THE ESSAYS: The essays in this book, by distinguished musicologists, teachers, and church musicians, reflect the Lutheran musical heritage of the church and contribute new insights into the vibrant and diverse traditions of twenty-first century church music. Thine the Amen is a practical, instructional, and scholarly book. These essays contain something for everyone interested in sacred music—the teacher, the singer, or the listener.

This is a festschrift to Carl Schalk, author, editor, and lecturer, who is one of the modern church’s most influential composers of choral music and hymns. He has lifted for the church the importance and excellence of the Lutheran heritage of music and faith. In 1965 he returned to his alma mater, Concordia College, River Forest, where he taught until he retired in 1994. Carl has been recognized as a Fellow of the Hymn Society of the U.S. and Canada, and has served on the Lutheran Commission on Worship. His 80-plus hymn tunes and carols appear in the hymnals of more than 30 denominations in the U.S.A., Canada, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia.