His Voice - Volume 7, Number 1

HIS

Volume 7 - Number 1

March 2012

VOICE From Co-Director Arthur

A. Just Jr.

“Shepherd of Tender Youth: Connecting Postmoderns to Christ” ollowing our two Good Shepherd Institute conferences on funerals and weddings, we thought that it was time for a radical change. As always, Kantor Resch has the creative ideas: “Let’s do youth!” And so we are.

As tradition demands, Kantor used a hymn to guide our conference, one of the oldest in our tradition of singing the faith, written by Clement of Alexandria: “Shepherd of Tender Youth” (LSB 864). As the third verse proclaims:

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You are the great High Priest; You have prepared the feast Of holy love;

So here’s the question: how do we connect today’s youth, the postmoderns, to the feast, to Christ?

Each one of us is defined by the era in which we came of age, the time in which we were born. Many today claim that we are in the postmodern age.

Thomas Oden, in his Requiem: A Lament in Three Movements, writes: “By postmodern, I mean the course of actual history following the death of modernity. By modernity, I mean the period, the ideology, and the malaise of the time from 1789 to 1989, from the Bastille to the Berlin Wall.”1 Stanley Grenz, in A Primer on Postmodernism, offers a similar sentiment: “Many historians place the birth of the modern era at the dawn of the Enlightenment, which followed the Thirty Years’ War. The stage, however, was set earlier— in the Renaissance, which elevated humankind to the center of reality.”2

No one truly understands this distinction between modernity and postmodernity, and it is slippery. My one real exposure to postmodern literature occurred a few summers ago at Calvin College, with Bryan Spinks of Yale Divinity School, who served as mentor to fourteen postdoctoral students. We engaged the topic “The Prospects of the Historic Liturgy in the Postmodern World.” I have studied just enough of postmodernism to be dangerous, and yet I know that these categories help describe what we are experiencing in these

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“gray and latter days.”3 At the heart of modernism stands the sovereign individual. Grenz put it this way: “The modern ideal champions the autonomous self, the self-determining subject who exists outside any tradition or community.” This sovereign individual believes “that knowledge is not only certain (and hence rational) but also objective . . . the assumption of objectivity leads the modernist to claim access to dispassionate knowledge . . . that knowledge is certain and objective . . . it is inherently good . . . that progress is inevitable, that science, coupled with the power of education, will eventually free us from our vulnerability to nature, as well as from all social bondage.”4

It should not be hard to see from these descriptions of modernity why postmodernism came of age. The experiences of our civilization in the twentieth century destroyed any hopes that our rational, humanistic capacities could provide the kind of progress where control over our world could be accomplished by our own efforts. Such things as two world wars, the Holocaust, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, Hurricane Katrina, tsunamis, and the martyrdom of more Christians in the twentieth century than in all previous nineteen centuries combined have thoroughly discredited any notions of “the Enlightenment optimistic outlook.”5

Postmodernism, with its rejection of absolute truth and its relativism, gives us much to fear as well, which is why James K. A. Smith wrote a book entitled W ho’s A fraid of Postmodernism? Do not try to find a definition of postmodernism in Smith’s book, for you will not find one. But what you will find is a remarkable analysis of how authentic, confessional, orthodox Christianity is more possible in postmodernism than in modernity. Here is Smith’s extravagant claim: I will argue that the postmodern church could do nothing better than be ancient, that the most powerful way to reach a postmodern world is by recovering tradition, and that the most effective means of discipleship is found in liturgy . . . Without being conservative or trying to recover a (mythical) pristine tradition in the name of

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“paleo-orthodoxy,” postmodernism does stage a certain creative recovery of ancient themes and figures . . . . The most persistent postmodernism should issue in a thickly confessional church that draws on the very particular (yet catholic) and ancient practices of the church’s worship and discipleship. In other words, a “radical orthodoxy” is the only proper outcome of the postmodern critique, and insofar as the emerging church shrinks from an unapologetic dogmatics (which isn’t a rabid fundamentalism), it remains captive to the dreams, ambitions, and skepticism of modernity.6

