he poses the question “How did one of the most staunchly confessional Lutheran church bodies in America find itself singing the songs of the most prominent evangelical revivalists of its day?” (17). _______________________________________
Peter Mercer-Taylor, “Mendelssohn in Nineteenth-Century American Hymnody,” 19th-Century Music 32 (Spring 2009): 235–83.
Mercer-Taylor examines fifth-eight American hymn tunes adapted from the music of Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847). _______________________________________
Anthony Ruff, Sacred Music and Liturgical Reform: Treasures and Transformations
(Hillenbrand Books, 2007). [$95.00]
Ruff, one of America’s leading Roman Catholic scholars of sacred music, offers a book that considers liturgy and music both before and after the Second Vatican Council: “This is a book about the treasures of the Church’s musical tradition and the transformation brought about by liturgical reform” (xiv). Lutheran readers may be particularly interested in Ruff’s chapter 8: “The Twentieth-Century German Lutheran Rebirth of Church Music.”
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LISTENING (Weser-Renaissance Bremen, Manfred Cordes) [2008, cpo 777 181-2]
Melchior Franck, Bußpsalmen 1615 Franck (ca. 1579–1639) worked in Nuremberg (1601–1603) where he was influenced by Hans Leo Hassler (1564–1612). He became Kapellmeister in Coburg in 1603 and spent the rest of his life there, composing a substantial quantity of Latin and German sacred music, much of it in a stylistic vocabulary similar to the music of Hassler and Michael Praetorius (?1571–1621). Franck’s setting of the penitential psalms (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) dates from 1615 and includes a total of twenty German-language motets. Cordes prefers to use instrumentalists as well as singers, the performance practice of the time being ultimately flexible depending on the musical resources available at an individual establishment. As always, his performance of seventeenth-century German sacred music is superb, and we are in his debt for recording repertories that are frequently overlooked. _______________________________________ Brill www.brill.nl
Hillenbrand Books www.usml.edu/liturgicalinstitute/publications/public ations.htm cpo www.cpo.de
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