Passion-Book

Hardcover, 346 pp., 9″ x 6″, 2025

ISBN 978-1-934328-30-9

Passion-Book by Friedrich Lochner is the latest offering in translator Matthew Carver's impressive catalog of historic Lutheran titles available for the first time in English. Lochner's deep knowledge of the Church's liturgical treasures and hymnology manifests itself in this collection of Passion devotions, which he first developed for his own private use to meditate upon the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lochner uses a Gospel harmony for the Passion account, supplementing with hymn stanzas and prayers from his own collection of hymnals and prayer books. While he does not prescribe a particular daily schedule for these 66 devotions, making use of them himself morning and evening throughout Lent, Lochner does offer suggested readings for each day of Holy Week.

The hymnody in this volume, appearing mostly in the form of centos or select stanzas suitably brief for devotional use, is mostly taken from the public domain, especially from Lutheran hymnals. Where this was not possible, translations were sought elsewhere. In several cases, a new translation was provided by Matthew Carver. Musical settings appended by Lochner for less common tunes (in his context) are also included here, engraved by Lutheran musician David Schotte.

Friedrich Lochner was sent by the German pastor Wilhelm Loehe to the United States in 1845, where he served at various churches (including Trinity Lutheran in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), founded the Teacher's Seminary in that city, and taught at Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Illinois. His German devotional on which the present translation is based was first published in a stand-alone edition in 1877, with its counterpart Easter-Book following in 1879.

Matthew Carver is a freelance translator specializing in German and Latin. He holds a BA from California State University, Long Beach with a double major in German Studies and Classical Civilization as well as MFA in Painting and Drawing from San Francisco Art Institute. Matthew lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife Amanda, a graphic designer, and their two sons, Edward and Alfred.