Lutheran Hymns Spreading Propaganda and Hatred.
Lutheran hymns were not just songs of worship, but were a method to spread their propaganda and hatred about the Roman Church. The more the people sung these hymns, the more they conformed to the views of the Lutheran Church. These hymns were intended to incite feelings of anger and outrage toward the Roman Church, as well as to compare the Roman Church with Satan.
Looking at one of these Hymns called, “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Thy Word” by Luther himself, written somewhere in between 1541 and 1542. Here it is written in the very first verse that, “Lord, keep us steadfast in thy Word, and curb the pope’s and Turk’s vile sword, who seek to topple from the throne Jesus Christ, thy only son.” (Discovering, 275). In the first verse of this hymn Luther drops that gauntlet by saying that the Pope must be stopped and Luther then accuses the Roman church as wanting to overthrow God the Son,
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and then take the heavenly thrown, becoming God in themselves, and having absolute power.
Moving to another hymn by Luther, he goes so far to call the Roman Church devils and satanic. Luther writes, “The old satanic foe has sworn to work us woe…Though hordes of devils fill the land all threat’ning to devour us, we tremble not, unmoved we stand; they cannot overpow’r us, let this world’s tyrant rage; in battle we’ll engage!” (Discovering, 276). In these two verses Luther accuses the Roman Church as being a satanic power and the members of the Church, especially the hierarchy, are devils that rage and threaten all that oppose the Roman Church. Finally, in looking at a hymn by Paul Speratus in 1524, it is seen that Lutheranism claims that the Roman Church is incorrect in their teaching on salvation. In the hymn “Salvation unto Us Has Come” Paul writes, “Good works cannot avert our doom, they help to save us never. Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone, who did for all the world atone; He is our mediator.” (Discovering, 277). Here Paul Speratus is making a
point that the Roman Church has the teaching of salvation incorrect and the Lutheran Church has it right. Pointing out that the Roman Church thinks that the works of a person can save and there is no need for Christ, but the Lutheran Church believes that faith in Christ alone is all you need to be saved. In fact, the Roman Church believes that faith and works are intrinsically connected and both are needed for one to be saved. In Conclusion, it can be seen that these hymns were used to incite people against the Roman Church and convert people from this satanic power run by devils. With the power of the printing press, and the wide spread of these hymns to be used as worship songs in the Lutheran services, many people were influenced by this propaganda tactic.
What is the relationship between the self, death, and nature? In his poem, “Hymn,” A.R. Ammons explores the speaker’s position in the world in relation to the other forces that surround him/her daily. S/he seems to be in search of the larger force that controls the smaller natural operations around him. It is unclear as to whether or not the speaker believes that this larger force is a traditional “God” figure, but the title of the poem connotes a praise for a larger being. In addition, Ammons takes on a transcendentalist style in this poem—the belief that a divine spirit composes everything around the speaker. This spirit is “partial and entire” (Ammons 19), “inside of everything and on the outside” (20). There is a significant tension
In the Lutheran Hymnal, are principles of Lutheran Theology according to the Missouri Synod. There are ceremonies for Baptism, Confirmation as well as Divine services. The Divine Service is from Lutheran tradition and is the same service that Lutherans practice today. There are also prayers, chants, psalms with music, and Luther's Small Catechism. There are hymns which span the entire year including: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Passion Week, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. There are also hymns for other times of service and year: Trinity, Morning, Evening, Beginning of Service, Close of Service, Holy Baptism, and The Lord's Supper. This was all based on the practices that Martin Luther created during the Reformation.
“Under the outward appearance of the gospel, they honor and serve the devil, thus deserving death in body and soul ten times over.” Luther’s brutal words against the rebelling peasants of Germany in 1525 reveal the complex reality of the Reformation. Suppression of the rebellion by the German aristocracy was swift and violent, leaving over 70,000 German peasants dead. The rebellion targeted the social and political oppression of the peasantry in the early 16th century. The peasants found new justification for revolt in the promising words of Martin Luther. Luther proclaimed a new kind of freedom for the Christian soul and the peasants applied his idea to their own circumstances. However a dichotomy emerged between spiritual freedom and worldly freedom. Luther argued that good Christians were spiritually free but still subject to temporal laws. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of man were separate spheres. Luther rejected attempts to integrate spiritual freedom into the temporal sphere [Luther turned against the peasants’ revolt of 1525 because the demands of the peasants went against his doctrine of Christian freedom, which stressed the spiritual freedom of Christians and concordant obedience to temporal authority. By using scripture as a justification for rebellion, the peasants not only blasphemed God’s name but also acted against the natural order mandated by God.
In the letter to Leo X, Luther gave an account of his struggles with the Roman Catholic Church. He declared that he never personally attacked Leo. Luther addressed Leo as an equal and expressed his views in full. Luther pointed to Johannes Eck as the chief inciter of all the problems. Johannes Eck was a theologian and defender of Catholicism. Luther declared Eck as an enemy of the Catholic religion. Luther said he was forced to constantly defend himself against Eck's attacks on his beliefs. On the Freedom of a Christian is actually a summary of what Luther wished to study, but was not able to since he was always defending the Church. (Goebel, ed 156)
After watching all four episodes of "We Shall Remain", I think back to all of them and some parts stand out to me more than others. These being my "take aways". In episode 1, I thought there were the most take aways than in the other 3 episodes. This being because most of us have heard the story of the pilgrims and the Native Americans but episode 1 really cleared things up. There was a lot more detail from what I remember or from what I was taught about this encounter and the pilgrims journey to the new world. The pilgrims ended up mistreating and taking advantage of the indians which lead to a long lasting conflict with Native Americans and other groups. When watching that episode and hearing the full story with all the details, it really made me realize who was in the wrong.
