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"A Mighty Fortress is Our God" (German, Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott) is the best known of Martin Luther's hymns. Luther wrote the words and composed the melody sometime between 1527-1529. It has been translated into English at least seventy times and also into many other languages. The words are a paraphrase of Psalm 46. The most popular English version, "A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing," was translated by Frederick H. Hedge in 1853. Another popular English version by Thomas Carlyle begins "A safe stronghold our God is still."

History

"A Mighty Fortress" is one of the best loved hymns of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions. It has been called the "Battle Hymn of the Reformation" for the effect it had in increasing the support for the Reformers' cause. John Julian records four theories of its origin:

• K.F.T. Schneider: it was a tribute to Luther's friend Leonhard Kaiser, who was executed as a Protestant martyr on August 16, 1527;
• Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné: it was sung by the German Lutheran princes as they entered Augsburg for the Diet in 1530 at which the Augsburg Confession was presented; and
• the view that it was composed in connection with the Diet of Speyer (1529) at which the German Lutheran princes lodged their "protest" to Emperor Charles V, who wanted to enforce his Edict of Worms (1521).

The earliest extant hymnal in which it appears is that of Andrew Rauscher (1531), but it is supposed to have been in Joseph Klug’s Wittenberg hymnal of 1529, of which no copy exists. Its title was Der xxxxvi. Psalm. Deus noster refugium et virtus. Before that it is supposed to have appeared in the Hans Weiss Wittenberg hymnal of 1528, also lost. This evidence would support its being written in 1527-1529, since Luther's hymns were printed shortly after they were written.

Tradition states that King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden had it played as his forces went to battle in the Thirty Years' War. The psalm had been translated into Swedish already in 1536. Many centuries later, the song would also become an anthem of the early Swedish socialist movement.

It was first translated into English by Myles Coverdale in 1539 with the title, Oure God is a defence and towre. The first English translation in "common usage" was God is our Refuge in Distress, Our strong Defence in J.C. Jacobi's Psal. Ger., 1722, p. 83.

Tune

The first line in German is Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott. Luther composed the melody for the hymn, which is called "Ein' Feste Burg" and is in hymn meter 87.87.55.56.7, denoted rhythmic tune as distinguished from the later isometric tune setting of the hymn, 87.87.66.66.7 meter. The isometric meter that is employed in the above media selection is more widely known and used in Christendom. In 1906 Edouard Rœhrich wrote, "The authentic form of this melody differs very much from that which one sings in most Protestant churches and figures in (Giacomo Meyerbeer's] The Huguenots. ... The original melody is extremely rhythmic, by the way it bends to all the nuances of the text ..."

While in the 19th century musicologists disputed Luther's authorship of the music to the hymn, that opinion has been modified by more recent research; it is now the consensus view of musical scholars that Luther did indeed compose the famous tune to go with the words.

Arrangements

The tune has been used by numerous composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach, as the source material for his Cantata No. 80. It was given two settings in Bach's Choralgesänge (Choral Hymns). Felix Mendelssohn used it as the theme for the fourth and final movement of his Symphony No. 5 (1830), which he named Reformation in honor of the Protestant Reformation started by Luther, Giacomo Meyerbeer used it in his five-act grand opera Les Huguenots (1836), and Richard Wagner used it as a "motive" in his Kaisersmarsch (Emperor's March), which was composed to commemorate the return of Kaiser Wilhelm I from the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

Lyrics

Original German

English translations

Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book of 1868

1. A mighty Fortress is our God,

A trusty Shield and Weapon;

He helps us free from every need

That hath us now o'ertaken.

The old evil Foe

Now means deadly woe;

Deep guile and great might

Are his dread arms in fight;

On earth is not his equal.

2. With might of ours can naught be done,

Soon were our loss effected;

But for us fights the Valiant One,

Whom God Himself elected.

Ask ye, Who is this?

Jesus Christ it is.

Of Sabaoth Lord,

And there's none other God;

He holds the field forever.

3. Though devils all the world should fill,

All eager to devour us.

We tremble not, we fear no ill,

They shall not overpower us.

This world's prince may still

Scowl fierce as he will,

He can harm us none,

He's judged; the deed is done;

One little word can fell him.

4. The Word they still shall let remain

Nor any thanks have for it;

He's by our side upon the plain

With His good gifts and Spirit.

And take they our life,

Goods, fame, child and wife,

Let these all be gone,

They yet have nothing won;

The Kingdom our remaineth.

Hedge

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

(This translation by Frederic Hedge, 1853)

Other Versions

• Catherine Winkworth
• Hymns of Martin Luther

Musical setting

• Ein' feste Burg, Luther, 1529

In popular culture

A version of "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" was used as the theme for the children's television series Davey and Goliath, which was produced for the Lutheran Church in America.

Part of it can also be heard in the made- for- TV movie, A Separate Peace.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 used the song as a running gag during the film "The Rebel Set", in which the mastermind of a bank heist disguised himself as a Lutheran minister. MST3K was produced in the state of Minnesota, known for a large Lutheran population.

A Mighty Fortress was the name of a supplement for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game ; this supplement depicted the Renaissance and wars of religion as a campaign setting for this roleplaying game.

Notes

1. ^ John Julian, ed., A Dictionary of Hymnology: Setting forth the Origin and History of Christian Hymns of all Ages and Nations, Second revised edition, 2 vols., n.p., 1907, reprint, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1957, 1:322-25
2. W. G. Polack, The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal, Third and Revised Edition (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1958), 193, No. 262.
3. ^ Marilyn Kay Stulken, Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981), 307-08, nos. 228-229.
4. Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut Lehmann, eds., Luther's Works, 55 vols. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1957-1986), 53:283.
5. Cf. The Commission on Worship of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Lutheran Worship, (St. Louis: CPH, 1982), 992, 997.
6. E. Rœhrich, Les Origines du Choral Luthérien. (Paris: Librairie Fischbacher, 1906), 23 (italics original): "La forme authentique de cette mélodie diffère beaucoup de celle qu'on chante dans la plupart des Églises protestantes et qui figure dans les Huguenots". ... La mélodie originelle est puissamment rythmée, de manière à se plier à toutes les nuances du texte ..."

Bibliography

• Commission on Worship of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Lutheran Worship. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1982. ISBN
• Julian, John, ed. A Dictionary of Hymnology: Setting forth the Origin and History of Christian Hymns of all Ages and Nations. Second revised edition. 2 vols. n.p., 1907. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1957.
• Pelikan, Jaroslav and Lehmann, Helmut, eds. Luther's Works. Vol. 53, Liturgy and Hymns. St. Louis, Concordia Publishing House, 1965. ISBN 0-8006-0353-2.
• Polack, W.G. The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1942.
• Rœhrich, E. Les Origines du Choral Luthérien. Paris: Librairie Fischbacher, 1906.
• Stulken, Marilyn Kay. Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981.

External links

• Lyrics, Music, and MIDI file at CyberHymnal
• Version by Thomas Carlyle
• Psalm 46 in the King James version
• Psalms 46-50 in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer translation (Coverdale)

• Cantatas
• Christian hymns
• Compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach
• Martin Luther
• Lutheranism
• Protestantism
• Reformation