Saturday, March 8, 2008

History of Hymns

St. Ambrose, Jan Hus, Martin Luther, Isaac Watts, Anne Steele, Charles Wesley, Augustus Toplady, Joseph Hart, John Newton, William Cowper, Horatius Bonar, Charlotte Elliott, George Matheson, Charles Albert Tindley and so many others...

These hymn writers have given a great gift to God's people in both songs and devotional poetry. Today, I'm enjoying learning from Rev. Kevin Twit, RUF campus minister at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a leader of indelible grace music.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hymn's all sound alike, with the exception of a mere handful. even most the lyrics are the same. it's repetitous, but if that's your thing, then so be it.

obsessiveskier said...

Dear Anonymous,

Perhaps you've only heard hymns played in a slow, plodding musical style, making them all sound alike to you. Check out some of the modern hymns being written by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend at www.gettymusic.com or the recent albums at www.igracemusic.com.

One of the things that I loved most about the class I took last week was reading and hearing such a wide variety of hymns. Are you really serious when you say that most of the lyrics are the same? The lyrical diversity of Isaac Watts' "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", Charles Wesley's "And Can it Be That I Should Can?", Joseph Hart's "Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy", and William Cowper's "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" is astounding.

Repetitious? I agree that there is a lot of bad Christian music out there that is repetitious. But that's not what I found last weekend studying the history of hymns.

Hymns are not just my thing. For Christians, they are "our things". God has given us a rich treasury of devotional poetry and musical worship that I pray will become more widely known and loved.

Yours in Christ,

Scott