Of Pilgrimage, Freedom and Belonging

The Global Achtliederbuch 2024 will be published in 2024, commemorating the 500th anniversary of the first Lutheran hymnal, the Achtliederbuch from 1524. The publication represents one pillar of the study process on global perspectives on Lutheran identities by the Lutheran World Federation with a focus on music and liturgy and their potential to shape Christian identities in the Lutheran tradition.

The Achtliederbuch of 1524 documented the reformation movement for the first time through a collection of eight songs previously printed on pamphlets. The eight songs form a snapshot of the heartfelt concerns by the young movement, the first attempt of situating the reformation ideas in the relationship with the world and God in song forms.

Following the inspiration of the Achtliederbuch, the Global Achtliederbuch 2024 documents a collection of music and liturgical elements (rites) that sketch out hopes and visions of being Christian in a Lutheran tradition from a global perspective in our age and presents a mosaic of Christian expressivity in contemporary language and sound in the cultures of the seven world regions of Lutheranism. As the vertical eighth region, the liturgical heritage of Luther is reflected in its historical development, its transformational processes, and in relation to its situatedness in socio-cultural contexts in the Lutheran world regions today.

The spectrum of the eight hymns in the Achtliederbuch already displayed how closely music and theology were connected for Martin Luther, who found it inconceivable that other people would not understand and recognize the importance of music for the liturgy and each individual participant. Luther was aware that Christian discipleship, a holistic participation in the Body of Christ as a vertical anchoring of each individual believer in Christian history and doctrine, required a living counterpart in the following of Christ in everyday life. For Luther, this was particularly made possible through socialization with other Christians, and music within the liturgy played a fundamental role in this.

Lutheran Rites and Hymns 2024 collects rites and hymns which have become established only in recent decades in the global Lutheran community. It shall contribute fruitful impulses without attempting to favor particular music and ways of worship. It is meant to inspire and strengthen all by worshipping the one God – the creator, son, and holy spirit. Musicological and liturgical case studies of selected liturgies and songs from all seven world regions of Lutheranism as well as discussions of transformational processes of the Lutheran liturgical heritage compliment in an additional theory section the publication.