DISCOVERIES IN A GERMAN BIBLE

Dr. Ernst F. Tonsing

Thousand Oaks, California
May 20,2003

I. INTRODUCTION

During our lifetime we hold hundreds, perhaps thousands of books in our hands.
We open their pages for school reports, background reading, general interest, self-
improvement, or, during quiet, summer evenings, just for pleasure. If not purchased new
at a downtown store or unwrapped as a present, often these books contain evidence of
their former owners. This may be a bit of paper used as a marker, a leaf or pressed
flower that drops out, or a dedication written on an end paper. Sometimes these little
scraps or scribbles have a story to tell.

A pastor in Colorado recently sent me a Bible that had been in the library of the
Rev. Ernest F. Tonsing, First Lutheran Church, Topeka, Kansas.1 The statement that
accompanied the gift was that the volume had been left on a shelf when he retired, and
the later pastor gathered up the book with her when she moved, and, now, thought that I
should have it.

H. TWO BOOKMARKS
When I opened the front cover, this book began to unfold its story. There were
two pieces of white paper used as bookmarks. The first had typed across the top in caps,
"GERMAN BIBLE" and, handwritten in blue ink below it, "formerly owned by the late
Rev. Paul Tonsing," that is, the father of Ernest F. Tonsing.2 The other paper had the
typed label: "German Bible / property of Rev. Paul Tonsing," and, written below it in
blue ink, "Published in 1894."3

I recognized them. They had been used for displays of Bibles in various
languages that Pastor Ernest Tonsing laid out annually the eight-foot, folding tables in the
Sunday school room of First Lutheran Church at Fifth and Harrison streets in Topeka in
the 1950's and 60's. After the exhibits, the books were placed back into cases in the
office under the southwest tower. This was only the first story this book had to tell.

1
The Bible is in the German language, in a black, leather binding, measuring 19.3 cm. (7 9/16 inches) high,
11.8 cm. (4 1/16 inches) wide, and about 5 cm. (2 inches) thick. It has 288 pages of text, the last book of
the Revelation of St. John's being followed by four blank pages with the titles, Familien=Register. The
end papers are a dark brown.
2
Facing the inside of the front cover is written in the upper right corner what appears to be a catalogue
number: "#322." The first bookmark is 15.2 cm. (6 inches) by 10.15 cm. (4 inches) in size.
3
The second paper is 13.18 cm. (5 7/16 inches) by 10.85 cm. (4 '/«inches).
 IBL THE TITLE PAGE

The title page of the Bible began to hint about the first owner of the book. It
appears thus4:

Die Bibel,
oder

die ganze
•
Heilige Schrift
des

alten und neuen

Testaments.
New=York
herausgegeben von den Amerikanischen Bibel=Gesellschaft.
1894.

Translated, this reads: "The Bible, or the whole Holy Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments. / New York. / Published by the American Bible Society / 1894."5 The
German is that of the Sixteenth Century Reformer, Martin Luther, the standard translation
used by Germans until the middle of the Twentieth century. The font in which the title
page and book is typeset is called, Fraktur or "Gothic."6 Thus, the owner was literate in
this language.

TV. TWO INSCRIPTIONS

There are two, curious, inscriptions in this Bible. Facing the inside cover in dark
black ink, is written in Fraktur script, "Paul Gerhardt Tonsing." And, on the first whole
page following this one is a longer inscription, again in black ink and Fraktur characters7:

The photocopies accompanying the text of this article are larger than their actual size.
5
The page following the title page states in English below the Table of Contents for the Old Testament:
"320,000 Printed."
6
The text of the Bible has each verse set off by a number just like the old King James Version that used to
be common in American households.
7
See the photocopy of this inscription accompanying this article.
 *W*'

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alien unb neum

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v«»

!»ifro*?)erf:

$frau&jjfgebcn toon tcr flmcrifanifctycn 33iM«©«fdIf<$aft.

18 9 4 .
Brttier German, lSmo.]
 I

Paul Gerhardt Tonsing

315 Ersten Strasse
Atchison, Kansas.

IstenDezember
Neunzen Hundert
Vier und Dreizig.

Translated, this reads:

Paul Gerhardt Toensing

315 First Street
Atchison, Kansas
First [of] December
Nineteen Hundred Thirty-four.

V. NOTES ON THE INSCRIPTIONS

There are several curious things about these inscriptions. The first observation is
not: the handwriting does seem to be that of the father of Ernest F. Tonsing, Paul G.
Tonsing. This can be determined by comparison with several other extent signatures.8

Second, the inscription was made exactly a year and four months before the death
of Paul Tonsing on March 1, 1936.9 The letters are well written, well spaced, the loops
and strokes confident, and they have a graceful slant to the right. There are several write-
overs and places where the pen left the page to retrace the letters. The "p" in the first
word is composed of three separate strokes rather than one.

