The Art of Exegesis

An Analysis of the Life and Work of Martin Hans Franzmann

Matthew E. Borrasso

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781532672002
  9781532672019
• eBook ISBN:
  9781532672026
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christianity

Although he loomed large during his lifetime, Martin Hans Franzmann has faded away in the minds of American Lutherans. Memories of him typically orbit around an appreciation for his hymnody. He was, however, more than a hymn writer. To only understand or appreciate his hymns is to only understand or appreciate a part of him. This book seeks to shine a light on a brilliant and gifted poet of the church by unpacking and analyzing his life and work. In so doing, it is hoped that he will loom large once again. Franzmann's hymns have endured for a reason, namely because he was singularly focused on teaching people to hear the voice of God in the text of the Scriptures.

1

Theology Must Sing

Doxological Endings

God the Father, Light-Creator

To Thee laud and honor be;

To Thee, Light of Light begotten,

Praise sung eternally;

Holy Spirit, Light-Revealer,

Glory, glory be to Thee;

Mortals, angels, now and ever

Praise the Holy Trinity.1

A hymn that ends doxologically is an unsurprising and indeed common occurrence in Lutheran hymnody. It is far rarer, however, that a hymn has the greatest doxological ending in all of western hymnody. Bruce Backer, in his introduction to worship for Wisconsin Synod Lutherans, makes such a claim for the hymn verse above.2 At first glance it seems outrageous, especially considering the fact that there are relatively few published works that deal directly with the hymn writer, Martin Hans Franzmann, and his hymnody. One that does is written by Robin Leaver titled, Come to the Feast: The Original and Translated Hymns of Martin H. Franzmann. In it Leaver, who is a European trained academic specializing in music history, claims that Franzmann “was the John the Baptist, the forerunner of twentieth-century American hymnody.”3 This is high praise considering Leaver’s own scholarly work that focuses primarily on the musical contributions and legacies of Bach and Luther. Who is this somewhat unknown forerunner poet? Why do his words endure with such a legacy?

The goal of this chapter is to answer those questions. In doing so, however, it will be argued that the hymnody Franzmann generated was itself a distillation of his life and work, i.e., his hymnody reflects something deeper. To demonstrate this, a thorough examination of his biographical information is necessary. This includes an exploration of what is known factually, e.g., he was a Lutheran who spent his life in three different Lutheran church bodies beginning with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, moving to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, and ending with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England. It also includes, more importantly, the impact he had on those who knew him. Requisite, then, is an exploration of the matrix between personal relationships and work as a scholar, hymn writer, and ecumenist as this forms the basis for the entire work in which this chapter is situated. Martin Franzmann was indeed a hymn writer, but he was not only a hymn writer. His hymns reflect his relationships to people, to institutions, and to language. Failure to understand those relationships is failure to understand not only the hymns, but the hymn writer.

Doxological Beginnings

Martin Franzmann was born on January 29, 1907 to William and Elsie (Griebling) Franzmann in Lake City, Minnesota. One of nine children born to the Wisconsin Synod pastor of the St. John’s Lutheran Church and the daughter of an immigrant Milwaukee businessman, Martin grew up in a home that emphasized learning, music, and the Christian faith.4 Richard Brinkley, among others, notes that “his parents [worried] over Martin’s constant reading. He would read for hours on end, even late into the evening when the light was poor. Mrs. Franzmann was always encouraging her son to go out, get some exercise, and play with other children.”5 It was also from his mother Elsie that Martin developed a love for music.6 By the end of his life, he would write twenty original hymns and provide translations for another nine.7 Daily life in that Minnesota home of his youth was enveloped in music. Devotions made regular use of hymnody and summer evenings on the porch had their fair share of folk singing.8 Like some of his siblings, Martin would learn to play instruments, in his case the cello and piano.9 It is undeniable that what he would become, both as a hymn writer and a scholar, began there on the shores of Lake Pepin.

The voracious reading that worried his parents would prove fruitful in his development. Martin’s teachers at preparatory school remarked on his “facile mind” and “an almost limitless vocabulary.”10 At Northwestern Preparatory School and then Northwestern College, his growth as a poet and maturation as a scholar would also begin in earnest. Franzmann affectionately recalls, “There I received that part of my education which formed me most decisively.”11 The preparatory school and college shared a publication known as The Black and Red of which Martin would eventually become the editor. It contains Franzmann’s earliest published works, a combination of prose and poetry. No less than twenty-two original poems were printed, composed in English and German. “My father was a German immigrant and reared us bilingually.”12 The bilingualism in which h...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Permissions
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1: Theology Must Sing
• Chapter 2: Beggars Before God
• Chapter 3: The Posture of the Interpreter
• Chapter 4: Words of Life
• Chapter 5: Grace Under Pressure
• Chapter 6: Weary of All Trumpeting
• Appendix
• Bibliography