Introduction/Title Page

Early this year (I think around February or March), my dad gave me a small book.  I don't remember the specifics of how he got it, but I believe it was owned by a church member who'd died.  It's all in German, and according to the title page, it's a songbook published by Concordia Publishing House in 1902.

Since I got it, it had just been sitting on my desk.  I ran across it again to-day, and - because apparently I can never have too many projects - I had the notion of translating it.  The fact that it's CPH's 150th anniversary this year was an added bit of motivation.

I took German all through high school, and by now I've been studying and using it for over a decade.  For the last four years, I've been (intentionally slowly) translating a German novel I got from my grandfather's basement, so I have some experience with translation (and with reading Gothic German script, which took some getting used to).

As at the start of many of my projects, I have merely a hazy notion of the goal I want to accomplish with this, especially with regard to what I'll be posting on this blog.  For now, here's the title page:

And my translation:

Church-Songbook

for

Evangelical-Lutheran congregations

of the unaltered

Augsburg Confession

in which are contained the most common church songs of the blessed Dr. Martin Luther and other spiritual teachers.

The word of the Lord remains forever.

St. Louis, Mo.
Concordia Publishing House.
1902.