The "dt" in the second word is made with four strokes, and the second "a" in
"Kansas" begins with a vertical stroke where it should have been rounded. The "e" in
Neun has a ligature at the bottom of the first stroke where it is not needed, and the "z" has
a superfluous upright loop. I wonder if, after so many years of writing "Latin" letters,
Paul Tonsing had some difficulty in steering his hand in the patterns learned in his now
distant youth. In both inscriptions, U-Bogen ("u-bows," also called "u-curves") appear
over the letter "u," but this is common in this script. It simply designates the letter as a
"u" and is not to be confused with the umlaut.

Third, the street name of the residence of the pastor, son-in-law of the late
Governor of Kansas, John A. Martin, was originally known as "First" street. This was
changed by the Governor to "North Terrace" (apparently, he wanted his address to appear
more elegant). Indeed, in his own directory published contemporary with this inscription,

I have several volumes and documents in my possession from which this can be observed.
9
Paul Gerhardt Tonsing was born January 3, 1870. Rebecca Chaky and Ruth Martin, Ruth Martin Family
Tree 1995 (Frendswood, Texas: Never Done Press, 1995), p. 92.
 I

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 I

"Tonsing, Paul G" is listed as residing at 315 Terrace. But, in the inscription in the
Bible he used the designation, Ersten, or "First" Street. Perhaps he thought that this
sounded better than Terrasse ("terrace"), or Erdstufe ("earth-step"), or Hduserreihe
("house riser") in German.

Fourth, Paul Gerhardt, when writing his name on various documents,11 or in his
publication of the Atchison Directory,12 preferred the spelling of his name, "Tonsing."
Indeed, the members of the "Kansas" branch of the family consistently have used this
spelling of the name. However, the patriarch retained the umlaut over the "o" when
writing both of these inscriptions, spelling the name "Tensing" as an abbreviation of
"Toensing."13

Fifth, it seems odd that the inscriber would use the archaic Fraktur letters to sign
his name and write the address. In the copy of the Lutheran Liturgy that he owned in his
first parish, Paul G. Tonsing did not use this script, but, rather wrote with letters typical
of American writers of the late Nineteenth Century:

Rev. Paul G. Tonsing

Beloit
Kansas
June 1895.14

The Fraktur script (also called die deutsche Schrift) is thought to have originated
during the reign of the German emperor, Maximilian (ruled until 1517), and was used in
preference to the "Schwabacher" and the gothic "Textura" calligraphy. Based upon the
"Bastarda" shapes employed by the scribes in the emperor's chancery, the calligrapher,
Leonhard Wagner invented a typeface that became known as Fraktur, that is, "fractured,"
because of its broken lines.15 Fraktur was popular during the seventeenth through the
early nineteenth centuries, but was gradually phased out in preference for the Latin
type.16

10
Tonsing's Atchison Directory, 1936, Compiled, Printed, and Published by Paul Tonsing and Paul, Jr.,
(Atchison, Kansas, 1936), p. 56. The full title on the first page is: City Directory of Heads of Families and
Business, Professional, Religious and Educational Institutions Arranged Alphabetically, also Numerically
by Streets, Telephone Patrons Arranged Numerically.
11
For example, the Rev. Paul G. Tonsing's Private Church book in which he kept a record of pastoral acts
during the years 1895-96 at Zion Lutheran Church, Beloit, Kansas, in my possession.
12
Tonsing's Atchison Directory, 1936, op. cit.
13
The umlaut in Germanic languages is written above a vowel as two vertical strokes, and not the two dots
produced by this computer program. It represents the Gothic "e," and, when placed above or immediately
after the vowel as an "e," it gives a sound midway between that vowel and the letter "e."
14
This is written in light, gray ink on the first, blank page ofLiturgie und Agende: ein Kirchenbuch fur die
Evangelisch=Lutherische Kirche in den Vereinigten Siaaten. {Liturgy and Ritual: A Church Book for the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States). Second edition (Philadelphia: J. Kohler, No. 911 Arch
Street, 1855). In my possession.
15
Dieter Steffmann, "Brief History of Fraktur" (http://www.steffmann.de/english/fraktur.htm). May 12,
2003.
16
Ibid. Thoroughly German in origins and use, it is ironic that Adolph Hitler banned its use in the Reich in
1941 as being "un-German," and mistakenly condemned it as "of Jewish origin." Its use continued during
 I

It seems strange that Paul G. Tonsing used Fraktur in this Bible. He certainly
knew it. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in the latter part of the nineteenth century, it seems
likely that his earliest penmanship in grammar school consisted in tracing the shapes of
the Fraktur script. The first parish that he served, Zion Lutheran Church in Beloit,
Kansas, was organized in 1886 with a constitution that ruled that the language of the
congregation be German. Pastor Paul Tonsing came to it in June, 1895, just after his
graduation from Western Theological Seminary in Atchison, Kansas. By his time,
however, the congregation's worship services alternated between German and English,
evidence of the newer generation's Americanization.17 Thus, early in his career, Paul
Tonsing used the German language in his ministry. But, after his first parish, he no
longer needed to speak or write German, let alone write in Fraktur characters.

In 1901, Paul Tonsing left for Union Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hardy,
Nebraska. The name of this congregation came from the fact that the congregation had
two locations close to each other, but located on either side of the Kansas-Nebraska
border.18 Here his ministry was in English.

After a serious illness and upon the advice his doctor, Paul Tonsing retired from
this congregation and returned to Atchison to enter the family's printing business. He
preached occasionally at First Lutheran Church at Grasshopper Falls (later, Valley Falls),
Kansas, west of Atchison. This congregation had been founded by the intrepid
missionary, Rev. McAfee, in 1857, making it the first Lutheran church established west
of the Missouri River. The services were in English as well.19

Paul Tonsing's involvement in Saint Mark's Lutheran Church in Atchison, again

had him teaching and preaching in English rather than German.20 Furthermore, the
German language and culture in America fell into disfavor during World War I and
afterwards. Those of Germanic ancestry suppressed their peculiar customs in order to
affirm their patriotism and to "blend in" with their Anglo-Saxon neighbors. Most
German-speaking Lutheran congregations dropped their services in the "mother tongue"
in favor of English by the 1930's.

and after the war, however, until German printers sought a font not connected with the Nazi past, preferring
one associated with the Bauhaus style of the 1920's.
17
H. A. Ott, A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Kansas (General Synod) Together with a
Sketch of the Augustana Synod Churches and a Brief Presentation of Other Lutheran Bodies Located in
Kansas (Topeka, Kansas: Kansas Synod, 1907), pp. 60, 287.
18
Ibid., pp. 91,287.
19
Ibid, pp. 12-13.
20
Ibid, pp. 55-58
 I

VL THE GERMAN LANGUAGE BIBLE

By the time of the inscriptions in this Bible, 1934, Paul Tonsing had published his
newspapers and directories in English for some three decades. Why a German Bible, and
why inscribe it in German script? Part of the reason may have been nostalgia for the past.
The language of one's childhood is always familiar and cherished. With the daily turmoil
of a large family, a demanding business, and an unstable world, perhaps Paul Tonsing
sought refuge in the Sprache of his youth.

But, there is more. Martin Luther's translation of the Bible resides close to the
hearts of German-speaking people. This Bible is one of the most remarkable
achievements of any individual in any language. The Sixteenth Century Reformer was a
professor, preacher, orator, translator, theologian, composer of music, and a family man.
All of these were brought to bear when it came to his translation. Rather than depending
upon the Latin Vulgate of Saint Jerome, which translators before his time had done,
Luther worked from the original Hebrew and Greek.

But, Luther encountered a problem. In his time there was no universal German
language, but, rather, barely related dialects used in each of the over five hundred little
principalities of Germany. Martin Luther invented the modern German language. He
used as a foundation the language of the Saxon court, and enriched it by constructions
and vocabulary from his students and people from the streets of Wittenberg. For
example, to understand the descriptions of the sacrifices in the Hebrew Bible, he
interviewed the town butcher as he cut up sheep. When it came to the jewels in the
breastplate of the High Priest, he spoke to the Keeper of the Jewels of the Elector for their
properties. Furthermore, the biblical sentences had to "pass the test of Luther's ear, not
his eye."21

Few translations of the Bible speak so clearly and powerfully as Luther's. For
example, read aloud the beginning of Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5:3-5) in
Martin Luther's German translation, and compare the rhythm, fluency and sounds with
the King James English:

Selig sind, die da geistlich arm sind; Blessed are the poor in spirit:
den das Himmelreich is ihr. for their's is the kingdom of heaven.
Selig sind, die da Leib tragen; Blessed are they that mourn:
denn sie sellen getrOstet werden. for they shall be comforted.
Selig sind die Sanftmuthigen: Blessed are the meek:
den sie werden das Erdreich besitzen... for they shall inherit the earth...

The German words of the "Lord's Prayer" in Matthew 6:9 ff. roll off of the tongue in
contrast to the contortions required of the mouth in the English version:

21
Henry Zecher, "The Bible Translation That Rocked the World," Christianity Today
(http://www.christianitytoday com/holidays/nbw/features/34h035.htm') (May 12, 2003).
 I

Unser Vater in dem Himmel. Our Father, who art in heaven,

Dein Name werde geheiliget. Hallowed be Thy name;
Dein Reich komme. Thy kingdom come;
Dein Wille geschehe auf Erden, Thy will be done on earth
wie in Himmel... as it is in heaven...

The Reformer's lines in the Twenty-third Psalm have a rhythm and flow of sounds that is
harmonious in contrast to the fitful starts and stops, however cherished, of the English
rendition:

Der Herr is my Hirte, mir wird nichts mangeln.

Er weidet mich auf einer griinen Aue,
und fuhret mich zum frischen Wasseren...

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside the still waters...

Religious feelings are closely tied to poetic language, as Martin Luther realized.
Language, after all, is more than utility or efficiency. It bears with it associations and
memories. It suggests contexts by its common use, and contemplation by its nuances.
The philosopher-musician-medial missionary of Lambarene, Africa, Albert Schweitzer,
was once asked which language he preferred. Raised bilingual in Alsace-Lorraine, he
responded that speaking French was like walking in the immaculately groomed gardens
of Versailles, while speaking German was like strolling through a forest of giant trees.
Much like French, the English language prefers well-ordered sentences and transparent
structures. German, however, expands the intimate and grounds the grand. Flexible and
evocative in its own right, the English King James' translation simply does not plumb the
depths of emotions as does Luther's German.

Perhaps, then, it was partly nostalgia and partially a deep appreciation of the
language of Luther's Bible that led Paul Gerhardt Tonsing to chose the German edition
and inscribe his name in it using the old Gothic letters.

VIL WHAT A FRAKTUR INSCRIPTION TELLS

In addition to the love of the language, there may be another aspect of the story to
be gleaned from this Bible. The pastoral need for a German Bible, for instructing,
preaching and conducting the Liturgy, was, now, thirty-five years in the past for Paul
Tonsing. Why did he have a Bible in that language, and why did he inscribe it in archaic
Fraktur script so late in his life?
 I

As a second-generation American experiencing those conflicts any person who

has parents from the "old land," and who spoke the Mutter Sprache during the first years
of life, there is a certain nostalgia for one's time of innocence. Eventually, the Swedish,
French, Spanish or German speaking person has to learn English to find work, to get
along with Anglo neighbors, or to keep up with the news in the papers. As the second-
generation moves beyond the confines of the immediate family and the community of
"old-timers," the transition is inevitable. But, it comes with a cost. The parent's
generation feels betrayed, the English-speaking third-generation alienated, and the
middle-generation torn between loyalty to their roots and aspirations for their children.

Paul Gerhardt Tonsing spoke only "Low German" for the first five years of his
life until he went to school to learn proper "High German."22 His son, Paul, Junior,
believes that he did not speak English until his tenth birthday.23 He does not seem to
have needed the German language after this time except in his first parish. But, now,
some sixty-four years of age, the habits of writing familiar in his childhood reemerged as
he wrote his name and address

Perhaps, the pages of this German Bible, inscribed in the elaborate calligraphy of
his youth, hint at the story of this son of immigrant parents who found himself pulled in
the psychological duality often observed in second-generation individuals. Paul Gerhardt
Tonsing never seemed to reveal this in conversation, letter, editorial, sermon or comment
to his immediate family.24 Yet, it does appear, now, that this intelligent, very able, genial
and complex man had another side to his personality, uninvestigated until the discovery
of a Fraktur inscription in an old Bible.

Ernst F. Tonsing, Ph.D.

Thousand Oaks, California
May 20, 2003

22
The Autobiography of The Reverend Paul Gerhardt Tonsing, Atchison, Kansas, Transcribed by Ernst F.
Tonsing, Ph.D. (Thousand Oaks, CA: August 14, 2001), p. 4.
23
Paul Tonsing, Jr., phone Interview, May 18, 2003.
24
Paul Tonsing, Jr., interview by phone, May 18, 2003.