Over ten years ago, the faculty of this Seminary began a seven-year process of curriculum review that thoroughly endorsed Smith’s claim that “the primary responsibility of the church as witness, then, is not demonstration but rather proclamation— the kerygmatic vocation of proclaiming the Word made flesh.” We have designed a curriculum for students today who, in the words of our former academic dean, William Weinrich, “are affected by habits of mind reflecting the postmodern emphasis on the individual and the division between truth and life (or substance and style as it is sometimes called).” This new curriculum is centered in the pastoral acts of the church, for we have designed it around the reality that our students are sent to be shepherds of the sheep, representing Christ to church and world, embodying in their pastoral acts of baptizing, preaching, teaching, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper, the very essence of the church’s formation of them into Christ’s representatives, who stand in His stead and by His command.7

For our curriculum review committee, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God’s embodied presence in the world, governed the way we would now both do and teach theology—what our former dean called “the particularities, the concrete realities of our life together as the church.” For postmoderns, such an approach is exactly what they are yearning to hear. James Smith calls this “‘Radical Orthodoxy’—a sensibility that seeks to articulate a robust confessional theology in postmodernity” that “begins from the scandalous reality that God

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became flesh, and became flesh in a particular person, at a particular time, and in a particular place . . . a more persistent postmodernism embraces the incarnational scandal of determinate confession and its institutions: dogmatic theology and a confessionally governed church.”8

Now, for many of us, these claims by Oden, Grenz, and Smith seem extravagant, beyond our reach, especially for people like me whose identity is defined more by modernity than postmodernity.

This is why we have assembled the group of speakers that we have for this year’s conference, for they understand that a shift has taken place. They understand that postmoderns do not perceive reality in the same way we modernists do. Postmoderns learn differently, they seek authenticity and embodiment, and they respect those who have a passion for what they believe, yet, at the same time, are given to a relativism that sees many paths to salvation. These speakers will help us learn how to “shepherd tender youth” by connecting them to Christ, especially as He is embodied in leitourgia and diakonia.

Our conference will kick off with the president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison, who will help us to see how vital this issue is for our graying church. Then Rev. Scott Stiegemeyer, a student of theology and culture, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran, Elmhurst, Illinois, will paint a portrait for us of postmodern youth, how they see reality, how they learn, and what challenges face us as we connect them to Christ. The youngest of our speakers is Dr. Joshua D. Genig, who just received his doctorate from the University of St. Andrews and now serves at Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Buckhead, Georgia. Dr. Genig will offer some insight into his work in catechizing postmoderns. He recently sent me something from his newsletter that speaks directly to what our conference is all about, from an article entitled “Anglican Fever: Youth Flock to New Denomination.” Here is what it says: “For decades young people have flocked to seekerfriendly churches that feature culturally relevant services and a casual environment. Now, a new denomination that emphasizes tradition and centuries-old sacraments and practices is drawing them in.”

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Our own church has entered the world of postmoderns through the work of the “Higher Things” organization, so our next speakers will report on their work among youth. Pastors William Cwirla and George F. Borghardt will describe to us why the youth they work with “dare to be Lutheran.” Finally, there are the issues of music and youth, and we are delighted that Prof. Dennis Marzolf has agreed to join us. He has served as choral director at Bethany College in Mankato, Minnesota for over twenty-five years. We look forward to welcoming him back to his alma mater to share with us his vast experience over the last three decades of working with young people as both a music director and a mentor.

As you can see, we are in for another rich feast, and one that will help us all to shepherd our postmoderns by connecting them to Christ and His gifts. Please reserve November 4–6, 2012 for the annual conference of The Good Shepherd Institute.

Notes 1 Thomas C. Oden, Requiem: A Lament in Three Movements (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 110.

