HIMknowledgey Ministry - Revive Us Again

034.......A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, hymn #034, is said to be the greatest hymn of the greatest man of the greatest period of German history and was proclaimed the "Battle hymn of the Reformation."

It is listed in this collection in the year 1852, because that's when Frederic Henry Hedge translated these verses by Martin Luther into English. They first appeared in W.H. Furness's Gems of German Verse (Philadelphia, 1853).

Martin Luther was born November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany. He came from the most conservative religious element of the German population. In 1505, Luther was still a university student, preparing for the practice of law. The region around Luther had certain elements of old German paganism, blended with Christian mythology and the beliefs of the untutored folk. For them, the woods and winds and water were peopled by elves, gnomes, fairies, mermen and mermaids, sprites and witches. They thought sinister spirits would release storms, floods, and pestilence and seduce mankind to sin and to melancholia. They thought many regions were inhabited by devils and witches, including Prussia and Lapland. In July of 1506, Luther, while out for a walk, became involved with a sudden thunderstorm and a lightening bolt struck the ground so close that it knocked Luther to the ground. Shortly afterward, Luther without a word to his family, entered the Augustinian monastery, where he later read Ephesians 2:8-9 in the Latin Catholic Bible. He started the Protestant Reformation in 1517 with his public criticism of Catholic indulgences and he wrote these words and music in 1529. Luther died February 18, 1546, at Eisleben and is buried at Wittenberg, Germany.

Frederic Henry Hedge was born December 12, 1805 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard University and Divinity School. Hedge died August 21, 1890 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This hymn was sung at the funeral of American president Dwight David Eisenhower at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, March, 1969.

In 1851, YMCA, introduced in America at Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1852, the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriett Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) became a stage play.

In 1852, first through train from the east, arrived in Chicago.

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