Introduction

In the spring term in 1987, I took took a class called “Luther Seminar: Education and Worship,”, lead by Prof. Eric W. Gritsch. I wrote this paper as my final project in the class.

Paper

Martin Luther conceived the Christian life as a continual, daily return to one’s baptismal waters, reaffirming God’s action which “…effects forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and grants salvation to all who believe, as the Word and promise of God declare.” (Martin Luther, Small Catechism. IV.6, in The Book of Concord, trans. and ed. by Theodore G. Tappert, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959) To return to one’s baptism, moreover, acknowledges one’s faith in the God who performed the baptism and simultaneously renounces one’s trust in any other gods. Therefore, the Christian life of continual trust in God becomes a joyful task of obedience to the first commandment of the Decalogue: “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV, ed. by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, New York: Oxford University Press, 1977) For Luther, this commandment simply means Christians “…should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” (SC I.2) Accomplishing this by one’s own efforts and strengths is forbiddingly overwhelming, even impossible.

But Christians are not alone; at their baptisms they receive a charism, a gift of the Holy Spirit, empowering them to live out their callings, their vocations, as children of God, according to God’s will revealed in his Word. Life under the Word of God is worship, and

…is like inhaling and exhaling. Members of Christ’s body inhale by hearing and receiving Word and sacraments in appropriate liturgical enactment in the church; and they exhale by serving others with selfless, sacrificial love. (Eric W. Gritsch, Martin—God’s Court Jester, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983, p. 180)

Learning the form and contour of this life sculpted by God is a process of education.

Learning to conform one’s life to God’s will requires understanding both God’s action in one’s life and God’s expectations of one’s response. Here Luther focuses his catechetical vision of the Christian life. Luther organizes his handbook for the Christian life, his catechism, around the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, viewing it as “instruction for children,” containing “…the minimum of knowledge required of a Christian.” (LC Preface, 1-2) But as Luther observes (even of himself), all God’s baptized are children, no matter how old. He writes:

I must still read and study the Catechism daily, yet I cannot master it as I wish, but must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and I do it gladly. (LC, Martin Luther’s Preface, 8 )

While Luther’s Small and Large Catechisms clearly perform this catechetical function in the life of Christians, Luther perceives catechesis in much broader terms. Just as all of life is a return to baptism, so too is much, if not all, of the Christian’s life pervaded by catechetical elements; one learns how to live under the first commandment in many ways.

One lesson of catechesis teaches,

The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein;
for he has founded it upon the seas,
and established it upon the rivers. (Psalm 24:1-2)

When Christians recognize God’s gift of creation, they recognize creation to be good, and respond to God in praise for his gift. Often, in spontaneous eruptions of joyful praise to God for his gifts, Christians sing songs. “For Luther, music [i]s a ‘noble, wholesome, and joyful’ creation, a gift of God. For Luther, music [i]s a part of God’s creation with the power to praise its Creator ….” (Carl Schalk and C. Halter, eds., Handbook of Church Music, St. Louis: Coricordia Publishing House, date unknown, p. 15) Thus music, for Luther, is much more than making merry, it is a vehicle for expression.

When Luther conceives of musical expression within the lives of Christians, he “hears” hymns. He envisions hymnody as a vital part of the Christian life under the first commandment, and so he writes hymns. In fact,

…Luther’s hymns were meant not to create a mood, but to convey a message. They were a confession of faith, not of personal feelings …. They were written not to be read but to be sung by a whole congregation. (Luther’s Works, Vol. 53, ed. by Ulrich S. Leupold, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965, p. 197)

Luther’s hymns confess the catholic and evangelical faith in worship, but they do much more, particularly in terms of catechesis. As one critic observes:

The many hymnals and books of spiritual songs (geistliche Lieder, Kirchenlieder) printed during the Reformation served the several purposes of congregational singing: to give thanks and praise to God, to express the community’s common spiritual interests, to arouse the individual’s religious emotions and help imprint on his [sic] mind the salient points of the doctrine. (Gerald Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978, p.233)