2 Stanley J. Grenz, A Primer on Postmodernism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1996), 2.

3 Martin Franzmann, “O God, O Lord of Heaven and Earth,” LSB 834:4.

4 Grenz, 4.

5 This is a variation of Grenz’s words (4), where he says: “The assumption of the inherent goodness of knowledge renders the Enlightenment outlook optimistic.”

6 James K. A. Smith, W ho’s A fraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 2006), 25.

7 William C. Weinrich, “From the Church, for the Church—In Mission,” For the Life of the World 9 (April 2005): 19–21. Weinrich concludes his article on the new curriculum with this: “BaptismPreaching-Lord’s Supper, these are the (primary) ‘disciplines’ of theological education by which pastor and people in common drink of the cool waters of redemption and feed upon the pastures of the Spirit as they hear the voice of their Shepherd. To ‘learn’—that is, to be ‘educated’—is to participate in the gifts of God and to reflect on how best to ‘declare the mighty acts’ of God” (21).

8 Smith, 122.

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PASTORAL RESOURCES

by JOHN PLESS

Steven Paulson, “Graspable God,” Word & World 32 (Winter 2012): 51–62.

Steven Paulson is one of the most articulate Lutheran theologians in the guild these days. In this article he gets to the heart of Luther’s confession of Baptism by going to the promise that the Lord locates in the water. “Water is vital for baptism because water is a thing, not a metaphor. Metaphors mean something other—perhaps something ‘more’—than what a thing is, and so they end up pointing away from the thing itself to an object that is seen to reside elsewhere” (51). Water keeps the promise from evaporating into some ethereal sphere above and beyond God’s killing of sinners and resurrecting them to newness of life in His Son. Cocooned in the water is God’s own Word, which bestows the righteousness of Christ, which saves even the ungodly infant. Baptism does not merely initiate into a community that moves toward the formation of those who might eventually come to salvation. Baptism saves by giving to the baptized the whole Christ with all His gifts. There is much in Paulson’s article that will sharpen baptismal preaching and catechetical instruction. _______________________________________

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Albrecht Peters, Commentary on Luther’s Catechism: Creed,

trans. Thomas H. Trapp (Concordia Publishing House, 2011), 352 pp. ISBN 9780758611499. [$42.99]

Albrecht Peters’s work is indispensable for any scholarly treatment of Luther’s catechisms. With a mastery of the sources both ancient and modern, Peters sets the catechism in the catholic context of the history of dogma, demonstrating the reformer’s brilliance in the evangelical confession of the threefold work of the Triune God from the perspective of the Apostles’ Creed. With the clarity of a systematic theologian, Peters unfolds the biblical and doctrinal themes vividly distilled in Luther’s simple catechetical prose. The careful study of this volume will yield bountiful fruit in deepened teaching and preaching in the congregation. I know of no other book that comes close to this volume in English. It should be read and regularly consulted by pastors and catechists who are responsible for teaching the faith. _______________________________________

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Klaus Schwarzwäller, Cross and Resurrection: God’s Wonder and Mystery,

Oswald Bayer, “Lutheran Pietism, or Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio in August Hermann Francke,”

Schwarzwäller, professor emeritus of systematic theology at the University of Göttingen, provides something of a primer for theologians and preachers on the uniqueness and necessity of the cross and resurrection for Christian theology. Conversant with New Testament research and Luther studies as well as contemporary philosophy, Schwarzwäller seeks to set forth the cross as “a sign that will be spoken against” and Christ’s resurrection not as a nullification of the crucifixion but as God’s own vindication of Calvary as the mystery and wonder of redemption. This slim volume merits reading by preachers as they approach the work of proclamation in Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. _______________________________________

For the Life of the Church: A Practical Edition of Pastor Walther’s Prayers and Addresses,

trans. Ken Sundet Jones and Mark C. Mattes (Fortress Press, 2012), 176 pp. ISBN 9780800698829. [$9.99]

C. F. W. Walther: Churchman and Theologian,

ed. Edward Engelbrecht (Concordia Publishing House, 2011), 218 pp. ISBN 9780758625601. [$34.99]

