Kunze Catechism

Ken McGuire

While taking a break from the Dietrich Catechism, I found an early American Lutheran Hymnal from 1795 at http://archive.org/details/hymnprayerbo00kunz. George Washington was the President back then...  The compiler of the hymnal was Dr. John C. Kunze, who was besides a Lutheran pastor for the Ministerium of New York, was also a college professor and an official translator for the US Congress.

In the back of the hymnal was a translation of Luther's Small Catechism, as well as some other catechetical materials. I have included the 103 fundamental questions as well as his Order of Salvation, in systematical connection.

Or should I say, "in ſyſtematical connection."   When this was written, standard written English generally used the "long s" except at the end of words.  I have been wondering how to handle this issue for a while from looking at potential PB's.  On the one hand, my desire is to keep as close as possible to the original book.  On the other hand, these long s's make it harder for us to read it.  I am not aware of ANY other Logos book which retains them.

For this I have retained it.  Call it a wacky, quaint affectation if you will...  I am willing to consider input on this, however, so feel free to respond.

Page numbers are from the hymnal linked above.  I MAY revisit this one and include some more of the back-matter, but this small sample provides a window into the teaching of these German-American Lutherans.

SDG

Ken McGuire