Capital will be having a Reformation 500 Celebration from 1 to 5 p.m. Oct. 28 at Kerns Religious Life Center and Renner Lawn in honor of Martin Luther and his 95 theses, posted on a church door in Wittenberg, Germany 500 years ago. Martin Luther was a university professor and a catalyst in the movement bringing change to church and society, known as the Reformation, and the celebration aims to commemorate this.
With Renaissance and Oktoberfest themes, the event hosted by Student and Community Engagement and Capital will be an exploration of life, learning, culture and more. The event is free and open to the public, with food available for purchase.
Later that evening, at 8:30 p.m., the Conservatory of Music will present the Reformation 500 Celebration Concert featuring choral and instrumental excellence. The concert will include the Chapel Choir, choir alumni, Choral Union, Women’s Chorus and Philomel, and Symphonic Winds and Organist Chad Baker on the Paul W. and Ella D. Hugus Memorial Pipe Organ.
The Conservatory will commemorate the occasion with a combined choral performance directed by Lynda Hasseler. The piece will work its way through Luther’s original Renaissance setting, along with Bach’s famous harmonization and various other modern aspects with inspiration from Luther’s original melodies.
Chapel Choir will also be performing “Ancient Words”; the Chapel Choir alumni will perform an a cappella arrangement of “A Mighty Fortress,” which was arranged for and dedicated to the Chapel Choir in 1937.
Capital University Symphonic Winds will then perform “All Creatures of Our God and King,” followed by Max Reger’s “Ein Fest Burg is unser Gott Op. 27” performed by Baker.
To conclude the event, the audience and the choirs will join together in performing “The Old One Hundredth Psalm Tune.”
The event on Oct. 28 is only the conclusion to a broader celebration, however. At the end of September, Trinity Lutheran Seminary held a series of workshops such as “What I Learned While Translating Medieval Latin Commentaries in Coffee Shops” with Joy A. Schroeder and “Could Luther have Spearheaded the Reformation without Paul?” with Walter F. Taylor Jr.
Throughout October, Blackmore and Hamma libraries displayed antiquity Bibles, artifacts, and others, including a printing of Luther’s Bible from 1641 and a copy of the original from 1534.
Other events included in the celebration were “Women of the Reformation,” a lecture by Joy Schroeder and “Martin Luther: Sinner and Saint” by Trinity’s academic dean, Brad Binau, at the Bexley Public Library.