Published in celebration of the bicentennial of Walther’s birth (1811–2011), this volume contains essays on “Walther and Affliction” (Christoph Barnbrock), “Walther on Sanctification” (Alfonso Espinosa), and “Walther’s Theses on Open Questions in the Light of Holy Scripture” (Jeffrey Holtan). The essay by Barnbrock is especially significant for pastoral theology, as it treats Walther’s own struggles with A nfechtung and its implications for the care of souls. The remainder of the volume contains materials on Walther’s historical and theological context, as well as a detailed research guide to the corpus of Walther’s literary deposit. _______________________________________

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Lutheran Quarterly 25 (Winter 2011): 383–97.

More than any other contemporary theologian, no doubt, Oswald Bayer has endeavored to demonstrate Luther’s ternary oratio, meditatio, tentatio as the interplay of three aspects through which theologians are formed in the Holy Scripture (see his book Theology the Lutheran Way). In this instructive essay, Bayer traces the reception of Luther’s triad in the work of August Hermann Francke (1663–1727), showing that Francke, like Luther before him, recognized that only A nfechtung teaches us to understand God’s Word. _______________________________________

ed. Charles P. Schaum, trans. Rudolph Prange (Concordia Publishing House, 2011), 220 pp. ISBN 9780758631398. [$19.99]

Prepared in commemoration of the Walther bicentennial, this book is a good devotional resource for pastors and laity. The volume contains prayers composed by Walther for use in congregational meetings. These prayers are arranged according to the church year. There are also prayers relating to various aspects of God’s Word, prayers for situations in congregational life, prayers for meetings of the board of elders, and a large selection of general prayers. The second portion of the book includes thirty-one instructional or devotional essays that Walther delivered to members of his congregations. Rendered in contemporary English dress, these prayers and essays might be fruitfully used by pastors in providing devotions for congregational meetings. _______________________________________

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PASTORAL RESOURCES Peter Preus, And She Was a Christian: Why Do Believers Commit Suicide?

(Northwestern Publishing House, 2011), 191 pp.

ISBN 9780810023437. [$25.99]

The value of this book as a ready resource for pastors who must minister to families that have lost a loved one through suicide cannot be overestimated. Certainly copies of this book should be in every parish library for the consolation of survivors who many times must carry the grief and uncertainty evoked by suicide for years after the event. Pastor Preus writes as one whose wife, Jean, committed suicide after years of suffering with mental illness. He writes with tenderness and with a firm confidence in the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. With clarity and a good command of Lutheran theology he provides an evangelical critique of some unwarranted conclusions that have been drawn in Christian history regarding the eternal fate of believers who committed suicide.

Included in this volume is a profound sermon on John 10:27–30 preached by Pastor Rolf Preus on the occasion of Jean’s funeral. _______________________________________

Katie Schuermann, He Remembers the Barren

(Lutheran Legacy Press, 2011), 124 pp.

ISBN 9781613270011. [$14.95]

Martin Luther complained of those who perceive in Christ Jesus a “sweet security,” which is not the consolation of the Gospel. Such “sweet security,” Luther says, cannot stand in the face of a bad conscience, sin, and death. For these enemies only the certainty of Jesus’ cross and resurrection will do.

He Remembers the Barren does not offer syrupy sweet security, content in filling human emptiness with platitudes brimming with optimism but unable to enliven the hope that does not disappoint. Katie Schuermann knows that the Christian life is lived under the cross, where disappointments remain and unfulfilled dreams haunt. Specifically, Katie writes as a barren woman to other women whose yearning for a child remains unanswered.

