FW: The False Antithesis: "Not Lutheran but Christian"

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Feed: Mercy Journeys with Pastor Harrison
Posted on: Sunday, December 09, 2012 1:03 PM
Author: Rev. Matt Harrison
Subject: The False Antithesis: "Not Lutheran but Christian"

 

Found this over at Walt's World of Religion and Politics. Reminded me of Hamann's razor sharp mind, and that on a topic where postmodern LCMS folks are too often sloppy.  Pastor H.    The Late Great Henry Hamann The False Antithesis: "Not Lutheran but Christian" I veritably believe that no single factor has wrought so much damage in Christian theology, in the field of moral behavior, and in practical church life, as the false antithesis. The use of the antithesis in argument, in the exposition of an idea, in teaching and in sermons, can be very valuable. As striking antithesis cannot easily be forgotten. In recalling it one remembers also the whole argument or context in which it was spoken or in which it appeared. The value of any antithesis, however, is completely dependent upon the question whether it is really an antithesis. Too many popular antitheses are antithetical only in form. Too many antithetical statements that one hears and sees in print are too much like the sentence: That plate is not round, but white. Nothing but confusion, wrong thinking, and damage of various kinds can arise when the antithesis is forced or strained or false, when, in short, there is no antithesis, and when it is no longer a case of: Not this, but that, but of: Both this and that. Of such a kind is the antithesis that concerns us in this short essay. I have heard frequently from fellow pastors, especially from those engaged in home or inner missions, that their job, as they see it is not to make Lutherans of the unchurched or "outsiders" whom they contact, but to make Christians of them. Now, I believe that this sentence is almost wholly wrong, so wrong, in fact, that it amazes me that it could have gained the popularity it has actually achieved. The situation is an excellent example of the power of the antithetical statement, its power for evil as well as for good. The most obvious criticism of the statement before us is that there is no antithesis between the two phrases. A person can surely be a Christian and a Lutheran at the same time. (I suppose all Christian communions would grant this, but the sentence is actually made from the standpoint of the Lutheran faith itself.) This is almost too obvious, and it is perhaps a trifle pedantic to push the sentence to its strictly logical limit. Those who employ it mean rather: We are concerned first and foremost in making Christians of people, not in making Lutherans of them; not Lutherans first of all, but Christians. But is it really possible for a pastor, or any other church worker for that matter, to set up as his goal that he is going to make Christians of people? However laudable in intent, this goal or aim in fact goes beyond the power and ability of man. One might possibly defend it with the Lord's injunction matheteusate panta ta ethne, "make disciples of all nations." We will not quarrel with this text, but it its well to be aware that the goal there set is one which we can never be sure of having reached. In that section of the De Servo Arbitrio where the famous sentence occurs: abscondita est Ecclesia, latent sancti, Luther says that he will grant that the saints mentioned by Erasmus are such, but only by the law or standard of love, not by that of faith. "I do not deny that they are saints," he says, "but it cannot be proved that they are, if any one were to deny it." This uncertainty as to the result of our preaching of the Gospel and of our ministerial labors underlines for us again that our whole life and works as Christians, and as Christian ministers particularly, is a life of faith, only faith, nothing but faith. The words of John the Baptist mark out for all ministers of the Word the humility which should characterize their attitude as well as the limits of their competency: "I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Ministers of the Word can administer the means of grace, and they must learn to do this well and not poorly, but they cannot bring about the salvation of the sinner; that the Lord has kept for Himself. But the sentence with which we are concerned does suggest that to make Christians is as much within the capabilities of men as the making of Lutherans, and that we can know then we have done the one as we can when we can have done the other. But this is simply not true. Lutheranism we can teach and test by appropriate questions and examination procedures, but whether a person is truly a Christian or not, really one with the Lord by faith, this we can never know or test in this life. The sentence implies further: we know that we must do to make Lutherans, and we know what we must do to make Christians, and the second is our real task, not the former. So there is an importance about the one aim not matched by anything so important in the other. There is a plus about making Christians as compared with making Lutherans. This thought leads us to the very heart of both Christianity and Lutheranism and the relation between them. A number of questions must be put the pastor who would defend the statement being examined here. What is there in Lutheranism that is not Christian, falls short of being Christian or goes beyond it? Something there must be, and the defender must know what it is, else he could not make the statement at all. And the question that follows is a very serious one: What is the pastor doing to eliminate the non-Christian element in Lutheranism? Or more seriously still: Why is he content to remain passively in what is partly at least a non-Christian situation without doing anything to right matters? If the pastor is capable in his ministry of eliminating the non-Christian, but Lutheran, elements, then, if he is at all earnest and sincere in his devotion to the Christian faith, he should be actively engaged in eliminating this element in the whole church to which he belongs, not merely in his personal ministry. He should not willingly, without protest, continue in a fellowship which is as such devoted to some Lutheran, but non-Christian activities. The more seriously any Lutheran pastor means the antithesis under attack, the more serious an attack it is on the church to which he belongs, and the more seriously the question arises whether he should continue to be a Lutheran minister at all. A further modification of the antithesis seems to be indicated at this point of the argument, for hardly any of the pastors who use the phrase in point actually see in it a criticism of the Lutheran faith to which they are committed. Their point is rather something like this: only true faith joins to Christ and makes any person a Christian, not an accurate reciting or explanation of the Lutheran catechism. This is very true, but the concern cannot be met by the Lutheran-Christian antithetical sentence. And why not? Two further answers may be given besides those already contained implicitly in the observations made so far. First, it is doubtful whether any Lutheran pastor, brought up as a Lutheran from childhood, as most of us are, and trained in a Lutheran seminary, is likely to give any but a Lutheran witness, his presentation of the Gospel will fall almost inevitably into Lutheran grooves, follow the Lutheran pattern. Secondly, no convinced Lutheran would want to give anything but a Lutheran witness, for Lutheran witness is to him Christian witness. Lutheran witness, if it is really such, is Christian witness; Christian witness, if it is really such, will also be Lutheran witness. The whole point of the Lutheran Confessions is that they are the true response of faith to the Gospel and the Word of God. With this faith and confession we hope to stand in the judgment of the Last Day. There are of course various ways in which a Lutheran witness may be given and many ways in which it may be phrased, but we Lutherans know of no truly Christian witness which would not at the same time be truly a Lutheran witness. A final bright beam of light is thrown on the whole problem which we are investigating by the scriptural teaching of the church and the means of grace. Faith is produced only by the Gospel in Word and Sacraments, the "pure" Word and the "unadulterated" Sacraments. Where false and erroneous and inadequate witness to the Gospel is found alongside the Word and the Sacraments, there the falseness and error and inadequacy are not productive of faith, but a hindrance to it. It is only the truth that is present in any witness given that can be a vehicle of the Holy Spirit. God's grace can save in spite of the error present at any time, but is not powerful and operative in the error as such. No Lutheran doubts that God can beget children through the crusade being conducted these days in various parts of Australia by Billy Graham and his team. But these conversions will not come by means of the false aspects of the witness given -- the neglect of or even contempt of baptism, the emphasis on immediate human decision -- but only through the witness that is undoubtedly given to the grace of God in Christ Jesus and his redemption. If Lutheran witness is Christian witness, then by the promise of God the seed thus sown will not be lost, the word spoken will not return void, but will accomplish what God wills. The Lutheran pastor can have and should have the conviction that his Lutheran and Christian witness has the blessing of God, for it is God's Word and not his own that he is proclaiming. His witness will not lead astray, he will not by a false and inadequate witness put a hindrance or stumbling block in the way of sinners We may re-formulate the idea and the sentence with which we began. The Lutheran pastor should say: "I make Lutherans of the non-churched, the 'outsiders,' hoping that they will become Christian." Or: "I want the unbelievers to become Christians, and that is why I make Lutherans of them." And why not: "Christian, therefore, Lutheran"? ----- H.P. Hamann. May, 1968 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL PUBLISHED BY THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

