Contributors to Te Laudamus

Te Laudamus’ path from concept to creation has encompassed roughly a decade, benefiting from the significant contributions of those listed here.

Chief editor ❦ Rev. Joel John Hensel (Dec. 27, 1930–Jan. 15, 2018) grew up in Manitowoc, WI where he graduated from high school, and was married in 1957 to Ruth Esther Brusco. He graduated from Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St. Louis, MO. In 1959, Pastor Hensel came to Marion Springs, MI where he served as minister at St. John's Lutheran church for 50 years. In addition, he also taught grades four through eight in the parochial two-room school, and wore many hats serving as teacher, custodian, historian, grounds-keeper, choir master, organist and minister.    

After retirement he focused on his musical interests. He spent countless hours at the keyboard of his Steinway piano pondering and improvising J. S. Bach's chorales, works of Beethoven, and many other composers. In 2006 he and Eleanor Christman Cox released a CD of his improvisations on hymns that follow the church year, woven together with J. S. Bach's six Cello Suites. It frustrated Joel to no end that one had to search tirelessly to make it possible for the the hymns of Martin Luther, Martin Franzmann and other Reformers to be made available in congregational and choral singing. Therefore, he took on his final opus in collaboration with his life-long friend, Dr. Daniel Reuning, in compiling Te Laudamus. Joel injected wit and humor wherever he went, always offering a tease or a play on words. With a vast vocabulary, he loved words and he relished the ceremony of writing them. His affinity for fine writing instruments, his elegant handwriting, and his love of Bach's chorales were his signature to the end.

Editor and chairman ❦ Lifetime friends, the Rev. Dr. Daniel G. Reuning and the Rev. Joel J. Hensel, chief editor of Te Laudamus, first met while both were attending Concordia Collegiate Institute (Reuning from 1950 to 1955 and Hensel from 1951 to 1954). Their paths crossed again as students at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis (Reuning graduating in 1960 and Hensel in 1959). Their common interest was their passionate appreciation for the Reformation Chorales, especially the hymns of Martin Luther, as well as the music of J. S. Bach.

After seminary Reuning pursued that interest at the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary where he was awarded the Master of Sacred Music in 1962, majoring in Liturgics and the music of the Reformation era, with an emphasis in organ performance. Later. at the University of Illinois his doctoral studies reinforced and expanded these interests, with an emphasis in choral conducting.

As a pastor Reuning served two Lutheran parishes and for 31 years taught Liturgics and Church Music and was Dean of the Chapel at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne. Also in Fort Wayne, during the last 38 years he has served as Kantor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, and in 2002 founded the Bach Collegium Fort Wayne, a community mixed choir accompanied by period instruments, and directed it until his retirement in 2022 . Since then he has been concentrating on finishing Te Laudamus.

After the chief editor, the Rev. Joel Hensel, died in 2018, Reuning was given the task of chairing the forces that would be finishing the Te Laudamus project. Fortunately, he had the most competent assistance of our two associate editors, the Rev. Jesse Krusemark, our music engraver, and Mr. Matthew Carver, our layout designer. He is also indebted to the Rev. Dr. Michael Albrectht, Dr. Carl Springer, and Prof. Bret Heim, artists Anna Horvath and Meghan Schultz, members of the Protes'tant Conference, and twenty-nine volunteer proofers for their very substantive input, encouragement, and support.

Editor, layout designer, and translation advisor ❦ Matthew Carver, from Long Beach, CA, has undergraduate degrees in Classics and German from CSU Long Beach and an MFA in Painting & Drawing from San Francisco Art Institute. He is a freelance translator of German and Latin theological and devotional writing and poetry and a freelance graphic designer on the side. Notable translations and publications of his include Walther’s Hymnal, The Great Works of God, Liber Hymnorum: The Latin Hymns of the Lutheran Church, The Joy of Eternal Life (by Philip Nicolai), The Lutheran Prayer Companion, and the Latin-language hymnal, Cantionale Lutheranum. He and his wife Amanda (of Nashville, TN), also a graphic designer and founder and owner of needlecraft kit company Hoops & Dreams, have two sons and reside in Nashville, TN.

Advisor ❦ Pastor Michael J. Albrecht was born in 1955 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His family has deep Lutheran roots—his father, his uncle, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather all served as Lutheran pastors. He graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1982 and then spent a year teaching German and American history before being called to launch a new mission congregation in Houston, Texas. During his years there, he met and married his wife, Donna, and together they raised five children.

Pastor Albrecht served as one of three pastors at Saint James Lutheran Church in West Saint Paul, Minnesota (1990–2020). After his father’s death, Pastor Albrecht completed his father’s manuscript for the Matthew volume of The People’s Bible commentary series in 2000.

He became involved in international mission work which included twenty trips to India to collaborate with the Bible Faith Lutheran Church. He also visited Lutheran churches in the Czech Republic and Russia. He spent a sabbatical in Germany to study Reformation history and the writings of Martin Luther. He earned a PhD in church history at Luther Seminary and wrote his dissertation on “The Faith-Life Legacy of a Wauwatosa Theologian: Prof. Joh. Ph. Koehler, Exegete, Historian, and Musician” (2008).

Pastor Albrecht has also served as one of the editors of Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology. The journal calls itself “a free conference in print” and strives to promote confessional Lutheran scholarship and faithful pastoral care. In addition to writing for Logia, he has also written for Faith-Life and other periodicals.

Advisor ❦ Dr. Carl P. E. Springer is a distinguished scholar of Classics and the Humanities, currently serving as the SunTrust Chair of Excellence in the Humanities and leading the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. A member of the UTC faculty since 2015, he has contributed broadly to the university through both teaching and administrative leadership. His academic formation includes a PhD in Classics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a Master’s in Biblical Languages, and a BA from Northwestern College.

Springer’s research centers on one of the most debated intersections in Western intellectual history: the complex and often fraught relationship between the Classics and Christianity. He investigates not only the tensions between these traditions but also the ways in which they inform and enrich one another. His work focuses particularly on their interaction in Late Antiquity and during the Lutheran Reformation, with special attention to textual criticism, religious poetics, Latin prose style, and the history of Lutheran classical education and worship.

Widely recognized for his scholarship on the early medieval Latin poet and hymnographer Sedulius, Springer is currently editing Sedulius’s collected works. He has also written extensively on Martin Luther’s engagement with classical authors such as Virgil and Aesop, as well as on Luther’s own Neo-Latin poetry. His research further extends to J. P. Koehler, an early twentieth-century Lutheran theologian steeped in classical learning. Throughout his career, Springer has demonstrated a deep commitment to illuminating the rich dialogues between classical literature, Christian thought, and their enduring influence on Western culture.