Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book

The Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book was the first official

The adoption of the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-book was part of the transition of the synod from the use of German to English. Since its founding in 1847, the synod had used the Kirchengesangbuch für Evangelisch-Lutherische Gemeinden ungeänderter Augsburgischer Confession (Church Hymnal for Evangelical Lutheran Churches of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession), compiled and edited by C. F. W. Walther (the synod's first president) and a group of other pastors.^[1]

By the late 1800s, the need for an English hymnal had become apparent. Walther himself recommended the Hymn Book for the Use of Evangelical Lutheran Schools and Congregations, which had been edited by Professor August Crull of Concordia College in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and published in 1879 by the Norwegian Lutherans in Decorah, Iowa. Other English hymnbooks that were used especially for outreach included Lutheran Hymns: For the Use of English Lutheran Missions (1882), Hymns of the Evangelical Lutheran Church: For the Use of English Lutheran Missions (1886), and Hymns for Evangelical Lutheran Missions (1905).^[1]

Professor Crull assembled and edited a new hymnal, the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn Book, and presented it to the

The hymnal was later often referred to as the "old green hymnal" due to the color of its binding. Originally containing 543 hymns, it underwent significant expansion prior to the publishing of The Lutheran Hymnal in 1941.

See also

• List of English-language hymnals by denomination

References