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FW: The most persecuted religion. . .

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Feed: Pastoral Meanderings
Posted on: Sunday, December 09, 2012 5:00 AM
Author: noreply@blogger.com (Pastor Peters)
Subject: The most persecuted religion. . .

 

From the news: German Chancellor, Angela Merkel recently claimed that Christianity is "the most persecuted religion worldwide". Merkel's comments came at a meeting of the German Protestant Church late Monday in which she emphasized Germany's needed to protect Christian minorities as part of its foreign policy. Merkel, you will recall, is the daughter of a pastor. She also spoke out against strict separation of church and state and said Europe was built on Christian foundations. My comments: No one inside the Church would disagree with Merkel's statement.  Christianity has suddenly become the scape goat for nearly every wrong in society and the world.  All the mountains of good done for the cause of the poor, the care of the sick, the education of all, the aid in natural disaster, the arts and music, the status of women, the advocacy of the poor and oppressed, and the protection of life have gone unnoticed, disregarded, or intentionally ignored.  Instead, every fault or failing of religious people or their leaders has colored every fact, every truth, and every conversation in the public square -- and not only in the West. All this and Christians are the dominant religious group in the world.  All this and a whole heritage and legacy of culture and civilization owe much to Christianity.  All this at a time when terrorists threaten the world over with an extreme violence generally in the name of one religion and that not Christian.  How did we lose the public relations war so quickly and effectively?  We are not talking about controlling politics or culture here.  We are talking about the way the world, especially the media, view Christianity. Someone once said to me that Christianity is far more pervasive in America but its soul is far more deeply entrenched in European history and culture than in the USA.  On the surface, it seems, most Americans claim to be Christian.  In the reality of it all, we seem to have lost our full confidence in our God, in His book, and in His Church.  We are more tentative than ever before.  On the other hand, Christianity looks almost dead in Europe -- at least gauged by attendance at worship -- while it is more deeply embedded within the fabric of their history and identity than here.  I am still mulling this point over and am not sure that I agree but it is something to think about.  To put it in practical terms, Christianity in America is like the Platte River in Nebraska -- a mile wide but only a foot deep.  Christianity in Europe is like a river that runs very deep but is not very wide at all.  What do you think? Anyway, I applaud Merkel for saying out loud what many of us have been thinking for a long time.  It seems proven by the fact that we can mock and tolerate few groups without being attacked -- few groups except, of course, Christians.  We can openly mock, lie, and distort their people and positions all over the media without fear of repercussion.  When that becomes the case, a cause is in trouble.  The problem, however, is that we Christians have allowed this.  It is not so much that others have taken up the cause against us -- folks who in the past were our allies if not one of us entirely.  Rather, it is that we have allowed the media and the secular culture to make it seem that we are not who we say we are, that we are sinister and evil folks who promote and narrow and divisive truth designed to elevate the few at the expense of the many.  Anyone who knows the Gospels will know that this is not the faith of Jesus.  But perhaps we have allowed it to come the predominant image of Christian faith and teaching.  That is as much our own fault as it is the fault of our enemies and the enemies of the Gospel. Now, don't get me wrong -- I am not suggesting that this is merely a PR war or that we need to do all we can to get back in the good graces of the media.  I am saying that no election or political movement is needed or should be used to promote our cause.  We need to speak through our works as well as our words so that the Gospel of Christ and Him crucified is clearly spoken.  We do not need to accommodate culture or adjust to fit the positions prevailing in the public mood.  We need to be authentic and passionate in lips and lives that witness the truth of Him who is the way, the truth, and the life.  Nothing else can stem the tide....

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FW: “Churches Are Not Plants”

Pithy…

 

Feed: Steadfast Lutherans
Posted on: Saturday, December 08, 2012 9:30 AM
Author: Todd Wilken
Subject: "Churches Are Not Plants"

 

Here is a great quote from Hermann Sasse apropos of my previous post on confessional subscription. For Luther the Lutheran Church is not the social form of one of the great forms of the Christian religion, which was stamped by the religious experience of a gifted reformer, just as Roman Catholicism for him is not a more and less justifiable form or manifestation of Christendom. Of course, one can also seek to understand the Christian faith in a religio-scientific manner. But in so doing one does not come upon the essence of this faith, the essence of the confession of faith and the essence of the Church in general. Churches are not plants. Therefore there is no morphology of confessions. Neither are churches families, between which one may fix similarities and dissimilarities. The confession, the confession of the faith is not the expression of religious sentiment. Dogmas are not, as Schleiermacher thought, "comprehensions of the pious Christian condition of the heart presented in language." The Lord Christ had no interest in the pious Christian heart of his apostles when he asked: "Who do you say that I am?" From Hermann Sasse, Letters to Lutheran Pastors XXII (1952),  translated by Matthew Harrison.

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FW: 10 Wives Tales or Myths About Church Growth...

Worth Reading…

 

Feed: Pastoral Meanderings
Posted on: Saturday, December 08, 2012 5:00 AM
Author: noreply@blogger.com (Pastor Peters)
Subject: 10 Wives Tales or Myths About Church Growth...

