Reformation Rap, Luther, the Wittenberg boss, friend of Pope Francis

"Theology students successful with Luther-Rap According to the motto "Luther did not put a sheet in front of his mouth", theology students from Tübingen have rapped a song about the Reformer - with success. But not everyone likes the risqué language. "If the 95 theses had not been then, who would read Bible?" - 

One week before the conclusion of the Reformation Anniversary, Protestant theology students from Tübingen published a rap song about Martin Luther. The video, "The Boss from Wittenberg " was viewed 3,000 times on YouTube on the first day. On Wednesday, the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) also shared the video on their social media channels. "The language in the song sometimes sounds risqué," says 26-year-old Christopher Hopp, "but Luther did not put a sheet in front of his mouth." Together with Leon Hanser and Jonathan Bühler, he rapped to the music of the US rapper Macklemore sentences like "(I,) the Wittenberg boss, let Papal Bulls burn. Thrust out Scripture, make your nobodies cry”. But there are also theological statements and anecdotes from the life of Luther. 

Luther, the Reformer had never been embarrassed by clear words, but had not only sought out confrontation but also the strengths and similarities among the others, Hopp reports. After the first stanza tells of the break which Luther experienced, the second stanza gave an outlook on the connecting elements and the similarities in the Catholic and Protestant Church. In the present, it was then sung that Luther and Pope Francis understood each other well and both pointed to Jesus Christ. One year from the idea to implementation Chris Hopp and Leon Hanser, who is currently spending his theological study year in Jerusalem, have already rapped a song that brought over 5,000 clicks in 2015. At that time it was about life Albrecht-Bengel-House , the student-supporting dormitory of the theological studies in Tübingen with which they were acquainted. Most of the nearly 40 contributors to the current video of "The Boss from Wittenberg" are connected to the Bengel House or the Protestant Foundation of the Regional Church, according to Hopp .

Completely finished, I enter 1505 into the monastic life and duck me away and drop prayers daily. How can I be just before God, who is perfect? (...) But God who freed, does let not loose, I understand - Romans One Seventeen, black on white, God gives you faith, God gives you grace.

Raputation in "The Boss From Wittenberg" 

 Both Protestant institutions were behind the private project of their students, "but there was also some criticism of some linguistic formulations," says Hopp. In principle, however, the fact was welcomed that students took the trouble to take up the life and theology of Luther in a creative, modern form. And it was a great effort: the idea of ​​a rap song and the first lines they had already had in mind at the beginning of the Reformation jubilee, said Hopp, who studies theology and English at the teaching institution. Until they had finished the text, recorded the song, received the permission to use the nearby Bebenhausen monastery, and had shot the video recordings, almost a year had passed. 

Gospel Praise instead of rapper scene 

Although it seems as if the young students are not from the rapper scene. Hanser may prefer rock music and he himself is located in the modern Gospel and Praise prevailing in Protestant community work, reports Hopp. As a child and adolescent, he found rap music just funny, but he and Hanser had learned to appreciate the dynamism of the singing. And he adds - probably with a view to the biography of Luther -: "You can get through a lot of lyrics in rap songs." 

 The media people of the Protestant Church of Germany also seem to have thought this way when they shared the five minute video on Twitter and Facebook. Her commentary: "The music video for the # Reformation jubilee is almost half a sermon in length. Who has looked through it to the end: How do you find it?"

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