So much for my hope that this book would find missing OCP songs post AOV 1996-2006.
However, this version in OCP’s “Guitar Accompaniment Book” raises some interesting questions. They give the first two verses on the original text by Martin Luther as translated by Frederick H. Hedge and two verses of an alternative text by Arvella Schuller, I suspect the wife of Robert Schuller of Crystal Cathedral fame. They leave out the last two verses of the original which contain lines that can pretty clearly be thought of as attacks on the Catholic Church and the Pope of his day.
If you are going to include this classic Lutheran hymn, why not include all the verses. Or… if you aren’t going to include the verses because they might cause scandal in a Catholic church, why include the hymn.
The full text and sheet music for the tune, EIN FESTE BURG, are at Hymnary. If for some reason you want OCP’s version, it is available there and you can preview Schuller’s alternative text in the sample there.
More BIAB fake organ:
I have always liked the tune with all its quirky stopping and starting, so this got me intrigued.
It seems like the hymnal companies don’t know what to do with this song. Looking at an old GIA Worship 3rd edition, the hymn is in there twice (once with the familiar tune and once with the original version of the tune), but it’s called “God Is Our Fortress and Our Rock” (translated by Michael Perry). Interestingly, the Index of First Lines and Common Titles includes “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” and points to the pages for “God Is Our Fortress and Our Rock.”
It seems to me that some of the underlying themes that could signal anti-Catholic sentiments are still there, but toned down a bit. Maybe GIA liked the slightly more modern language in this version. Maybe they thought the traditional title alone would turn people off to the song. Maybe they just liked this version better back then. Who knows? But…
Based on both the Worship 4th edition and Gather 3rd edition indexes available online, it appears that GIA has tossed God Is Our Fortress and Our Rock completely and replaced it with the traditional text.
As a side note, Amy Grant has a nice instrumental version of this tune at the beginning of her recording of Angels We Have Heard on High. I look forward to playing it each year at around Christmas.