Archive

Editorials

Poet - preacher - scholar

Klaus-Peter Hertzsch Is First Luther Medal Laureate

October 31, 2008

"The fabled beauty of Nineveh
echoed far and wide the poets say!
Flung round with walls sturdy and strong.
Its watchmen with trumpet made clamorous song.
Of smooth blue brick one gate was made,
its doors in gold of the purest grade.
Before it stood two soldiers, bearded and yawning
for the night had been long and day was dawning."

With these words Klaus-Peter Hertzsch begins to tell the biblical story of the prophet Jonah. At the end of the 1960s, a small tome containing several narrative poems entitled "So schön war es in Nineve" [How beautiful it was in Nineveh] was published in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was followed in the early 1980's by "Der ganze Fisch war voll Gesang" [The fish was filled with song], which was also published in the West. This second publication was again based on the story of Jonah:

It was God's will that Jonah should become a prophet and warn Nineveh of its impending destruction.  The mission was so enormous and difficult that Jonah tried to flea across the sea.  A great storm arose and the crew of the ship on which he was a passenger quickly realized that punishment of the fugitive was the cause of the storm.  They threw Jonah overboard and he was swallowed by a fish:

"It gulped the prophet into its gigantic belly,
who slithered down like a ball of jelly.
So there he landed, all gooey but glad:
he already was wet so why be mad?
Whilst in that belly's deepest night,
he struck up a song to lighten his plight.
He sang it loudly and with joy.
Great praise of God he did deploy
The belly of the fish like a vault resounded,
his song in echo endlessly rebounded.
His voice sang out, the echo replied,
the fish was filled with song inside."

Not much imagination on the part of the listener-either then or now-is required to seize the vivid yet simple images of Klaus-Peter Hertzsch, a theologian from Jena. The old story of the fugitive prophet who was miraculously fetched back by God to fulfill his mission comes to life again.

The author of these-and other-biblical poems received on Reformation Day 2008 the Martin Luther Medal.  This award is the EKD's way of honoring persons for their outstanding dedication to Protestantism.  With his sermons, presentations, lectures, ballads, poems and songs and, last but not least, his very person, this Thuringian theologian, who was born in 1930, has unlocked the beauty, truth and simplicity of the gospel to Christians in both East and West Germany, says the jury's statement in reference to Klaus-Peter Hertzsch.

But it was not only because of his poems of that time that the decision to give the award to this professor of practical theology of many years was made. Many Christians know Klaus-Peter Hertzsch through his sermons. They are the practical expression of the preaching theory courses he gave at the University of Jena to generations of theologians. The citation at the time of the conferring of the EKD's Martin Luther Medal accordingly states, "Klaus-Peter Hertzsch is a man of the word, of the living and life-giving Word of God. He is one of the enduringly exemplary representatives of Protestant preaching and proclamation culture of our era."

In 1989, the year the Berlin Wall came down, on the occasion of the marriage of his goddaughter he wrote a short song, certain that it would be forgotten after the festive event: "Vertraut den neuen Wegen" [Trust the new ways]." Yet the song, which was meant to give courage to the newlyweds embarking on a new life, also mirrored the general mood about life at the time.  In his biographical memoires, Klaus-Peter Hertzsch further writes that the text arrived at the EKD Hymn Book Commission at the time it was putting the final touches to the Protestant hymnal just before going to press. The editorial board's immediate decision was to include "Vertraut den neuen Wegen" in the hymnal.

The story of Jonah concludes as it does in the biblical text; warned by the prophet, the people of the splendid city changed their ways:
 
"That very morning the desire was gone,
fancy apparel to put on.
Now only sackcloth would they wear
and coarse-woven shirts made of hair."

God spared Nineveh and Jonah was angry. So God let the castor bean plant, in the shadow of which Jonah awaited the destruction of Nineveh, die.  Thereupon, Jonah wept and:
 
"Then God to him a good word said:
At present you weep, for your tree is dead,
the tree you did not bring to live
nor plant or even help to thrive.
Should I not be aggrieved to see
the hard plight of humanity?
to see my people into immorality recede
because my Word they did not heed?
Should I not this city spare,
with so many people living there?
Father and mother, daughter and son,
sinners ignorant of the evils they've done,
so many merry-making friends -
not to mention the animals in pens!
But yet, to please you in the end,
another castor plant I'll send.
Surely your delight when you behold
the new one will be as great as with the old.
With such great compassion the Lord looks down
upon God's people in Nineveh town."