Historical Timeline

The first Protestant hymnal — before Luther

The Bohemian Brethren (Unitas Fratrum), followers of Jan Hus, publish a collection of 89 hymns — the first Protestant hymnal, printed 23 years before Luther's own first hymns. In the Catholic Mass of the time only priests sang; the Brethren insisted their people sing their faith in their own language.

Luther's first hymns

Martin Luther writes his earliest hymns, including "Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein" and a German paraphrase of Psalm 130, "Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir." He begins urging colleagues to write hymns the whole congregation can sing in German, not just the choir in Latin.

Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, Uffizi Gallery — Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The first Lutheran hymnals

The Achtliederbuch ("Eight Songs Book") appears in Nuremberg — eight hymns, four by Luther, three by Paul Speratus, one anonymous. The same year, the Erfurt Enchiridion expands the collection to 26 hymns, 18 of them Luther's. Congregational singing in the vernacular spreads fast enough that Luther's opponents complain "the whole people are singing themselves into his doctrines."

"Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott"

"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" appears in print for the first time, based on Psalm 46. It becomes the most famous hymn in the Lutheran tradition.

The Genevan Psalter

In Strasbourg and then Geneva, John Calvin commissions a metrical psalter for the Reformed churches — begun in 1539, not completed in full (all 150 psalms) until 1562. Calvin, like Luther, wanted ordinary congregations singing, not just trained choirs, but his tradition sang almost exclusively the biblical Psalms rather than newly written hymn texts — a real theological fork from the Lutheran chorale tradition happening at almost the same moment.

The Babst Gesangbuch

Leipzig printer Valentin Babst publishes the last hymnal issued in Luther's lifetime with his direct approval and a preface he wrote himself. It becomes the standard reference point for Luther's finished hymn corpus.

Paul Gerhardt and the Baroque chorale

Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676) writes over 130 hymns of deep personal devotion — "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded," "Commit Whatever Grieves Thee" — many first published with tunes in Johann Crüger's Praxis Pietatis Melica (1647). This era shifts Lutheran hymnody from Luther's confident proclamation toward inward, meditative piety.

Pietist hymnody

Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen's Geistreiches Gesangbuch reflects the Pietist movement's turn toward personal, experiential faith — a strand that later shapes Moravian and Scandinavian-American hymnody as well.

Bach and the chorale cantata

Johann Sebastian Bach, working in Leipzig, weaves dozens of existing chorale tunes into his cantatas, passions, and organ works, giving many of them their most enduring harmonizations. The Bach Cantatas section of this site traces those connections directly.

Elias Gottlob Haussmann, 1748 copy of his 1746 portrait — Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Isaac Watts, "the Father of English Hymnody"

English Nonconformist minister Isaac Watts breaks from the centuries-old rule that only biblical psalms could be sung in worship, writing hundreds of original hymns of his own, including "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," "Joy to the World," and "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past." His hymns cross denominational lines and appear throughout this catalog's Lutheran hymnals as well.

Charles Wesley and Methodist hymnody

Charles Wesley, with his brother John, publishes Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), the first of thousands of hymns he will write over his lifetime. His passionate, personal style — "And Can It Be," "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" — is often contrasted with Watts's more formal register, and his hymns, too, found their way into Lutheran hymnals.

Catherine Winkworth brings German hymns into English

Winkworth publishes Lyra Germanica, translating over 100 German chorales. Her later Chorale Book for England (1863) pairs her translations with their original tunes. She remains the single most influential translator connecting German Lutheran hymnody to the English-speaking world — over 220 hymns in this catalog carry her translations.

The Common Service

English-speaking American Lutherans adopt a shared liturgy for the first time, laying groundwork for later hymnal unity.

The Common Service Book

Three American Lutheran bodies jointly publish the Common Service Book (text in 1917, full hymnal with music in 1918), a major step toward the eventual United Lutheran Church in America.

The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH)

The Missouri Synod's hymnal for the next four decades.

Service Book and Hymnal (SBH)

Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW)

Known as the "green book," this is the first hymnal jointly produced across most major American Lutheran bodies — a landmark of inter-Lutheran cooperation, though the LCMS ultimately withdrew from using it.

Lutheran Worship (LW)

The LCMS's own hymnal, produced after declining to fully adopt LBW.

With One Voice (WOV)

A supplement to LBW, broadening its hymn selection.

Two paths diverge: ELW and LSB

The ELCA publishes Evangelical Lutheran Worship, replacing LBW and WOV. The LCMS, separately, publishes Lutheran Service Book, replacing TLH and LW. Both remain the current primary hymnals of their respective church bodies today — and both are cross-referenced throughout this site.

All Creation Sings

A supplement to ELW, the most recent addition to the lineage this catalog draws from.