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Three themes emerge in these pages: lament, Christ, and vocation. In our therapeutic age, where churches are too often dominated with praise songs that ooze with the “sweet security” mocked by Luther, we have lost the genre of lament, which characterizes many of the Psalms. In the psalms of lament, the Lord provides us a vehicle to bring our deepest pains, our unanswered questions, and our doubts into the light of His face. Lutheran theologian Oswald Bayer suggests that the psalms of lament allow us to pray even while the wound is kept open. Lament embodies complaint in praise as we remember God’s past mercies and look forward to a future and uninterrupted praise of the Triune God. What Bayer has expressed with theological rigor and clarity, Katie now embodies in her discussion of prayer as lament.

This is a book about a particular kind of loss, childlessness. But it is about much more. It is about the Child of Mary, who has brought to fulfillment all that was promised to the patriarchs and prophets. This is a book that is about Christ, who alone is the source of our joy and hope, our life and peace. Katie does not hold out a Jesus who will fix the problem of barrenness, but a Jesus whose favor for sinners reaches to the very depth of our being.

As Katie so aptly puts it, fulfillment is found not in the womb but in Christ. Writing with tenderness and a realism shaped by the cross, Katie makes a lively use of the Gospel to draw her sisters away from the temptations of self-pity and despair to the sure and certain promises of the Son of God recorded in the Scriptures and proclaimed in sermon and Sacraments. _______________________________________

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PASTORAL RESOURCES David P. Scaer, Infant Baptism in Nineteenth-Century Lutheran Theology

(Concordia Publishing House, 2011), 224 pp.

ISBN 9780758628336. [$35.99]

At one level this is an enlightening study of how nineteenth-century Lutheran theologians associated with Erlangen University attempted to defend infant Baptism but were hampered in this endeavor by assumptions inherited from Rationalism, which prevented them from confessing that infants could have faith. For that reason alone, Dr. Scaer’s book is worth reading. At another level—one more pressing for Lutheran pastors today—Dr. Scaer forces us to think more clearly and more carefully about issues of liturgy, catechesis, and pastoral practice relative to Baptism in an era when Lutherans are tempted to absorb uncritically insights from both Roman Catholic and American Evangelical sources. This is a book that should be used in every seminary course treating Baptism. It would also make an informative discussion piece in circuit pastoral conferences. _______________________________________

Werner Elert, “Ecclesia Militans: Three Chapters on the Church and Its Constitution,” Logia 20 (Reformation 2011): 31–40.

This essay by the great Erlangen theologian, Werner Elert (1885–1954), was first published in 1933.

Working from the evangelical center of Lutheran ecclesiology, Augsburg Confession VII, Elert lays out the argument that Lutherans have a desire for fellowship with all Christians, but only “under the condition that we are one with them in doctrine” (39). This is a timely article in our day, given efforts toward a horizontal ecumenism with other Christians living today while neglecting the vertical ecumenism we share with those who have gone before us but are one with us in doctrine. _______________________________________

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Bo Giertz, “Confessional Fidelity,” Logia 21 (Epiphany 2012): 5–11.

Bo Giertz (1905–1998), known for his novel The Hammer of God, was a stalwart opponent to revisionist tendencies in his beloved Church of Sweden, including the ordination of women. In this article, published in 1958, just a few months prior to the Swedish church’s fateful decision to ordain women to the pastoral office, Giertz argues that the move must be resisted on the grounds of confessional fidelity, which is actually faithfulness to God and His Word. _______________________________________

John T. Pless, “Hermann Sasse (1895–1976),”

Lutheran Quarterly 25 (Autumn 2011): 298–325.

The German-Australian theologian was the leading voice for confessional fidelity in midtwentieth-century world Lutheranism. This essay tells the story of his life and witness, focusing on his contributions to a vibrant understanding of confessional subscription, the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, the Sacrament of the Altar, and ecclesiology. _______________________________________ Concordia Publishing House www.cph.org Fortress Press www.fortresspress.com

Lutheran Legacy Press www.lutheranlegacy.org

Northwestern Publishing House www.nph.net

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ORGAN MUSIC

by KEVIN HILDEBRAND

he Good Shepherd Institute is happy to inform you of a new hymn prelude collection from Concordia Publishing House.