Born in Germany, in 1483, Martin Luther went on to become one of western history’s most significant figure. Luther spent his early life as a priest and a lawyer. He was also the professor of theology. Considering his background it was a total surprise that Luther protested and criticized the catholic church. Even more surprising since he was a priest. However, Martin Luther didn’t want to destroy the church after all he was a priest. He just wanted to reform some of the church’s perceived abuses. There are different reasons that sparked Martin Luther’s protestant reformation, namely. 1) salvation or getting to heaven, was won by faith alone, 2) the selling of indulgences, 3) the bible
Martin Luther was a former Priest/Monk and that saw some corruption in the Roman Catholic Church. Luther tried to bring his concerns to the Church in his writing of the “Ninety-five Theses on the Power of Indulgences.” When these question that Luther proposed to the Archbishop of Mainz went unsatisfactorily unanswered in 1517, Luther started defaming the Roman Church and pushed for the utter destruction of the Roman Church. What started out as an internal reform of Church’s discipline, turned into a war against the Roman Church for their total destruction. This was the intent of Luther’s sermon of 1521.
Luther uses harsh words to describe the popes and the bishops by calling them names such as “humbug”, “block head”, and “hypocrite”. According to Martin Luther’s Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, it states “He might well make a man into a hypocrite or a humbug, and block head, but never a Christian or spiritual man”. Martin Luther believes that the priests, bishops, and popes are not different from the Christian people. Martin Luther points out that Christians were baptized and read the Bible, so why do the popes receive so much authority and power than Christians. In the Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Luther questions “Why are your life and limb, your property and honor, so cheap and mine not, inasmuch as we are all Christians and have the same baptism, the same faith, the same Spirit, and all the rest?”. Therefore, Martin Luther believes that the popes, bishops, and priests are given too much authority and power even though the popes, bishops, and priests do not possess that many special abilities. Martin Luther claims that everyone is a priest since the Christian people can interpret and read the Bible, carry the same faith and spirit, and were baptized just like the popes, priests, and bishops
Martin Luther had witnessed this himself, “In 1510 he visited Rome and was shocked to find corruption on high ecclesiastical
ensure its supremacy. Davies wrote, “…Luther called on the German princes to overthrow the papacy
“That hymn is more than a piece of music; it is an event in European history,” says a church historian. But at a more personal level, it also reflects some of the major points of the life of this German Protestant reformer. In fact, the phrase “mighty fortress“ was on Luther's lips when he lifted up his voice to God in prayer early in the morning right before he faced the officials of the Holy Roman Empire at the Diet of Worms in January 1521. “My God, stand by me, against all the world’s wisdom and reason,“ he prayed in fear and trembling. “Stand by me, O God, in the name of Your dear Son Jesus Christ, who shall be my defense and shelter, yes, my Mighty Fortress, through the might and strength of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.”
The Psalm begins with a dramatic introduction, an open invitation to all peoples and inhabitants of the world, calling all to “hear” (v 2). This suggests the inclusive character of wisdom which incorporates all low and high, rich and poor (v 3). Wisdom applies for all, despite one’s social status. The words of a wisdom teacher are those of wisdom and understanding (v 4). And he will incline his ear to a proverb and solve the riddle (v 5). The greatest riddle of Ps 49 which the wisdom teacher is going to address is the riddle of life, the relationship of life to death.
As Marini explains in “Hymnody as History: Early Evangelical Hymns as Sacred Music,” emotional appeals to congregations not only remained in Edwards’s sermons of fear, but they also ranged in other sermons with appeals to guilt and obligation as well (134). Similarly, hymns also appealed to the emotional side of the singers and listeners. For example, in the hymn “Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed” by Watts, emotionally provokes the singer and listener to feel obligated to repent from causing Jesus to die on the cross for their sins (250,). In the song, the reoccurring theme of redemptive love that should be followed with action prevails throughout all verses: “But drops of grief can ne’er repay / The debt of love I owe;/ Here Lord, I give myself away: / ‘Tis all that I can do” (228). The hymns throughout the Great Awakening provoked the audience members emotionally whether through explaining redeeming love or the desolate situation that Christ saved them from. Overall, both the hymns and religious texts of the Great Awakening utilize pathos to provoke the
He needs to be stopped before he causes to much confusion and causes us to lose to many followers. Martin Luther didn't consider the papacy had the authority to interpret scripture. This initiated his ultimate excommunication from the Church. I believe that could be the reason for his maybe his side of reasoning. Dear Luis, I heard that the pope had had enough and issued an ultimatum threatening Martin Luther with excommunication.
They are also known as the Servant songs or the servant psalms. These songs were first introduced in 1892 by Bernhard Duhm in his commentary on Isaiah. Isaiah identified God’s servant as Israel in the 41 chapter the 8 verse and the 44 chapter verses 1 and 2 (Tullock and McEntire, 2012). He acknowledged that these servant served as God’s witness and as a light to the Gentiles in the 43 chapter verse10. However, Israel could not fulfill this mission due to Israel being deaf, blind, and in need of God’s forgiveness (Religious Education, n.d). Israel failed again and again. In contrast, Luke chapter 13 and the 32 verse and John chapter 17 and the 4 verse confirmed that God’s Servant, the Messiah, faithfully completes all the work he is given to