 

It was sent to me by several internet sleuths and I have seen it noted on the blogs of others.  I pass on the whole article in a form for printing.  Read it.  Pass it around.  It is not shocking but common sense so often lacking when it comes to "growing churches."  I would encourage congregations struggling with this to read this and do some serious thinking.  It is definitely worth your while.  Read it all HERE. For those who won't read it, the ten points are listed below. 1. If You're Not Growing, Something's Wrong 2. The More You Grow, the Healthier You Are 3. Contemporary Music Will Save Your Church 4. Church Growth Can Be Manufactured 5. If Your Church Grows, Your Leader Is "Anointed" 6. If Your Church Doesn't Grow, It's a Problem with the Leader 7. Good Preaching Is the Answer to Growing Your Church 8. You Will Retain a Large Percentage of Your Visitors on Special Days 9. The More Programs You Offer, the More Your Church Will Grow 10. If You Build It, They Will Come The author is Brian Orme, who is the Editor of Outreach Magazine, ChurchLeaders.com, and SermonCentral.com. He works with creative and innovative people to discover the best resources, trends and practices to equip the church to lead better every day.  I don't know much about the guy but his ten myths about church growth are spot on!

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FW: Redeeming Holy Days from Pagan Lies — Christmas and Sol Invictus

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Feed: Steadfast Lutherans
Posted on: Tuesday, December 04, 2012 7:14 AM
Author: Pastor Joseph Abrahamson
Subject: Redeeming Holy Days from Pagan Lies — Christmas and Sol Invictus

 

Did Christianity Steal the Date of Sol Invictus? The claim is that Sol Invictus "Invincible Sun" is a more ancient pagan holiday in Rome celebrated on December 25th. The claim assumes that this pagan holiday was so popular and dangerous that the Christian Church sought to suppress it by establishing the celebration of Christ's Nativity on December 25th. By doing this, the claim continues, the Christians adopted the pagan day and some of the practices of that pagan festival to make the celebration of Christmas more appealing to pagans. Remember first that the Christian faith is as old as the curse on Satan in Genesis 3:15. And while pagan worship of the sun certainly existed in Rome before the spread of the fulfillment of that promise in Christ came to the city; the celebration of Sol Invictus as a god in Rome actually came as pagans attempted to suppress Christianity. This early attempt as suppressing Christianity by means of the pagan worship of Sol is found in the Historia Augusta, a pagan history of Rome compiled in the fourth century AD. The Historia Augusta in TheLife of Elagabalus (1.3) relates events from the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, a particularly twisted man, who reigned from 218-222 AD. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus came to be called Elagabalus after the name of the Syrian sun god, and was himself initiated as a priest of that false god. He viewed himself as the personal manifestation of the Syrian sun god. After coming to Rome and being established as emperor at the age of 14, the Historia states: 4 Elagabalus [established himself] as a god on the Palatine Hill close to the imperial palace; and he built him a temple, to which he desired to transfer the emblem of the Great Mother, the fire of Vesta, the Palladium, the shields of the Salii, and all that the Romans held sacred, purposing that no god might be worshipped at Rome save only Elagabalus. 5 He declared, furthermore, that the religions of the Jews and the Samaritans and the rites of the Christians must also be transferred to this place, in order that the priesthood of Elagabalus might include the mysteries of every form of worship.  [Latin] And, coincidentally, very shortly after Elagabalus tried to establish worship of the Syrian sun god, Sol Invictus, he was thought to be too licentious and was assassinated by his own people, pagan Romans, at the age of 18 years old. From that time there is no mention of the celebration of Sol Invictus in Roman history until the rule of Aurelian (A.D. 270-275). Aurelian did try to re-introduce the worship of Sol Invictus by decree in the year 274. But there is no record of this festival being held on December 25th. "The traditional feast days of Sol, as recorded in the early imperial fasti, were August 8th and/or August 9th, possibly August 28th, and December 11th."(Hijmans, p. 588 ) Aurelian did declare games to Sol every four years. But there is no record from the period or early historiographers that these games were associated with December 25th in any way. The best evidence suggest that the games were held October 19-22 of their calendar. Anyway, on another coincidence, a year after Aurelian declared these games in honor of Sol Invictus, he was assassinated by his own pagan Roman officers out of fear he would execute them based on false charges. The earliest calendar to mention that Invictus as a specified date for Roman religious life comes from a text of the Philocalian Calendar, VIII Kal recorded in an illuminated 4th Century manuscript called The Chronography of 354. In this late manuscript the date is listed in Mensis December (The Month of December) as N·INVICTI·CM·XXX. [The calender can be seen by clicking here ] Many scholars through the years have assumed that INVICTI in this calendar must mean "Sol Invictus." This is possible. However, elsewhere the calendar does not hesitate to make explicit mention of festivals to Sol, for example: on SOLIS·ET·LVNAE·CM·XXIIII (August 28th) and LVDI·SOLIS (October 19-22). Even if INVICTI does refer to Sol Invictus on December 25th of this calendar, all this shows is that the celebration of Sol Invictus was placed on December 25th after Christianity had already widely accepted and celebrated December 25th as the Nativity of Christ. There are many historians and people following them who will still assert that December 25th is Sol Invictus in ancient Rome. Some will even claim that another religion, Mithraism, has close connection to this December 25th celebration. In actual fact there is no ancient documentation tying Mithraism to December 25th or Sol Invictus. The Christian celebration of the Nativity of Christ as December 25th predates anything in the earliest actual documentation for Sol Invictus on December 25th. That documentation is from the much later Philocalian Calendar Chronography of 354. [For those interested in a more technical look see T.C. Schmid's article at http://chronicon.net/blog/christmas/sol-invictus-evidently-not-a-precursor-to-christmas/]