This imprinting of doctrine on the mind is catechesis. For Luther, because he views catechesis “(from the Greek katechein, ‘sounding back’)” (Gritsch, p. 180) in both an aural and an oral way, hearing and responding are key for the Christian’s understanding of life under the one God. For this reason,

To [Luther], the way of the gospel led through the ear more than the eye. That is why he valued poetry and music so highly, and the hymns which would sing the gospel into the hearts of the common people. (Vilmos Vajta, Luther on Worship, Philadelphia: The Muhlenberg Press, 1958, p. 185)

The power of hymns to carry the message of the living gospel into the hearts of people is usually channeled into efforts of evangelism, but Luther also recognizes the dynamic of sustaining faith catechetically through song. As one writer contends,

Of the three ways of imparting the Christian message, by preaching, by reading, and by singing, “the third way was particularly likely to impress the doctrine deeply into the minds of simple-minded young people and preserve it from generation to generation.” (Strauss, p. 232)

Therefore, (picking up the strands of this whole development) Luther’s use of hymnody as a catechetical tool to “sing the gospel into the hearts of the common people” builds deliberately upon his understanding of music’s place in God’s creation, his desire to catechize Christians, and ultimately his theology of the Christian life as governed by the first commandment.

While many commentaries, theologies, and criticisms, when looking at Luther’s hymns, seem to concentrate mostly on uplifting hymnody in worship, merely giving the hymns’ catechetical use a passing note, Luther deliberately cultivates the catechetical side of his hymns. Fortunately, some critics spot Luther’s intent. One writes:

The pedagogical intent proved to be an important aspect. Walther already included three “catechetical” hymns by Luther which may have been written not only for the regular catechism services in the city church but also for home and school. After 1524, Luther added to their number systematically until the main subjects were covered: Ten Commandments, Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, and Lord’s Supper. His effort indicates that, in the emerging tradition, the hymnal was meant not as a help for congregational singing only but also for instruction and personal devotion, that is, as a prayer book. (Karlfried Froehlich, “Luther’s Hymns and Johann Sebastian Bach” in The Bulletin, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Lutheran Theological Seminary, Vol. 66, No. 1, Winter 1986, p. 7)

Luther makes this point himself in the “Shorter Preface to the Large Catechism” of 1529, picking up the power of music to supplement the proclamation of the preaching in the lives of young people. He warns,

Do not assume that they will learn and retain this teaching from sermons alone. When these parts have been well learned, you may assign them also some Psalms or some hymns, based on these subjects, to supplement and confirm their knowledge.

Before turning to the actual texts of Luther’s hymns to see how he carried out his plan of catechizing Christians through the singing of hymns, one should first consider how Luther himself upholds and introduces his hymns. As early as 1524, in his “Preface to the Wittenberg Hymnal,” Luther writes:

That it is good and God pleasing to sing hymns is, I think, known to every Christian; for everyone is aware not only of the example of the prophets and kings in the Old Testament who praised God with song and sound, with poetry and psaltery, but also of the common and ancient custom of the Christian church to sing Psalms. St. Paul instituted this in I Corinthians 14 [:15] and exhorted the Colossians [3:16] to sing spiritual songs and Psalms heartily unto the Lord so that God’s Word and Christian teaching might be instilled and implanted in many ways. (LW, 53, pp. 315-316)

Here Luther grounds his reforms of hymnody in the tradition of the people of God and points to the catechetical actions of “instilling and implanting” the Word of God. In his liturgical reform, as set forth in “The German Mass and Order of Service” of 1526, Luther again turns to hymns in the language of the people, the vernacular, to aid in forming the lives of Christians. He explains:

This is what we do to train the schoolboys in the Bible. Every day of the week they chant a few Psalms in Latin before the lesson, as has been customary at Matins hitherto …. After the lesson the whole congregation sings a German hymn, the Lord’s Prayer is said silently, and the pastor or chaplain reads an collect and closes with the Benedicamus Domino as usual. (LW 53, p. 69)

Thus Luther introduces vernacular hymnody as a tool in the catechesis, in the formation of Christians, under the Word and will of God.

