I have always enjoyed the wealth of German Lutheran hymns. I have developed an even greater appreciation for the mighty Lutheran hymnwriters over the centuries during the past few years as I have delved more into reading and translating untranslated Lutheran hymns.
The Lutherans brought to America a gift in their Lutheran hymnals. Lutheran Service Book has a fine collection of solid Lutheran hymns that have been in every major Lutheran hymnal and newer hymns from modern Lutheran authors that are just as rich. Another fine hymnal is the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary produced by the Norwegian ELS (Evangelical Lutheran Synod). There are many wonderful Norwegian and Scandinavian hymns that are unfamiliar to those of us only reared on Missouri Synod hymnals.
I do have one SERIOUS negative complaint about LSB. Why didn't "A Mighty Fortress" get the German text printed? I would have rather given up the German text space of "Now the Light has Gone Away" in order to make room for Luther's grand hymn. Seems to me that if a hymnal is going to add the original German to several hymns, "A Mighty Fortress" should have had the utmost priority.
No comments:
Post a Comment