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FW: Another Look: Church Year Spirituality

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Feed: internetmonk.com
Posted on: Saturday, December 01, 2012 10:00 AM
Author: Chaplain Mike
Subject: Another Look: Church Year Spirituality

 

(From Nov. 2010 and updated) Tomorrow is the first Lord's Day in the Church's Liturgical Year. On Sunday, Christians who follow this calendar will begin a new year of living in the Gospel with the commencement of Advent. The diagram on the right gives an overview of the annual Church calendar. Advent is the season when we prepare for Christ's coming. (4 weeks) Christmastide is the season when we celebrate Christ's incarnation. (12 days) In Epiphany, we remember how Christ made God's glory known to the world. (up to 9 weeks) The Lenten season leads us to the Cross, the climactic event in Holy Week, which concludes Lent. (40 days plus Sundays) Eastertide (the Great 50 Days) celebrates Christ's resurrection, new life, and his ascension to glory. It concludes on the 50th day, Pentecost, the day of the Spirit's outpouring. The Season after Pentecost (or Trinity, or Ordinary Time) is the time of the church, when by the Spirit we live out the life of the Gospel in community and in the world. (up to 29 weeks) I don't know why so many Christian groups think they need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to "discipleship programs." This time-tested annual pattern for the life of individual believers and the Church together that is focused on Christ, organized around the Gospel, and grounded in God's grace, is sheer genius. It is simple enough for a child. It offers enough opportunities for creativity and flexibility that it need never grow old. Each year offers a wonderful template for learning to walk with Christ more deeply in the Gospel which brings us faith, hope, and love. My favorite book on church year spirituality is Robert Webber's Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year. Here is his summary of the subject: Ancient-Future Time presents the historical understanding of the Christian year as life lived in the pattern of death and resurrection with Christ. This spiritual tradition was developed in the early church and has been passed down in history through the worship of the church. It enjoys biblical sanction, historical staying power, and contemporary relevance. Through Christian-year spirituality we are enabled to experience the biblical mandate of conforming to Christ. The Christian year orders our formation with Christ incarnate in his ministry, death, burial, resurrection, and coming again through Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost. In Christian-year spirituality we are spiritually formed by recalling and entering into his great saving events. (p. 21f) In today's post I will merely list five primary reasons why I think it advantageous for Christians together to form their spiritual lives — their walk with God through Christ — around the liturgical year. Five Reasons to Practice Church Year Spirituality It enables us to live in God's Story. Church Year spirituality forms Christian people around the story of redemption in Christ. It does not focus on "principles" or "steps" or "programs" for spiritual growth. It is thoroughly Jesus-shaped and uses the biblical story to conform our lives to his. As Israel was shaped by their story of slavery, redemption, covenant, and Promised Land, so the New Israel is formed by the story of Messiah. It keeps the main thing the main thing. Church Year spirituality is Christ-centered. It is shaped around the events of his incarnation, ministry, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of his Spirit. At every turn we see Jesus, we hear Jesus, we follow Jesus. It recognizes that one's calendar forms one's life. Church Year spirituality is down-to-earth, utterly realistic about the day to day, season to season patterns of life that shape our behavior. All our lives we have developed habits by the way we mark and use our time. A spirituality formed around the Church Year is designed to form our habits around following Jesus. We take the place of disciples, and walk through the same experiences they had as they lived with Jesus day in and day out, season after season, over the course of three years. It links personal spirituality with worship, family, and community. Church Year spirituality recognizes both the individual journey and the corporate pilgrimage. What happens on Sundays is of a piece with what happens during the week as our corporate worship and our daily lives as individuals and families are shaped around the story of Jesus. It provides a basis of unity and common experience for Christians everywhere. Our unity with other Christians is in the Gospel story. This is summarized in the Apostles' Creed and the other creeds of the church. Propositional doctrinal statements have their place as ways to express more detailed understandings of the meaning and significance of God's saving acts, but our unity with other believers is in Christ. We celebrate this throughout the year when churches of various traditions and denominations celebrate the Church Year and conform their worship and congregational lives to it. Marking the Liturgical Year is a salutary way for Christians, families, small groups, and congregations to walk with Jesus over the course of the year. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." (John 1:38-39) It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (Col 1:28) * * *  If you would like to read the entire series for which this post was the introduction, here are the links: Church Year Spirituality Church Year Spirituality: Living in God's Story Church Year Spirituality: The Main Thing Church Year Spirituality: Practical Wisdom Church Year Spirituality: The Eastern Orthodox Calendar Church Year Spirituality: Some Resources Church Year Spirituality: Faith of Our Family

