New hymnal: Hymns to the Living God

Religious Affections Ministries has published a new hymnal, and it's available for free download.

Hymns to the Living God is notable for its slim size and the scarcity of copyright notices. Only 294 hymns were selected for inclusion, and nearly all of them are in the public domain.

Scott Aniol, founder of Religious Affections Ministries and chairman of the Worship Ministry Department at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, explains what it was about Hymns Ancient and Modern, a groundbreaking Anglican hymnal published in 1861, that provided inspiration and model for the approach they took in assembling this new collection of hymns:

Hymns Ancient and Modern (HAM) became the benchmark for all subsequent hymnals for several reasons. First, the editors gave careful consideration to the text/tune marriages within. Previously, very fine hymn texts often fell to disuse due to the terrible tunes with which they were associated. HAM contained text/tune combinations still commonly used today, such as "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks" with WINCHESTER OLD and "When Morning Gilds the Skies with LAUDES DOMINI.

Second, while most previous hymnals had little if any organization to the order of hymns, HAM was organized theologically and liturgically, categorizing hymns based on their purpose and use within the liturgy and broadly in the church year.

Third, desiring to recover some of what they considered lost in the worship tradition of the church, they translated the best of early and medieval Greek and Latin hymns into English, bringing some of the oldest hymns still sung today into use. They also translated several excellent German Lutheran hymns into English as well. This made HAM a truly "catholic" hymnal, drawing its collection from the best of all Christian traditions....

Fourth, although the hymnal editors objected to much of what they considered unhealthy sentimentalism in recently composed Victorian and evangelical revival hymns, they made a point to include what they considered the best of even those hymns....

Fifth, HAM gathered the best of "modern" hymns, including "Holy, Holy, Holy" by Reginald Heber, with NICAEA by John Dykes, and "Crown Him with Many Crowns" by Matthew Bridges, with DIADEMATA by George Elvey. The editors' goal was to sing newer hymns that matched the quality, both in text and tune, of ancient ones....

We had the same goal as the editors of HAM--rather than a descriptive hymnal that simply reflected what various churches were already singing, or a market-driven hymnal intended to appeal to the largest possible audience, we wanted to collect what we believe to be the best available hymns in the English language. We also had similar concerns as editors of HAM--we considered much of what has been written in the last 100 years and that has become the dominant song of evangelical churches to be weak compared to the rich heritage of the past, and so we wanted to create a collection that would model the best hymns, both ancient and modern.

As the editors are not from a liturgical tradition, they chose a different organizing principle:

Second, we carefully organized the hymns according to their usefulness in a liturgy that reenacts our covenantal relationship with God through Christ, beginning with God's revelation of himself and our adoration of him, leading to a recognition of our guilt and need for repentance and faith, then the solution to our need found in Jesus Christ's coming, life, death, and resurrection, followed by the Holy Spirit's work to bring us to Salvation, after which we hear God's Word, Submit ourselves to him, bring our Prayers before him, and experience Communion with him and with his Church. The hymnal concludes with songs of Commission, Comfort, and Benediction.

The editors of the new hymnal, published in 2017, re-tuned some hymns, but used traditional tunes for this purpose rather than insipid guitar riffs of the type that have emerged from the PCA's Reformed University Fellowship and infested congregational worship. "Rock of Ages" to the tune "Redhead", the traditional setting in the UK, is an improvement over the traditional American tune "Toplady" (too familiar from too many movie funeral scenes), and both are much to be preferred over the misaligned "New City Fellowship" tune, in which the natural rhythm of the words is undermined by the tune's tonal peaks. The editors pair "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less" with "Melita," which you may know as the tune for the naval hymn "Eternal Father, Strong to Save."

The Baptist worship of my youth was dominated by the revival songs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while the treasures of 18th century English hymnody were only dusted off at Christmas time. Hymns to the Living God has included a small selection from the gospel song tradition, such as "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and "It Is Well with My Soul."

Only a handful of modern songs are included. Two of these are by James Montgomery Boice, the late pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and host of Bible Study Radio Hour. A metrical paraphrase of the Apostle's Creed was commissioned specially for the new hymnal.

There are a few nitpicks. The editors print text-only for certain hymns, forcing the singer to turn to a different page to see the tune. I'd prefer to see four-part harmony with each hymn, even though it would increase page count and cost. Likewise, where there are multiple tune choices for a hymn, print both. I was disappointed to see "Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven" set to "Andrews." It's good that there's a note suggesting "Lauda Anima" (the tune I'm used to), but if you're leading a congregation, you want the music for your chosen tune in front of them. Some of my favorite hymns and tunes are missing. ("All My Hope on God Is Founded," for example.)

Musically, the editors are fans of Johann Sebastian Bach (12 hymns set to tunes that he composed or harmonized) and Ralph Vaughan Williams (10 hymns set to the English folk songs he adapted or his own majestic processional tunes).

There are a fair number of textual alterations noted. These are usually done for theological reasons (and I often sing the original text loudly, just to be contrary). I haven't examined all the alterations in Hymns to the Living God carefully, but one caught my eye. One verse "And Can It Be?" is typically altered by Calvinists to avoid conflicting with the doctrine of particular atonement and to avoid a misunderstanding of the nature of Christ's kenosis, or self-emptying. The original:

Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race;

is changed by the Trinity Hymnal to:

humbled himself (so great his love!),
and bled for all his chosen race.

while Hymns to the Living God uses

Emptied himself and came in love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race!

While it would be bulky and unnecessary to include an explanation for each alteration in the hymnal itself, it would be enlightening to be able to read a rationale for the changes made, whether textual or musical, on a companion website. The hymnal itself could bear to have a single-page explanation of the guiding philosophy behind those choices.

The preface to the hymnal does explain the theological rationale behind the choice of hymns and tunes. The editors reject the idea that a tune is simply a neutral vehicle for words:

Third, we have chosen hymn tunes that we believe best communicate the kinds of sentiments and affections that are fitting for biblical truth. Tozer wisely cautioned, "Human emotions are curious and difficult to arouse, and there is always a danger that they may be aroused by the wrong means and for the wrong reasons." The church's battle against heresy defined Christian orthodoxy; there is a sense in which its battle against irreverent worship has attempted to define orthopathy: right affections. Orthopathy cannot be defined as precisely as the creeds and confessions have delineated Christian doctrine, but hymnbooks function similarly to those confessions. They are an attempt to represent instances of ordinate affection. We hope you find that deep love for Christ pulsing through the veins of our hymnal. As with poetry, musical form is not neutral; rather, melody, harmony, and rhythm combine to give expression to right affections.

Christian educators have come to understand that effective discipleship is not merely about instructing the mind to believe what is right (orthodoxy) or directing the actions to do what is right (orthopraxy); training the affections to feel aright (orthopathy) is an essential link between thought and action and essential to a lifelong walk with Christ. The Abolition of Man, by C. S. Lewis, was my introduction to the importance of learning to love what is good, what is true, and what is beautiful.

The editors also state their case for publishing a physical hymn book in the digital age:

First, when you hold a hymnal in your hands, you hold something of your Christian heritage. The physical nature of a hymnal has the effect of embodying a collection of the work of the church triumphant, and in using such a book, you identify with the entire church, and you sing her experience into yours.

Second, when you hold a good hymnal in your hands, you are holding the distilled affective responses of hundreds, if not thousands, of believers. A hymnal is a testimony of how Christians collectively have responded to the various truths of the Christian life. With hymnal in hand, one can peruse these responses and use them as a point of comparison for those of contemporary Christianity.

Third, a good hymnal remains the best devotional literature we have. Devotional literature is formative, and while it does not necessarily have to be printed, hymns in printed form provide a convenient and settled collection for personal and family devotion....

A printed hymnal offers saints a thoughtfully curated collection of some of the finest extra-Biblical expressions of God's truth in warm, devotional form. In this hymnbook you will find the great fundamental doctrines of Christian orthodoxy represented. As John Wesley said of his own hymnal, "This book is, in effect, a little body of experimental and practical divinity." In this volume, you will find words and music to give wings to the Christian's ordinate affections, whether they be of adoration to the Triune God, or of thanksgiving to Christ as Mediator, or of bittersweet tears at His atoning passion, or of steadfast hope in the goodness of God amidst days of trial. So, we trust that this volume contains nothing but songs which are, in the words of Calvin, "not only honest, but also holy," songs which are not just theologically strong, but devotionally warm.

Hymns to the Living God is available as a pew-quality hardback at the very reasonable price of $13.99 or six for $78, and there's a spiral-bound edition for $19.99. You can download it for free as a PDF by providing your email address.

MORE from ReligiousAffections.org:

Kevin Bauder, Research Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, has been posting an affectionate memoir of growing up in fundamentalism.

David de Bruyn, pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, presents a parable about lollipops and pop music in church, the latest in a category of articles on aesthetics.