Retinenda—Latin for Lutherans

An apology for the use of Latin among Lutherans

Get this as a PDF.

There are as many answers to this perpetual question as there have been people asking it. Latin, it seems, will simply not go away. Many are asking why we bother at all to call things by their Latin terms, or print them in our hymnbooks and art. For some, (to borrow the words of the kind employee I met at Borders), “Anything printed in Latin is a waste of the paper it’s printed on.” Why shouldn’t we just let Latin die? It is not my intention here to reiterate all of the most common answers to this perpetual question or to attempt an answer that will suffice once and for all, but rather I wish to provide a specifically Lutheran answer for my Lutheran brothers and sisters who wonder why Latin matters. My response will come in four basic parts: (i) that the study and use of Latin contributes to a more catholic worldview, (ii) that Latin grants us direct access to great (Lutheran) minds, (iii) that Latin per se has a beauty to her that has long been appreciated by Lutherans, and (iv) that Lutherans specifically recognized the value of Latin in the life of the Church and retained her.

Latin, like some other languages, has been around for literally thousands of years. But what sets her apart from most languages which enjoy a long pedigree is the relative constancy of vocabulary, forms, and grammar which she has enjoyed. This in turn has led to a very widespread use of Latin among many different people of different times and places, resulting today in Latin becoming something of a universal language. No one can claim Latin as his own. The universality (or catholicity) of Latin, therefore, creates in those who study and use her a broader, more catholic worldview allowing them to perceive their own culture’s particular strengths and weaknesses. Like traveling abroad, the study of Latin, which carries us across boundaries of both time and space, combats against ethnocentricity which in America, though we take pride for our “tolerance” and multiculturalism, is more temporal in nature wherein we perceive the past (and the Church of the past) and its traditions as generally primitive, backwards, and ignorant.

Reading Latin authors in translation and studying history can also help us in the above aspects—and doing both is very much to be commended—but reading the Latin originals grants us direct access into the great minds of Lutherans and non-Lutherans alike. The advantages of such an ad fontes approach have long been recognized and are exactly why we require basic knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, because the original language get us as close as we can to the author’s mind and his thought process; who of us does not want to think like Augustine, Luther, Chemntiz, Gerhard, et alii? Naturally, this point applies to all languages and would drive us as Lutherans to learn German too.

There is a natural beauty and character to Latin (especially in her poetry) that makes Latin fun and enjoyable in her own way. Admittedly, this is a subjective point, but one that has been nevertheless recognized by many Lutherans and even Luther himself. Many Lutherans are familiar with his last words, “We are beggers; this is true,” but few know that right before this he sang the praises of both Vergil and Cicero! He praises many others too, for example: Varro vnd Cicero sein die besten; and Ovidius ist dennoch der feinste poet, familiaris super omnes. The point here is not that there is something intrinsically Lutheran about Latin, but that Latin has been used and enjoyed by many bright Lutheran theologians. It was indeed one of the many tools in their theological toolboxes, albeit not one of their most important tools like Law/Gospel, the solas, or Liturgy. Nevertheless, if one aspires to understand these men and think like them, he will also pursue the language systems in which they thought, communicated, and prayed.

All of the above points are good as far as they go, but do the Lutheran Confessions really urge us to keep Latin? Didn’t Lutherans object to the use of Latin in the Church? It must be stated most emphatically that the Lutheran reformers did not object to the use of Latin, but rather the abuse of Latin to completely remove the vernacular of the people from the Church. The use of Latin in Lutheran churches was, however, retained (though nowhere is it commanded since it is a matter of freedom). So, for example, in the Apology we read that “also among us the Latin lessons and prayers are retained…we retain the Latin language on account of those who are learning and understand Latin” (Ap. XXIV). Since this is not a command, it does not mean that to be Lutheran our churches must use Latin, but it does show how Latin was valued in the Church’s life and was not rejected. Rev. Benjamin Mayes has traced the history of Latin in Lutheranism well in his forward to Sacrosanctae Ecclesiae Confessionis Augustanae Preces, 2002:

Although Latin was used as a language of theological instruction in Lutheran seminaries and universities well into the 19th century, it has been over 250 years since Lutheran service books were printed in Latin. Michael Endter’s Officium Sacrum (Nürnberg, 1664) testifies to the practice of Matins and Vespers sung in Latin in the Lutheran city of Nürnberg in the latter half of the 17th century. Around 1700, the church in Dresden still sang the Benedicamus of Vespers in Latin. Far into the 18th century, Lutheran hymnals contained Latin Medieval hymns, such as Christus natus in Bethlehem, or In dulci jubilo. Latin was retained for the longest time especially in Matins and Vespers (P. Graff, Geschichte der Auflösung. [reprint: Waltrop, Germany: Hartmut Spenner, 1994] p. 167).

Even today some Latin is still frequently in use; terms like solus Christus, sola fide, sola Scriptura, Gloria in excelsis Deo, Credo, Gloria Patri, Agnus Dei, Benedicamus, and others can still be found in our churches’ vocabulary. Our synod’s most recent hymnbook, LSB, has done well to fill whitespace with graphics that teach what these phrases mean.

Ultimately, Latin does not make us Lutheran; the true confession of Christ and the Gospel does. Nor does Latin truly unite us with believers in other places and the Church triumphant; the Holy Spirit does, in Word and Sacrament: Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorum communionem. Nevertheless, the Lord has done marvelous things through this language, as I hope I have shown, and for all these benefits we must say Deo gratias! And for those who would like more, who would like to partake in this wonderful gift, I hope that some encouragement has been offered here, and I invite you to visit http://retinenda.com to begin (or continue) your journey in Latin Lutheranism.

Joshua Hayes
Pentecost 2008