These ideas receive expression in the “Augsburg Confession” of 1530, at the hands of the reform movement, which contends concerning the Mass,

Almost all the customary ceremonies are also retained, except that German hymns are interspersed here and there among the parts sung in Latin. These are added for the instruction of the people, for ceremonies are needed especially in order that the unlearned may be taught. Paul prescribed that in a church a language should be used which is under-stood by the people. (AC XXIV.2-3)

This quotation shows a true concern for the needs of the unlearned to receive some knowledge and teaching concerning the faith, and a recognition of the barriers language can erect against the catechetical forming of Christians.

Finally, in a carefully written and sensitively conceived writing entitled, “Preface to the Burial Hymns”, from 1542, the older Luther sketches out some rubrics for the conduct of funerals. Even at this time of life, normally filled with inconsolable and unchecked sorrow, he opens a little space for hymnody’s shaping of Christian lives made malleable through grief. He says:

Nor do we sing any dirges or doleful songs over our dead and at the grave, but comforting hymns of the forgiveness of sins, of rest, sleep, life, and of the resurrection of departed Christians so that our faith may be strengthened and the people be moved to true devotion. (LW 53, p. 326)

Given this background and these insights into Luther’s way of serving the catechesis of Christians through hymnody, examining the hymns Luther wrote will give us clues to his understanding of hymnody as a catechetical tool and will suggest ways in which we can apply these insights in the parish today to catechize Christians.

Luther’s body of hymns includes six usually classified as catechetical: two on the commandments and one each on the remaining four parts of his catechism. His earliest hymn on the commandments, entitled “These Are the Holy Ten Commandments,” dates from 1524. (LW 53, p. 277) It receives a somewhat dour analysis, insensitive to its power as a catechism:

While some of his hymns were born out of his most personal experience and reflected the struggles and victories of his faith, others [including this one] were mere versilications of the Catechism. (LW 53, p. 277)

Twelve stanzas in length, the hymn contains one introductory and two summary stanzas bracketting nine stanzas on the commandments themselves. Each stanza versifies a commandment in the opening lines and gives the catechetical interpretation in the concluding lines, finishing with the plea, “Lord, have mercy.” Consider stanza two, on the first commandment:

I am the Lord thy God alone;
Of gods besides thou shalt have none;
Thou shalt thyself trust all to me,
And love me right heartily. (LW 53, p. 278)

Luther’s versified explanation here bears a striking resemblance to the one given in his catechism: “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” (SC 1.2) He concludes with two stanzas telling why God gives the commandments, to expose humanity’s sinfulness and to show how humans should live under God’s will, and to cast humanity’s reliance on Christ alone and not its own works. (LW 53, p. 279) Thus a catechetical hymnic structure becomes noticeable: Introduction, Catechetical Body (element, explanation), and Conclusion.

Luther’s second hymn on the commandments, “Man, Wouldst Thou Live All Blissfully,” again from 1524, (LW 53, p. 280) concatenates the above structure, covering the ten commands in five stanzas, and offering a catechetical explanation of only the first four commandments.

“In One True God We All Believe,” also from 1524, offers a catechetical and hymnic rendition of the Apostles’ Creed in three stanzas, one for each person of the Trinity. (LW 53, pp. 271-273) The first stanza is remarkable for its catechetical explanation of the simple confession, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth:”

In one true God we all believe,
Maker of the earth and heaven;
Who, us as children to receive,
Hath himself as Father given.
Now and henceforth he will feed us,
Soul and body will surround us,
’Gainst mischances he will heed us,
Nought shall meet us that shall wound us.
He watches o’er us, cares, defends;
And everything is in his hands. (LW 53, pp. 272-273)

Luther extends what one would normally consider the past work of God into and throughout the whole life of Christians, comforting and consoling against the challenges of the world.

