Singing the Gospel: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation

Christopher Boyd Brown

Published by Harvard University Press 2005

Singing the Gospel

Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation

Christopher Boyd Brown

Volume 148 in the series Harvard Historical Studies

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674028913

Overview
Contents

About this book

Brown offers a new appraisal of the Reformation and its popular appeal, based on the place of German hymns in the 16th-century press and in the lives of early Lutherans. The Bohemian mining town of Joachimsthal—where pastors, musicians, and laity forged an enduring, influential union of Lutheranism, music, and culture—is at the center of the story.

Reviews

All historians and scholars of music and worship will profit from the insights Christopher Boyd Brown provides into the way the Reformation affected the practice of religion in the Lutheran town of Joachimsthal: in the schools, the churches, the sermons, the homes, and the actions and convictions of specific men and women. A well-written and informative study.
-- Scott Hendrix, Princeton Theological Seminary

In this engagingly written book, Brown argues that one vital means to the success of the Lutheran Reformation in implanting evangelical ideals and practices is to be found in the pervasive use, both in church and in the home,of Lutheran hymns. Gladly embraced by the laity, these hymns engendered what Brown calls 'a shared religious culture' that shaped and sustained Lutheran identity through some very difficult times. Singing the Gospel is an important, original contribution of interest to general readers as well as Reformation scholars.
-- Gerald Strauss, Emeritus, Indiana University

Christopher Boyd Brown has investigated the Lutheran hymnic aspect of the town's history in this engaging study. Analyzing a range of sources, Brown makes a compelling case against those who have argued that the Lutheran Reformation failed "to create a new kind of devout Christian among the popular masses."
-- Paul Westermeyer Christian Century

Brown's Singing the Gospel truly peels back the layers of one historical context in the age of the Reformation to show how important Lutheran hymns were to the spreading the Gospel. It is a unique and valuable study.
-- James L. Brauer Concordia Journal

Christopher Boyd Brown's Singing the Gospel is a stimulating contribution to the discussion of popular religion and the role of music in the Lutheran Reformation...This book is an excellent example of sound interdisciplinary research embedded in a fascinating study of the history of one Lutheran town, appealing to historians, pedagogues, theologians, musicologists and general readers alike.
-- Alexandra Kess Ecclesiastical History

Professional and lay readers have needed Brown's book--a judicious, detailed consideration of the use and penetration of Lutheran hymnody into the lives of early Lutherans based on a local study that traces exactly how pastors and teachers approached the process of "teaching" the Reformation--for a long time. Its argument: a sharp challenge to the thesis propounded a generation ago by Gerald Strauss about the "failure" of the Reformation, and, by extension, to scholars whose work supports it...Brown's effective organization, engaging prose, and transparent and exhaustive use of sources (which will facilitate scholars' evaluation of his evidence) recommend this book as an essential purchase not only for libraries but also for classrooms and private use--not unlike the hymnals its author analyzes.
-- Susan R. Boettcher Sixteenth Century Journal

This book is overflowing with...careful analysis...It should be read as an unusual story, told as truthfully as an idealized narrative can be, but undergirded by painstaking, skilful, and dedicated research.
-- Bartlett Butler H-Net Online

A great new book...Singing the Gospel challenges the prevailing view that Lutheranism failed to transform the homes and hearts of sixteenth-century Germany.
-- Paul T. McCain cyberbrethren.com

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Figures and Tables Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
1. Hymns, Hymnals, and the Reformation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Reformation and Music in Joachimsthal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
3. Lutheranism, Music, and Society Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
4. Music and Lutheran Education Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
5. Lutheran Music in the Church Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
6. Lutheranism and Music at Home Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
7. Counter-Reformation in Joachimsthal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
8. Joachimsthal’s Influence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
Conclusion: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Appendices. Abbreviations. Notes. Index
Appendix 1: Printing of Nicolaus Herman, Sonntags- Evangelia, 1560–1630 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Appendix 2: Printing of Nicolaus Herman, Historien von der Sindflut, 1562–1607 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
Appendix 3: Contents of Nicolaus Herman, Sonntags- Evangelia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Appendix 4: Contents of Nicolaus Herman, Historien Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 312

eBook

Published: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 9780674028913