The Lutheran Breviary: A Call for Volunteers

As we continue along the editing and translation processes for The Lutheran Missal, we are also keeping an eye on the future publication of The Lutheran Breviary, which has been under discussion for some time, and is now ready for your help.

As with the process of putting together The Lutheran Missal, the breviary project will need to proceed through a number of stages before its completion. If you would like a refresher on the lengthy process for The Lutheran Missal, you can take a look at this video for more details, but the general process is as follows:

1. Gathering Sources – The first step is drawing together a representative pool of sources to serve as the basis of our work, and a larger pool is preferred in order gain a proper perspective on local vs. universal practice. The Lutheran Missal, for example, has used over one hundred medieval and early Lutheran missals, cantionales, graduals, martyrologies, etc. as its basis, as well as a number of more modern sources for help in translation.
2. Data Entry – Once the sources have been gathered, the incipits (beginning words from every text) from all of these various sources must be entered into the database, text by text. The video linked above is useful in describing the details of this process.
3. Data Standardization – After the data has been entered, varying spellings and word orders are assigned to a standardized text, so that all sources can be compared with one another. This step should be somewhat simpler, at least in relation to the orations, now that the data for The Lutheran Missal is already tagged and sorted.
4. Editing – With the data from each source entered and readied for comparison, universal commonalities can be distinguished from local peculiarities, and the form of the breviary begins to take shape as particular texts are assigned to particular occasions. The video linked above is once again helpful in describing this process.
5. Translation – The texts, having now been assigned, must be rendered into English. This is generally quite simple for texts directly excerpted from Holy Scripture, but can be more complicated for liturgical texts. As in step 3, this process should be somewhat simplified by various liturgical texts already translated for The Lutheran Missal.
6. Publication – Once the English text of the breviary has been finalized, it must be proofread and laid out, decisions must be made about typeface, size, paper, binding, and so on.

Today we are asking for volunteers interested in assisting with the second stage, data entry. All volunteers must have a Windows operating system and Microsoft Access in order to work with the database. Familiarity with Latin is extremely helpful, but not necessarily required. Training and assistance in using the database and in deciphering the peculiarities of medieval Latin orthography will be provided.

I’m sure many of you have some version of this question bouncing around in your minds: why are you beginning work on a breviary when the missal has yet to be completed? The answer is twofold. First, by having additional volunteers work on data entry, the editors can continue the editorial process largely without interruption. Second, when we began the missal project, we spent a full two years on data entry alone. As a result, if we were to postpone data entry on the breviary until the missal project reaches its completion, we would begin two or three years behind where we could have been.

If you haven’t had a chance to read the Gottesdienst post on Matins for Septuagesima, I would encourage you to take a look to get a sense of what the results of our work will look like. This is an immensely exciting undertaking, and we would be so glad to have you join us in this next project. If you are interested, please take a few moments to fill out this form.