|
The Ausbund is, among other things, the oldest Christian hymnbook still in use today. First printed in 1564, the original collection consisted of consisted of fifty-one lieds (songs) written by Anabaptists imprisoned in Passau, Germany for radical religious views. Not all writers survived imprisonment, and many who did survive were later martyred for those same radical beliefs. After Ausbund's first printing, the Radical Reformation continued to spread through Europe, and so the original hymns, combined with over a hundred additional songs, were printed again for a curious audience. When Anabaptist groups migrated to North America, the Ausbund came with them. 1742 saw the first American printing of the book in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Use of the Ausbund for worship remained common in Swiss Mennonite churches until the creation of two new hymnals at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. From then on, the Ausbund was used almost exclusively by the Amish, who still use it in worship services today. Due to the growing Amish population, there continue to be new printings of the Ausbund each year (Blank, 2001).
|
The cultural impact of the Ausbund among Anabaptist groups is hard to overestimate. Its status as an early Protestant text and its remarkable constancy in content over the centuries mean that it provides a direct connection between the founders of a religious movement and their descendants. The hymnal had an impact even among groups that did not continue to use it; for instance, Mennonite hymnals repurposed the lyrics in later hymnals (Yoder, 1964).
However, one of the most enduring legacies of the book is the theological views it expressed and kept alive. Written in the common German of the people, the songs doubled as educational tools by recounting Bible stories, emphasizing believer's baptism, and expressing new ideas on the nature of communion. These ideas and their clear connection to radical religious reformers meant that the Ausbund was not always a safe book to own in its early years; in fact, the Swiss canton of Bern banned it and prohibited its publication (Blank, 2001). Despite the distruction of many copies of the book, and indeed the execution of many radicals who owned it, it lasted long enough to be safely reprinted in other times and places. |
FAQ
|
What does “Ausbund” mean?
Ausbund – also spelled Auss bundt, aus-bundt, and aussbundt – translates as “paragon” or “select.” The full title roughly translates as “selected excerpts: that is, several beautiful Christian hymns by the Swiss Brethren as they lay in prison in the castle at Passau and by other true-believing Christians.” You can see why referring to the book as the Ausbund is much simpler! (Imbroich, 2014) What are the technical specifications of the Ausbund? They vary from edition to edition, but the editions shown on this website most early use a fraktur font (a subset of the blackletter font type), and were likely printed on flat-bed moveable-type presses. At this stage in history, bindings were not put on at the time of printing, but were attached to printed pages after purchase. Accordingly, the bindings on early Ausbunds vary greatly, and are not an effective way to identify an edition. How can the Ausbund serve as a hymnal without any musical notation? Most of the hymns, or lieds, were set to existing secular tunes that would have been well-known at the time they were written. The name of each tune is listed under the number of the hymn – for instance, one lied is to the tune of a song called “There went a maiden with a jug.” These tunes survived via oral tradition and are still used by the Amish today (though the tempo of the songs is thought to have slowed over time) (Friedmann, 1953). What do the songs sound like? Hear for yourself! Here is a link to a YouTube video of an Amish congreation singing Lied 131, "O Gott Vater, wir loben Dich," commonly known as "Das Loblied." This particular hymn is sung at each Amish church service. |
