Seventeenth-Century Lutheran Meditations and Hymns

The volume contains a complete new translation of Sacred Meditations, a highly influential devotional text written by Johann Gerhard (1582-1637) the most prominent Lutheran theologian of the Age of Orthodoxy as well as an excerpt from one of his later books, which instructs readers in the practice of meditation. In addition, there are excerpts from Heinrich Muller (1631-1675) and Christian Scriver (1629-1693), spiritual reformers who influenced the reshaping of spiritual focus that took place between the late Reformation and the rise of Lutheran Pietism. Muller’s meditations, drawn from his sermons, are sometimes provocative and always lively. Scriver’s meditations are an example of the genre of emblem literature. They colorfully describe scenes or stories in order to advance a moral or spiritual message. Several of these texts are translated here into English for the first time. Lutheran hymns constituted some of the most notable examples of German poetry during the seventeenth century. This selection of religious lyrics, from eleven different authors, reveals the full range of sentiments found within early Lutheranism. Many of these hymns continue to be used for Lutheran worship down to the present day.