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FW: Walther’s Hymnal: Complete Translation of the First LCMS Hymnal Rich in Orthodox Hymnody

More Walther…

 

Feed: Cyberbrethren Lutheran Blog Feed
Posted on: Thursday, November 29, 2012 8:12 AM
Author: Paul T. McCain
Subject: Walther's Hymnal: Complete Translation of the First LCMS Hymnal Rich in Orthodox Hymnody

 

Look what just came in, a magnificent piece of work: Walther's Hymnal: Church Hymnbook for Evangelical Lutheran Congregations of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession. This is a complete translation/edition of the first hymnal produced by The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, and arguably I suppose, the first orthodox and confessional Lutheran hymnal produced in the New World. Mr. Matthew Carver did a tremendous job preparing this volume. I'll reproduce below the image more information about the book. You can purchase a copy by calling 800-325-3040. As always, click on the image below for the "supersize" version. Walther's Hymnal: Church Hymnbook is the first of its kind: an English translation of the first official hymnal of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. This was the hymnal that C.F.W. Walther edited and used, and that provided Christians throughout the LCMS a common experience during the Church's early years in America, in the same way that Lutheran Service Book provides a common experience for us today. Now presented for the first time in English, this is an invaluable resource for history enthusiasts, church musicians, and anyone who wants insight into how our grandfathers sang and prayed. This is a chance to share in that song and prayer of the saints gone before us. Matthew Carver, MFA, is a translator of German and classical literature. He resides in Nashville, TN, with his wife Amanda and their young son, where they pursue interests in art, orthodox Lutheran theology, liturgy, and hymnody.  What Others Are Saying Thanks to Matthew Carver, we now have Walther's hymnal, which guided the life of the Synod through its German-speaking period—six decades blessed with exponential growth. —Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, President, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Walther's Hymnal will soon find a place in the libraries of all interested in thedevelopment of Lutheran hymnody in America. —Dr. Carl Schalk, Concordia University Chicago Matthew Carver has opened the closed door and provided English translations for all the hymns in Walther's hymnal, and many are translated for the first time. —Dr. Robin A. Leaver, Yale Institute of Sacred Music Walther's Hymnal will serve not only as a rich devotional resource for our time but also as an impetus for future hymn writers as they add to our rich heritage. —Rev. Dr. Paul J. Grime, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne This will be a welcome addition to the library of all who appreciate the Lutheran chorale, and for composers who are searching for "new" texts to inspire musical settings for use in the church, school, and home. —Rev. Prof. Dennis Marzolf, Bethany Lutheran College Matthew Carver's masterful translation of C. F. W. Walther's 1847 collection of German-language hymns opens a window on the mid-nineteenth-century revival of confessional Lutheranism in America. —Dr. Daniel Zager, Eastman School of Music In this labor of love, Carver has provided a wonderful resource for historians, pastors, and homes—and a wonderful tribute to Walther and our Lutheran hymnody. —Rev. Thomas Egger, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Matthew Carver has recovered translations longhidden away in forgotten books, and he offers many of his own translations,thus giving us the complete poetic texts in a way that is beneficial and useful for pastors, teachers, musicians, congregation members, theologians, and historians. —Prof. Mark DeGarmeaux, Bethany Lutheran College …a book that will be a blessing to any lover of Lutheran doctrine, liturgy, and hymnody. —Rev. William C. Weedon, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

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