We Believe: Faith, Community, and the Holy Act of Singing

Sponsored by Martin Tel

Our 2025 conference theme, “We Believe: Faith, Community, and the Holy Act of Singing” seeks to explore the core values of The Hymn Society. We believe that congregational song shapes faith, heals brokenness, transforms lives, and renews peace. But what if someone didn’t? What if a committee sought to create a hymnal which supported a dangerous political ideology?

Such is the case with Grosser Gott Wir Loben Dich, the 1941 hymnal of the German Christians, the Lutherans who aligned themselves with the policies of the National Socialist Party under Adolf Hitler. In this sectional, I will discuss the underlying theology behind the hymnal and the layout of the hymnal which drives that theology. Then, I will evaluate how the hymnal treats the hymns of Paul Gerhardt. I chose Gerhardt because he is the foremost hymn writer for German Lutherans.

This historical overview will serve to remind us that not every act of congregational singing is a holy act.