The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark, by
Jens Christian Aaberg

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Title: Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark

Author: Jens Christian Aaberg

Release Date: August 11, 2009 [EBook #29666]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HYMNS AND HYMNWRITERS OF DENMARK ***

Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and Ken Jentsch

Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark

By
J. C. AABERG

Published by
The Committee on Publication
of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Des Moines, Ia.
1945

Copyright 1945
The Danish Ev. Luth. Church In America

Printed in Lutheran Publishing House
Blair, Nebr.

Foreword

This book deals with a subject which is new to most English readers. For
though Danish hymnody long ago became favorably known in Northern Europe,
no adequate presentation of the subject has appeared in English. Newer
American Lutheran hymnals contain a number of Danish hymns, some of which
have gained considerable popularity, but the subject as a whole has not
been presented.

A hymn is a child both of its author and of the time in which he lived. A
proper knowledge of the writer and the age that gave it birth will
enhance our understanding both of the hymn and of the spiritual movement
it represents. No other branches of literature furnish a more
illuminating index to the inner life of Christendom than the great lyrics
of the Church. Henry Ward Beecher said truly: "He who knows the way that
hymns flowed, knows where the blood of true piety ran, and can trace its
veins and arteries to its very heart."

Aside from whatever value they may have in themselves, the hymns
presented on the following pages therefore should convey an impression of
the main currents within the Danish church, and the men that helped to
create them.

The na