A later hymn, “Our Father in the Heaven who Art,” from 1539, offering a catechetical interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer, has been described as “…outstanding, for every stanza begins with an almost literal rendering of the Lord’s Prayer phrase by phrase, followed by the catechetical interpretation of its meaning in the remaining lines.” (LW 53, p. 295) This hymn closely adheres to the structure of the first hymn on the commandments. The ninth stanza treats catechetically what few others would consider worthy of such attention, namely the “Amen.”

Amen! that is, let this come true!
Strengthen our faith ever anew,
That we may never be in doubt
Of that we here have prayed about.
In thy name, trusting in thy word,
We blithely say Amen, O Lord. (LW 53, p. 298)

Here Luther intensifies and focuses the “Amen” in terms of strengthening faith, conforming the one praying to the daily discipline of life as a child of God.

Luther’s hymns on the sacraments, namely “To Jordan When Our Lord Had Gone” of 1541 (LW 53, p. 299) and “Jesus Christ, Our God and Savior” of 1524 (LW 53, p. 249), round out his catechetical hymnody. They exhibit the same general characteristics as the other hymns, giving text and interpretation. The first, on baptism, explains the sacrament in light of Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan. (LW 53, pp. 300-301). This differs from the above hymns in that Luther builds upon a narrative text rather than a formulaic text. The second, on the Lord’s Supper, explains this sacrament without versifiying the words of institution in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, a curious decision on Luther’s part, as that text seems to lend itself so well to his catechetical task.

In conclusion, then, one notes Luther’s design of rooting his hymns in the symbols, actions, and scriptures, the central core of the catholic faith, branching from these trunks of the life of the Church to catechetically reveal the foliage of the Christian life. Through singing these hymns, people come to have their memories, vocabulary, and understanding of these traditions and events shaped and formed into the patterns Luther carves out. This disciplines individuals in their Christian vocation as children of God living under the commandment to have only God as God.

Luther’s efforts at writing catechetical hymns to make the commandments, creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the sacraments an understandable, applicable, dynamic, and comforting part of the life of Christians suggest several tragectories for the life of the church today. First, hymn selection in worship is vitally connected to parish education and catechetics, and should not be seen merely as “pretty music to cover the sound of small change hitting the offering plate.” Second, teachers of catechetics should reconsider lectures alone as a teaching tool, and consider the participative, interactive use of catechetical hymns. Indeed, struggling to write hymns to explain the parts of the catechism would involve students in the formation of their own disciplined formation as Christians. Third, people in the Church having the charism of poetic skill should seriously dedicate themselves to penning new catechetical hymns reflecting the changes in language of the parts of the traditional catechism. Just as sermons reflect the present life of the congregations and the wider world, so too should catechetical hymns seek to explain the catechism in the context of the life of the late twentieth century. Fourth, the hymnody of the catholic Church should recover Luther’s catechetical hymns as a clear and vital testimony to the evangelical catholic faith of the church, and as a joyful offering of praise and thanksgiving to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. By accepting these proposals and creating and testing others, the Church may experience the dynamic vitality of Christian formation to shape and dignify lives increasingly splintered and trivialized by society.

Works Cited

Buszin, Walter E. Luther on Music, Pamphlet Series No. 3. St. Paul, Minnesota: Lutheran Society for Worship, Music and the Arts. 1958.

Froehlich, Karlfried. “Luther’s Hymns and Johann Sebastian Bach” in The Bulletin. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Lutheran Theological Seminary. Vol. 66, No. 1, Winter 1986.

Gritsch, Eric W. Martin—God’s Court Jester. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. 1983.

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 53, Liturgy and Hymns. ed. by Ulrich Leupold. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. 1965.

May, Herbert C. and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. The New Oxford Annotated Bible. (NRSV) New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. 1977.

Nettl, Paul. Luther and Music. trans. by Frida Best and Ralph Wood. Philadelphia: The Muhlenberg Press. 1948.

Schalk, Carl and C. Hatter, eds. Handbook of Church Music. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. date unknown.

Strauss, Gerald. Luther’s House of Learning. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1978.

Tappert, Theodore C., ed. and trans. The Book of Concord. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. 1959.

Vajta, Vilmos. Luther on Worship. Philadelphia: The Muhlenberg Press. 1958.