A three-part doctrinal series from Der Lutheraner 72 (1916), Nos. 2–4 (January 18, February 1, and February 15), machine-translated from German into the English translation register of W.H.T. Dau.
Thank you once again for bringing Der Lutheraner to light once again. Many readers will be shocked at the orthodoxy and catholicity of our LCMS forefathers, not to mention their very direct and honest polemics. I spent two long years post-MDiv poring over the pages of Der Lutheraner and was utterly fascinated and amazed by the depth and breadth of the articles written for a lay readership.
I would be curious to see how well the machine translation captures the quaint and often flowery style of 19th/early 20th century German. I have translated several articles from Der Lutheraner, without the assistance of AI technology, and found it to be challenging. I even read whole sections to my German mother who couldn't figure out what they were trying to say in a German that was very archaic to her ears.
Thanks, Pastor. Yes, it is very soothing to read how clear the doctrine is and how disciplined the argumentation is. The Textura / Schwabacher / Fraktur typefaces are a nightmare for human and machine readers due to the very high, abrupt stroke contrast and the dense packing of lowercase letters. However, the latest LLMs are incredibly good at dealing with the stray artifacts with speed and precision. We have a pending project that is being human reviewed by German native speakers, and they have reported excellent fidelity to the original meaning. Without giving the LLM a translation style to work with, the result is very wooden and reads like a German-speaking English, with the governing verb parked at the end of everything (which Mark Twain mocked in “The Awful German Language”). W.H.T. Dau had very admirable English and was truly bilingual. Hence, we have trained our model on his work to produce a consistent result that hopefully resembles and honors his work.
This would be a MAJOR contribution toward a better understanding of historic LCMS theology and practice. The LCMS most of us know today is the LCMS of the post-war 1950's and not the LCMS of the Walther/Pieper era. This technology will speed translation work enormously. I will look forward to more articles from Der Lutheraner. The articles on worship practices and hymnody in light of confessional integrity are most relevant to today's conversation.
We agree, and we may as well let the cat out of the bag. Every available edition of Der Lutheraner is being compiled into an online resource that will parallel the German and English.
I could see this article as a great discussion piece with my pre-mil friends. Lutherans should have the What, Where, and Why rationale for the Amillennial perspective, along with Communion and Baptism.
I would also refer the curious reader to the five-part series "Notes on Chiliasm," published in 1935 by Theodor Engelder in the Concordia Theological Monthly. You can find the links to those five PDFs here: https://wolfmueller.co/notes-on-chiliasm-dispensationalism/
Thank you once again for bringing Der Lutheraner to light once again. Many readers will be shocked at the orthodoxy and catholicity of our LCMS forefathers, not to mention their very direct and honest polemics. I spent two long years post-MDiv poring over the pages of Der Lutheraner and was utterly fascinated and amazed by the depth and breadth of the articles written for a lay readership.
I would be curious to see how well the machine translation captures the quaint and often flowery style of 19th/early 20th century German. I have translated several articles from Der Lutheraner, without the assistance of AI technology, and found it to be challenging. I even read whole sections to my German mother who couldn't figure out what they were trying to say in a German that was very archaic to her ears.
Thanks, Pastor. Yes, it is very soothing to read how clear the doctrine is and how disciplined the argumentation is. The Textura / Schwabacher / Fraktur typefaces are a nightmare for human and machine readers due to the very high, abrupt stroke contrast and the dense packing of lowercase letters. However, the latest LLMs are incredibly good at dealing with the stray artifacts with speed and precision. We have a pending project that is being human reviewed by German native speakers, and they have reported excellent fidelity to the original meaning. Without giving the LLM a translation style to work with, the result is very wooden and reads like a German-speaking English, with the governing verb parked at the end of everything (which Mark Twain mocked in “The Awful German Language”). W.H.T. Dau had very admirable English and was truly bilingual. Hence, we have trained our model on his work to produce a consistent result that hopefully resembles and honors his work.
This would be a MAJOR contribution toward a better understanding of historic LCMS theology and practice. The LCMS most of us know today is the LCMS of the post-war 1950's and not the LCMS of the Walther/Pieper era. This technology will speed translation work enormously. I will look forward to more articles from Der Lutheraner. The articles on worship practices and hymnody in light of confessional integrity are most relevant to today's conversation.
We agree, and we may as well let the cat out of the bag. Every available edition of Der Lutheraner is being compiled into an online resource that will parallel the German and English.
Huge news. Thank you!
I could see this article as a great discussion piece with my pre-mil friends. Lutherans should have the What, Where, and Why rationale for the Amillennial perspective, along with Communion and Baptism.
Fantastic and very helpful.
I would also refer the curious reader to the five-part series "Notes on Chiliasm," published in 1935 by Theodor Engelder in the Concordia Theological Monthly. You can find the links to those five PDFs here: https://wolfmueller.co/notes-on-chiliasm-dispensationalism/
Thanks, Pastor.