The liturgico-musical influence of the church of England and the broader Anglican communion on the evangelical Lutheran synodical conference of North America

Baker, Daniel George (2025). The liturgico-musical influence of the church of England and the broader Anglican communion on the evangelical Lutheran synodical conference of North America. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the influence of the liturgico-musical philosophy and resources of the Church of England and the broader Anglican Communion on the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America in the latter half of the nineteenth century through the first half of the twentieth century, culminating in the formation of the Synodical Conference’s first and only joint hymnal, The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH) of 1941. It argues that Martin Luther established a unique liturgico-musical cultus as the progenitor of the Evangelical (Lutheran) tradition, in many ways epitomized by the form of the chorale, which served as a unifying cultural and doctrinal force in his native Saxony and beyond. Contrary to other analyses, which posit that Luther’s chorale-based composition of the Deutsche Messe (German Mass) and his prescriptions for the Formula Missae (Latin Mass) represent two disparate liturgical streams, this thesis argues that Luther’s Latin and German prescriptions were manifestations of a singular Evangelical paradigm that was expressed in idiomatically different ways to meet the latent requirements of the target cultures (i.e ., Latin and German). This thesis shows that liturgico-musical considerations were at the center of Luther’s Evangelical reforms, which in turn formed the heart of the first Lutheran liturgical materials in the United States, including those of each of the four constituent members of the Synodical Conference at the time of the formation of The Lutheran Hymnal of 1941 (TLH)—colloquially, the Missouri (LCMS), Wisconsin (WELS), Norwegian (ELS), and Slovak (SELC) Synods. In contrast, the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (BCP), a tome essentially devoid of music, formed the heart of the Anglican liturgical tradition. Owing to the influence of the radical Reformation, the early Anglican tradition did not develop the wide corpus of hymnody and liturgical music apparent in the parallel Lutheran tradition. It was not until the nineteenth century that hymn writing began to exponentially flourish in the Anglican Church, in tandem with the liturgical renewal brought about by the Oxford Movement. This thesis argues that the American Lutheran development of The Common Service (TCS) of 1888, which was incorporated into the Synodical Conference tradition, was heavily influenced not only by the Anglican 1549 BCP and Victorian hymnody, but also by the Oxford Movement’s efforts to repristinate antiquated forms. This thesis further demonstrates the ways in which the development of TLH was influenced by Anglican sources, including the decision to use TCS and Anglican hymnody against the advice and proposals of the sub-committees that were tasked with developing the liturgico-musical content of the hymnal. What is more, this thesis contends that the stated goal of the initial TLH project—to create a Lutheran hymnal that rectified certain non-Lutheran (Anglican) accretions in previous hymnal efforts—was not met and arguably resulted in the inverse. That is to say, TLH resulted in a greater amount of Anglican hymnody and liturgico-musical influence on the Synodical Conference than was manifest previously, the effects of which are still felt in the remnants of the Synodical Conference to this day.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):