[DCRM-L] Funeral Sermons Genre Heading

[reithl at georgetown.edu]

I had a lot of the "funeral sermon" genre earlier in my
career - it's hard to differentiate betsween "Funeral sermons," "Eulogies," and other closely related subject headings. As a Lutheran pastor's son and seminary graduate, I was always aware of the fine dividing line as I cataloged - you just have to look at the contents to see what is being emphasized - the Scriptural text or praise for the recently departed. And sometimes the two are intertwined, so one has to choose. 

As a graduate student in Tuebingen, Wuerttemberg (Germany), I remember the tomb of Prince Ludwig III, a late 16th century Reformation ruler (d. 1593)in the Tuebingen Stiftskirche. The art on the tomb celebrated the young prince's reigning passions (he died young from over-drinking) - leaping deer and boughs of grapes, hinting at the fruit of the vine. Coming up with an appropriate funeral sermon/eulogy for such a prince (who was more wastral than ruler in his lifetime) must have presented the court preacher(s) with significant challenges.

Louis Reith
Georgetown University Library
Washington, DC

E-mail: reithl at georgetown.edu
reithl at georgetown.edu