When the Church was reformed starting in 1517, so was its music. For nearly 800 years, the prevailing style had been Latin Gregorian chant. Most Germans knew no Latin, and so the long church services were, to them, often detached and inscrutable. “他们会安静地坐着，基本上是在观察牧师主持礼拜仪式,” says Jeff Held, 康考迪亚大学欧文分校文理学院副院长兼管弦乐活动总监. “There wasn’t a lot for the congregation to do. 16世纪的德国人正在努力理解和内化真正的福音信息.”
When the Reformation erupted, 宗教音乐开始与人们产生联系，也许比早期教会以来的任何时候都要深刻.
马丁·路德认为音乐是一种强大的手段，可以让人们在心中听到并保持上帝的话语
, so after he revised the Latin service, removing non- biblical elements, he turned his sights on a German service,” says Held. “But the German words did not fit well with music composed for Latin chant, nor was the music conducive to congregational song. 因此，路德和他的同事们将这篇祈祷文翻译成德语，并编写了更容易唱和学习的新旋律.”
At that time in history, music played an important mnemonic role because books were so scarce, and most people were not literate. For example, 吟游诗人从一个城镇到另一个城镇，唱着其他城镇发生的新闻. 路德模仿这些民间音乐家所唱的旋律创作了一些教会圣歌.
The Reformation “expressed itself in song,” says Steve Mueller, dean of Christ College, “but it wasn’t revolutionary. Luther simply used the gift of music to communicate. 在旧约时代和早期的基督教时代，人们都是这么做的. It’s a way to help people memorize and express their faith.”
Herb Geisler, 他在康考迪亚大学尔湾分校和基督学院尔湾分校担任了29年的教授和音乐教育主任，即将退休, 同意“革命性的方面是音乐成为了这样一个中心. There were German hymns before Luther. There were folk songs.但路德和他的追随者们重新理解了音乐是如何有力地表达信仰和神学的.
Luther “infused theology into melodies that people would remember,” says Held. “这些旋律是如此精心制作，它们可以作为更复杂的合唱设置的基础，或者在没有任何伴奏的情况下独立存在。.”
But there is no evidence that Luther ever used a melody from a drinking song, as the popular myth goes, says Mueller. What Luther sometimes did was to take older melodies or texts and update them.
马丁·路德认为音乐是人们聆听和遵守上帝话语的有力手段.
“For example, 有一首关于圣餐的流行歌曲，他把它改编得更合适、更充实,” says Mueller. “It’s his hymn ‘O Lord We Praise You.’”
Luther wrote 38 hymns, including hymn paraphrases of various parts of the liturgy, and hymns teaching each part of the cate-chism. His most famous is “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” a paraphrase of Psalm 46.
在接下来的几十年里，音乐的使用和影响不断增加和加深. 在宗教改革后的学校里，男孩们“每天都唱基于基督教教义的赞美诗，”赫尔德说. Those who followed Luther continued to write new hymn texts and tunes.
Geisler说，当赞美诗书出现时，许多人把它们带回家并背下来. 这对他们的神学知识和圣经有很大的影响，因为“赞美诗通常有12或13节长, they were so developed.”
但其他新教教会对音乐的热情接纳较慢. In Luther’s day, the Calvinists and Zwinglians, forebears of other Protestant churches, thought music should be simple, like sing- ing biblical Psalms put to a basic rhythm, or not used in worship at all.
路德宗在宗教改革时期是与众不同的，因为路德和他的朋友们对音乐在教堂崇拜中的重要作用有着充满活力的态度
says Geisler. 加尔文相信要找到好的赞美诗作者，给诗篇一个清晰可唱的韵律形式. 但是，他认为教堂里的音乐应该是会众歌唱和四部分背景的限制.”
Despite these misgivings, 路德的概念，更充满活力的音乐表达最终被许多新教教会采用. In the 1700s, 路德教会音乐在约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫的作品中达到了顶峰, who happened to attend the same school as Luther had in Eisenach, Germany. 巴赫写了20分钟的康塔塔基于一天的阅读三年的星期日.
这遵循了路德开始的传统，他有意地把音乐和上帝的话语联系在一起,” Held says. 在巴赫的音乐中，有深深的虔诚和情感，但总是对律法和福音有意义的描述. These are some of the greatest musical masterpieces any human has ever created, and Bach did it in the name of Jesus.”
This emphasis on connecting words with music continues today, Held says. When playing trumpet in a church service, for example, 他研究了赞美诗的歌词，并将他的乐器和他的旋律风格与文本相匹配.
“That’s a very Lutheran way of doing music,” he says.
“Lutheran musicians want to work closely with the pastors, know what the readings are, and pick supporting music.
It’s not just about doing a piece of sacred music we like. A unified proclamation of the Gospel is what is important in worship, 这就是为什么路德在敬拜中给予音乐如此高的地位，仅次于神的话. He understood its edifying powers.”
每个时代都有合唱和器乐会众音乐生活的某种增长. 盖斯勒指出，现代作曲家基思·盖蒂(Keith Getty)就是一个继续将音乐与神学联系在一起的例子.
“Getty’s melodies are beautiful and interest- ing, and the lyrics are theologically intense,” Geisler says. He expresses the Gospel in beautiful, concise terms. “They are stanzas that develop thought. 你从这些赞美诗中学习神学，就像你从历代路德教会的歌曲中学习神学一样.”
Another modern example is Carl Schalk, a leading scholar in hymnody and one of Geisler’s professors, who trained his students in a wide variety of styles, including plain chant, modern folk style, chorale, five-part renaissance and more.
“沙尔克是一位真正的路德教会音乐领袖，因为他教会了我们一切，”盖斯勒说. Concordia University Irvine awarded Schalk an honorary doctorate in May 2017. 康考迪亚大学还授予其他赞美诗作家荣誉博士学位，包括牧师. Dr. Jaroslav Vajda and The Rev. Dr. Steven Starke.
Even closer to home, 穆勒和其他康考迪亚大学欧文分校的教师经常为特殊场合写赞美诗, or for use in Christian worship. Mueller’s new hymn, “Christ Alone, the World’s Redeemer,是为了庆祝宗教改革五十周年而写的. 校友凯瑟琳Dubke ' 15和教授卡罗尔麦克丹尼尔也写了一些赞美诗.
“知道你帮助了人们，给了他们敬拜上帝的话语，这是一种满足感,” says Mueller.
Now, as then, music connects people with God’s Word.