Comments on: Paintings Depicting Historic Lutheran Divine Services

By: C.R. Freeze

C.R. Freeze — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:46:13 +0000

Pastor Hinkle- The sleeveless surplice is called a “Saxon alb”. The “Dictionary of Liturgical Terms” by Philip H. Pfatteicher defines it as ” A white linen vestment in appearance like a SURPLICE without sleeves, worn over the black robe or TALAR at celebrations of the Holy Communion. It is a German Lutheran version of the sleeveless ROCHET”.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 06:36:05 +0000

What’s that baby wearing? He appears to be all swaddled up and secured with red masking tape. I like the matching hat. ) But I recall a painting of Melanchthon baptizing an infant who was completely unclothed. What was the norm in the 16th century?

By: Rev. Dr. Chris N. Hinkle

Rev. Dr. Chris N. Hinkle — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:10:22 +0000

I did a little checking and found this English abstract of a Danish resource on vestments. http://anglicanhistory.org/lutherania/severinsen.html The sleeveless surplice does not appear to have any special significance. It was merely an alternate form.

McCain response: Chris, this is an amazingly good essay. Good find!

By: Matthew Carver

Matthew Carver — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:07:51 +0000

Translation (based on the Danish gloss of the Latin): “This painting was produced in the year of Our Lord 1561 at the advisement of Dr. John Jacob, [who is] priest of this church.”

By: ptmccain

ptmccain — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:21:55 +0000

Good catch guys!

By: ptmccain

ptmccain — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:20:04 +0000

@Pr. Jeremiah Gumm Jeremiah, thanks, I'm swapping this out for the image in the blog post. Interesting, no? Apparently somebody got a tad carried away with his/her zeal for Luther in the pulpit!

By: ptmccain

ptmccain — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:19:08 +0000

@Johann Caauwe
Hmmm….something does look a tad fishy. The altar photo from the church itself does not seem to be Luther in the pulpit, and you are right the “close up” does look like somebody photo-shopped Luther’s head on to the pastor’s body. Odd that. I love a good mystery. WAIT: HOLD THE PHONE. The book I have has a good image of that painting. It is definitely not Luther’s head! Wonder who did that and why?

By: Johann Caauwe

Johann Caauwe — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:17:48 +0000

@ptmccain I thought it looked like the preacher in this image: I also thought it looked like Luther's head was from a different source—it seems less grainy than the rest of the image. Perhaps I'm seeing things. But thank you for posting the image. I was just wondering the other day where this one came from and hoped to find a higher-quality version..

By: Pr. Jeremiah Gumm

Pr. Jeremiah Gumm — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:50:42 +0000

That’s interesting what Pastor Caauwe mentioned, because here is a close-up of a similar shot (http://www.teol.uu.se/_pictures/avtalsbilder/kyrko3.jpg) and if you look closely at the top picture with the altar the preacher has darker hair like in the link I’ve provided. I’m not going to argue with what the church has on its own website, but that is an interesting difference.

By: ptmccain

ptmccain — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:29:31 +0000

@Rev. Johann W Caauwe I zoomed in as far as possible on the painting and don't see any other person than Luther in the pulpit. Not sure what you are seeing ,but it is definitely Luther. The image was taken directly from the church's own web site in Denmark.