The Church music heritage we enjoy today is rich, having developed over twenty centuries by highly spiritual people who attempted to evoke in word and song the almost unexpressible feelings that result when the human soul touches the divine. Augustine of Hippo once said that a hymn is the singing of praises to God. Yet many of the hymns we enjoy today sing neither praises nor address God. Hymns today are complex expressions of prayer, belief, experience, and exhortation to one another, as well as praise to God. A look at several hymnals across denominations reveals that the word "hymn" probably best describes a song suited for congregational singing.
However, that said, nearly anyone who has attended church for some lengthly period of time will tell you that there are "good hymns" and "bad hymns." Some will express their displeasure at more modern musical or hymnological expressions of faith saying that they are "not traditional." Others will insist that traditional hymns are uninspiring or dull. Given that evangelical churches have grown considerably over the past few decades, and given that evangelical music is very much a part of that faith experience, it is worth our time to take a step back and look at hymns themselves to see if we can deepen our understanding about them, and develop a language to articulate why specific hymns and musical expressions cause our spirits to soar. Perhaps that knowledge will help us explain the deepness of our faith tradition.
The book that we will use as the basis of this class was designed as a text to teach a greater appreciation of hymnals and the heritage of church song. It is hoped that congregations that develop such undertsanding will be able to sing with the spirit with inspiration and enthusiasm..
The schedule of classes, the slide show presentations, and the handouts for each class are shown in the table below. Below the table are links to other sources of information including on line hymnals.
Date |
Class Period |
Topic |
Slide Show Presentation |
Class Handout |
January 11, 2009 |
1 |
Introduction Hymnody: Definition of a hymn; changes in hymns over time; Early Church hymn sources and traditions. |
||
January 18, 2009 |
2 |
Development of Lyrics, Music and Hymns in the Western Church from the Dark Ages through the Post-Reformation and Enlightenment Periods | ||
February 1, 2009 |
3 |
The English Revival, The Development of American Hymnody and the Episcopal Hymnal. |
Important Links
Information about the book by Eskew and McElrath.
An online hymnal (Oremus)
The 1982 Episcopal Hymnal On Line
Fair Use Notice
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