The Concordia Hymn Prelude Library will be a twelve-volume series of organ preludes, one setting for each tune found in Lutheran Service Book. This collection is edited by Kevin Hildebrand, Associate Kantor at Concordia Theological Seminary.

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This series will be organized alphabetically by hymn tune name. Thus, the first volume contains tunes that begin with “A”; the second volume will include tunes that begin with “B and C,” etc. Two or three volumes will be published each year over a five-year period.

All the settings will be newly written for this series by a large pool of composers. A chief editorial objective is to provide organ settings that are practical and accessible, at a moderate difficulty level.

With a large number of composers, there is ample variety in writing styles, musical forms, and overall treatment of the tunes. An excerpt from Kantor Hildebrand’s preface to each volume provides further details: Even before the introduction of Lutheran Service Book in the fall of 2006, church musicians began inquiring if a corresponding collection of organ preludes would accompany the hymnal.

The Concordia Hymn Prelude Library is such a compilation. Following the examples of other hymn prelude collections, including The Parish Organist series of the 1950s and 1960s (ed.

Heinrich Fleischer, et al) and the versatile Concordia Hymn Prelude Series of the early 1980s (ed. Herbert Gotsch and Richard Hillert), the Concordia Hymn Prelude Library builds on these earlier collections’ legacy and practicality, and contributes its own unique characteristics.

Like earlier collections, the Hymn Prelude Library includes a setting of every tune found in the hymnal of its own time (in this case, Lutheran Service Book). The Hymn Prelude Library contains settings which are all newly-composed and, in many cases, fills a void for tunes for which there are little or no organ arrangements. Although the hymns contained in Lutheran Service Book are the source for this collection, these settings will also be useful in churches using other worship books or materials.

A chief criterion of this collection is to have hymn settings that are practical and playable by organists of a wide variety of ability levels: interesting enough for a professional organist, yet accessible for novice players. These settings maintain a balance in pedaling requirements, rhythmic variations, and technical and fingering maneuvers, while providing a rich assortment of styles, harmonies, and registrations.

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ORGAN MUSIC continued continued from previous page

Another aim of this collection is to have settings that are useful within the service itself.

Unlike previous collections which had brief compositions of one or two pages, most settings in the Hymn Prelude Library are three to four pages in length, allowing them to be used as service music (preludes, postludes, music at the offering or during the distribution of Holy Communion) and, where appropriate, as hymn introductions….

The truly intergenerational roster of composers (from young musicians in their early 20s to seasoned composers well into their 90s) is a testimony to the strength and stability of well-written church music and the church’s hymns, which belong to no particular age or culture, but endure and expand from generation to generation, proclaiming the one true faith in Christ.

Other details of the collection include: ✠ The volumes are arranged in portrait (rather than landscape) layout. ✠ A soft cover with lay-flat binding will make the volume open easily on the music rack. ✠ Registration suggestions that are applicable for most two-manual organs are included for each prelude. ✠ Some settings are written for manuals only. ✠ Hymn tunes that appear in two different keys in Lutheran Service Book (e.g., AR HYD Y NOS appears in both F Major and G Major) also have a prelude provided in each key.

The first volume of the Concordia Hymn Prelude Library (CPH 97-7454) is available and may be ordered at www.music.cph.org, or at 800-325-3040.

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READING AND LISTENING READING

Paul Westermeyer and Peter C. Reske, “Crafting Hymnal Companions,” Lutheran Forum 45 (Winter 2011): 35–38.

Both writers reflect on the task of compiling Lutheran hymnal companions. Paul Westermeyer is the sole author of Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2010). Peter Reske is one of three editors, joined by Jon Vieker and Joe Herl, working on the forthcoming Lutheran Service Book: Hymnal Companion (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House). Westermeyer enumerates a lengthy list of questions inherent to planning and writing a hymnal companion (35–36), and reflects as well on the types of research resources (36) that are available to the writer of a hymnal companion, whose most difficult task may be deciding “when to stop doing research.” Both Westermeyer and Reske acknowledge an additional complicating factor, namely, the diverse readership—with consequently varying expectations—for a hymnal companion.

