I’m in the middle of reading a very interesting book whose review must wait till Monday. So, this being Friday, I have ferreted out another Scandinavian hymn for you.

“God’s Word Is Our Great Heritage,” I think, is not familiar to non-Lutherans, though the tune will be. (I find, to my chagrin, that most of the YouTube renditions feature the wrong tune – by which I mean a tune I didn’t grow up with. Almost the only version with the right tune is the one I’ve posted above, featuring a solo singer who does a pretty good job.)

The author of the hymn, once again, is the problematic N.F.S. Grundtvig of Denmark. It’s rather odd that we have a hymn in praise of Scripture from his pen, as one of his eccentric doctrines, at least at one point in his career, was that the Apostle’s Creed was older than the Gospels. Nevertheless, there it is, and I think it’s to his credit. The translator, Ole C. Belsheim, a Norwegian immigrant, attended, among other schools, Luther College, Decorah, Ia. and Augsburg Seminary, Minneapolis (both of which I attended too, except that Augsburg was just a college by the time I got there. It calls itself a university now, probably on the strength of its association with me).

The hymn is also peculiar in having just one verse, as far as I can tell. C. S. Lewis, who hated long hymns, would have loved this one, if he ever heard of it, which I doubt.

Happy weekend.