God's Word Is Our Great Heritage was written in 1817 by
N. F. S. Grundtvig, a Danish Lutheran Pastor. Grundtvig wrote the hymn as the 5th verse to
Martin Luther's
Ein feste Burg . The hymn was translated into English by
Ole Gulbrand Belsheim in 1909. In 1916,
Friedrich Otto Reuter, then a professor at
Dr. Martin Luther College, put the hymn to a [http://www.hymntime.com/tch/mid/r/e/u/reuter.mid tune of his creation. Many hymnals use this arrangement, including
The Lutheran Hymnal,
Lutheran Service Book (
LCMS) and
Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal (
WELS), though the
Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary (
ELS) has retained the original melody to the hymn. The hymn is also the school hymn of
Michigan Lutheran Seminary. == Text ==