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by DANIEL ZAGER

The LSB companion differs from the ELW companion in at least two significant ways. First, the LSB companion uses 120 contributors to write 656 hymn essays and 663 biographical entries “from Peter Abelard to Friedrich Zipp.” (One cannot help but marvel at those scholars who have single-handedly written Lutheran hymnal companions—in addition to Westermeyer, C. T. Aufdemberge for Christian Worship, Fred L. Precht for Lutheran Worship, Marilyn Kay Stulken for Lutheran Book of Worship, and W. G. Polack for The Lutheran Hymnal.) Second, in an effort to avoid perpetuating errors handed down from one companion volume to another, “A small group of researchers led by Joseph Herl began the ambitious task of collecting facsimiles of the earliest published source of each hymn text, translation, and tune in Lutheran Service Book” (37). One eagerly looks forward to the publication of the LSB companion as the next in this line of Lutheran hymnal companions. Meanwhile, Westermeyer and Reske provide a thoughtful article concerning the making of hymnal companions. _______________________________________

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READING AND LISTENING LISTENING

Johannes Eccard, Preussische Festlieder: Sacred Songs (Vocal Concert Dresden, Capella de la Torre, Peter Kopp) [2011, Carus-Verlag 83.265]

In the previous issue of this newsletter I noted another 2011 compact disc recording of works by Johannes Eccard (1553–1611). The recording cited here draws its repertory from the two-volume Preussische Festlieder (1642, 1644) compiled by Johann Stobaeus (1580–1646), Kapellmeister (from 1626 until his death) at the Königsberg court, and, earlier in his life, a student of Eccard (who had been a student of Orlando di Lasso [1532–1594] at the Bavarian court in Munich). Stobaeus chose sixty-one German-texted compositions (thirty-five of his own and twenty-six by Eccard) and published them in church year order in these two volumes. These vocal works, for five to eight voices, steer a middle course between homophonic cantional settings, on the one hand, and elaborate motets, on the other. This recording, providing four settings by Stobaeus and eleven by Eccard, is further recognition of the four-hundredth anniversary of Eccard’s death in 1611. _______________________________________

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Heinrich Scheidemann, Organ Works (Joseph Kelemen) [2011, Oehms Classics OC 682]

Heinrich Scheidemann (ca. 1595–1663) was the son of the Hamburg organist David Scheidemann (d. ca.

1629), who was organist of the Katharinenkirche from 1604. From 1611–1614 Heinrich Scheidemann studied in Amsterdam with the famous organist and composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562–1621).

In 1629 he was appointed to his father’s former position at the Katharinenkirche, where he presided over a large organ that was expanded by Gottfried Fritzsche (in the mid-1630s) to fifty-six stops over four manuals and pedal. Joseph Kelemen uses a similar sized instrument, built as a research project and installed in the Örgryte nya kyrka in Göteborg, Sweden in 2000. This organ is based on Arp Schnitger’s (1648–1719) organ for another of Hamburg’s large churches, the Jakobikirche.

Kelemen provides a cross section of both free works and chorale preludes. In the latter category Scheidemann’s four verses on VOM HIMMEL HOCH (LSB 358) may be particularly interesting to readers of this newsletter. _______________________________________

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Georg Böhm, Orgelwerke

(Bernard Foccroulle) [2011, Ricercar RIC 319]

In 2005 a remarkable discovery was made in a Weimar archive—copies of organ works by Johann Adam Reincken (1643–1722) and Dieterich Buxtehude (ca. 1637–1707) in the hand of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). On his copy of Reincken’s “An Wasserflüssen Babylon” Bach noted that he had copied the work at the home of Georg Böhm (1661–1733) in Lüneburg in 1700.

