MennoLink Books and Music

The Mirror of the Martyrs exhibit developed after longtime Mennonite historians Robert S. Kreider and John S. Oyer became aware of 23 existing copper plates from etchings included in the 1685 publication of the Mennonite book Martyrs Mirror. An Inter- Mennonite Martyrs Mirror Trust Fund purchased them and, in 1990, Kreider and Oyer mounted a traveling exhibit of the plates and their prints. When Oyer and Kreider agreed that hymns related to these plates would enrich the visual experience of the exhibition, Oyer began searching 16th and 17th century German hymnals for texts written by the martyrs represented in the prints, or about the martyrs. Later, tunes were chosen by a hymnology class at the Associated Mennonite biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, and combined with the texts. The Eastern Mennonite University Chamber Singers perform choral settings of these martyr hymns and ballads.

The recording also features 20th century responses to stories from the Martyrs Mirror. Prompted by organist and CD producer Shirley Sprunger King, composer Brent Weaver wrote three works for solo organ inspired by poetry by Sarah Klassen. Klassen's poems, a response to the Mirror of the Martyrs exhibit, are included on the recording, read by Raylene Hinz-Penner. A final composition by Weaver, I Sing With Exultation, is a setting of a hymn text by Anabaptist leader Felix Manz and features the EMU Chamber Singers with organ accompaniment by Shirley Sprunger King.

These believers died public, tortured deaths as martyrs. Many modern-day Christians claim these persons of courage as their spiritual ancestors. Many of those scenes were etched on copper plates by Jan Luyken, A Dutch artist who worked in the late 1600s. Numerous of these copper plates still exist. Mirror of the Martyrs reproduces 30 of these etchings and tells the courageous stories of these people of faith.

Stories of courage, inspiringly retold, of sixteenth-century Anabaptists who gave their lives for their faith.

Offered is a series of short tales about martyrs. The intention is to give a more composite picture of martyrdom--touching upon its many aspects and its much variety--than only a few stories could sustain. Each story, therefore, was selected for some singular, often unique, element in order to show the variety that was the sociopolitical reality for the victims of sixteenth-century religious discrimination. More complete details for each martyr are usually found in the Martyrs Mirror itself, or more frequently, in the Mennonite Encyclopedia. The authors have chosen source material not used by either van Braght or writers in the Mennonite Encyclopedia.