With that document there was proof positive of what had long been surmised, namely, that Bach must have known Böhm during the three years (1700–1702) when the teenaged Bach attended the Latin school in Lüneburg. Böhm was a gifted organist and composer, and now there can be no doubt that he played an important role in the young Bach’s musical formation.

Bernard Foccroulle, playing the organ of the Laurenskerk in Alkmaar in the Netherlands, provides a welcome overview of Böhm’s organ works, focusing particularly on chorale-based works, including settings of: VOM HIMMEL HOCH (LSB 358), NUN BITTEN WIR (LSB 768), WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT (LSB 750), CHRIST LAG IN TODESBANDEN (LSB 458), and VATER UNSER IM HIMMELREICH (LSB 766), among others. _______________________________________ Carus-Verlag www.carus-verlag.com Oehms Classics www.oehmsclassics.de

Ricercar www.outhere-music.com/ricercar

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Organist Workshops & Service Playing for Pianists These workshops are designed for parish musicians of varying ability levels to help increase their knowledge and skills. These workshops are for organists who are already playing, whether they are experienced veterans or new organists recently drafted into helping at their parish. Formal organ lessons are not a prerequisite, but some familiarity with the instrument is important.

New this year is a workshop that includes instruction for pianists who are not playing the organ but desire instruction in leading congregational song from the piano or keyboard.

At a minimum, participants should have proficient keyboard skills. They should be able to read and play both treble and bass clefs simultaneously, such as playing a hymn.

Who should attend?

Each workshop begins with registration on Sunday evening (late registration takes place on Monday morning). The first session begins Monday at 8:15 a.m. and the last session concludes on Friday at noon. Lodging is available in our campus guest dorms and meals are in Katherine Luther Dining Hall. Daily classes in playing technique and theology are part of the curriculum, as well as practice time. Participants are encouraged to attend the daily campus chapel service(s).

How are the workshops organized?

In addition to instructors from Concordia Theological Seminary, participants will meet other musicians from across the country. Previous attendees have hailed from as far away as Washington, New Mexico, New Hampshire, and Maine. Class sizes are limited to allow for individual instruction and adequate practice time.

Who will be there?

Classes Offered Primer Level for Organists and Service Playing for Pianists June 18–22, 2012

Organist instructor: Kantor Kevin Hildebrand Theology instructor: Kantor Richard Resch

This dual-track workshop is intended for novice organists as well as musicians who play pianos or electronic keyboards for worship services. Organists who have had little or no formal training, who have been drafted into playing the organ, who do not play pedals or use only one foot are ideal candidates. Pianists who play for worship will learn more about how to lead congregational singing of hymns and liturgy from the piano.

All students will have group classes in theology and hymnody with Kantor Resch. Pianists and organists will meet separately with Kantor Hildebrand and Dr. Grime to learn more about service playing on their respective instruments.

Level I for Organists June 25–29, 2012 Organist instructor: Kantor Richard Resch Theology instructor: Dr. Paul Grime

Registration Deadline June 8, 2012 Register online at www.ctsfw.edu/Organist For further information call (260) 452-2224 or e-mail OrganWorkshops@ctsfw.edu Credits CEU (Continuing Education Unit) Certificates will be awarded to each person completing the activities assigned at these workshops.

Financial Assistance Each day participants will have a one-hour session A limited number of tuition with Dr. Grime teaching the Theology of Worship. Kantor grants are available through Resch will teach service playing, hymnody, church year, The Good Shepherd Institute. music for weddings and funerals, and talk about the Visit ctsfw.edu/OrganWorkshops pastor/musician relationship. He will work with the or call 260-452-2224 for individual organist at his or her current skill level. This more information. workshop is designed for organists who have taken the Primer Level or are using both feet in their playing.

Instructors Paul J. Grime

M.Mus., M.Div., Ph.D. A ssociate Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions; Dean of the Chapel, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Kevin J. Hildebrand M.Mus., M.A. A ssociate Kantor, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Richard C. Resch

M.Mus., M.Div A ssociate Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions; Kantor, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana