Hymnal Review - Hymns Modern & Ancient

Conservative, Traditional… and New!

Hymns Modern & Ancient is a short collection of hymns and songs (133 in all) in a volume intended to supplement, not replace, more comprehensive hymnals already on the market. The collection is compiled by Fred R. Coleman and includes several of his hymns. Ruth Coleman, his wife, provided most of the arrangements.

Quality over quantity

I’m reviewing this collection as a non-professional musician. Though I play the piano a little, lead singing often and have sung in choirs most my life, my musical sight-reading skills are not sufficient to sit down an play hymns and songs I don’t already know—at least, not in any reasonable length of time. As a result, the large number of unfamiliar songs in HMA are difficult to evaluate musically. If the half dozen or so I’m familiar with are a good indication of the quality of the rest, the music throughout is fresh but—relative to where we are in musical history—conservative.

The collection consists mostly of work from the last few decades, with a smattering of undeservingly-neglected work in the more “ancient” category. The collection manages to avoid the chorus genre almost entirely (“I Worship You, Almighty God” may be the only song in the chorus category). I’m encouraged that it’s even possible to gather more than a hundred conservative, traditional and new hymns and hymn-like songs of good quality. The existence of this collection suggests that something like a revival of serious hymn singing may be in progress.

I use the category “hymn-like” here to describe songs that differ enough from traditional hymn form to make their hymn status debatable. Two examples come to mind, both of them composed by Bob Kauflin. Kauflin’s “The Look” is a remake of the John Newton hymn, “I Saw One Hanging on a Tree.” Though the original is a fine hymn, “The Look” has a far more soloist-oriented melody and rhythm and includes a chorus. Similarly, Kauflin’s “A Debtor to Mercy” restyles Augustus Toplady’s “A Debtor to Mercy Alone.” While Toplady’s work (and the music usually paired with it) was true hymnody, Kauflin’s remake moves substantially into “song” territory.

In my view, both of these songs are still good work and suitable for worship, but I would rather have seen them paired with fresh arrangements that preserve the hymn form and make only minimal adjustments to the original texts. (But this is the opinion of one whose notion of ideal worship singing would be 98% pre-19th century, stately hymns sung passionately in a somewhat small space with lots of hard surfaces and no microphones—and a grand piano, acoustic guitar and violin for background. But how often do we get to have our ideals?)

True hymn form has the additional advantage of avoiding the rhythmic complexity that makes many contemporary songs difficult for congregations to sing together (unified in melody, tempo and rhythm—as with one voice). Of course, this advantage assumes that the congregation actually ought to be heard, and to hear one another, above what’s happening on the platform (or should I say “stage”?).

The majority of songs in the collection are in traditional hymn form or very close to it.

As for themes and lyrics, the quality of the texts of these hymns and songs appears to be unimpeachable.

Authors and composers

The mix of authors and composers represented in Hymns Modern & Ancient is interesting. The collection includes eight titles by the compiler, Fred Coleman. That’s no surprise. But one pair of author-composer statistics highlights the shift that has occurred—and is occurring—in many fundamentalist (and fundamentalist-heritage) ministries. Songs by Ron Hamilton: 1 (“Bow the Knee”). Songs by some combination of Keith and Kristyn Getty or Stuart Townend: 30.

The collection also includes 5 titles by D. A. Carson, 10 by Bob Kauflin and 1 by Steve Green. I was glad to see 4 by Chris Anderson included as well.

The spectrum of authors and composers may be of concern to some ministry leaders. Sadly, a few will see the numerous Getty, Townend and Kauflin contributions as reason to put the collection on the books-to-avoid list. To these, I suggest a project: work through any hymnal of the 20th century and compile short biographies of the hymn authors and composers. You’ll discover that, right or wrong, we’ve been singing songs and hymns from theologically diverse sources for a long, long time. The case can be made that we should only sing hymns and songs from sources virtually identical to us in doctrine and practice. But this would be a new idea, a departure from the long-standing tradition of Christian hymnody (but our hymnals would definitely not be so thick and heavy!).

Musical aesthetic

Hymns Modern & Ancient clearly aims to avoid the musical aesthetic of contemporary pop-culture. Opinions will vary somewhat as to how well it succeeds, but I expect most would characterize the selections as musically conservative and traditional.

In addition to avoiding contemporary pop-culture, the volume appears to be blessedly free of the bouncy-weepy tunes of the Second Great Awakening era and the ball-room inspired tunes of the golden age of movie musicals (1930s-1950s). Whether some of the included melodies and harmonies will sound like 90s or 2000s cliché to future generations remains to be seen. I suspect that a few will become conspicuously dated but that most will age well.

Testing the waters

The preface to the volume explains its relationship to the venerable Anglican collection Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861) and provides interesting history of the divide between hymnody of the “stately stream” and that of the “evangelical stream.” Coleman writes,

Like the compilers of Hymns Ancient and Modern and generations of Christians before them, I affirm congregational singing as both prayer and creed. I am convinced that congregational singing is the best musical venue for accomplishing the purposes of gathered Christian worship. Modern congregations ignore too many great hymns of the past and shun too many great hymns of the present. (preface, p.3)

The preface also expresses hopes that a full-hymnal project may eventually come from Heart Publications in Milwaukee. No doubt, the likelihood of that project reaching completion depends in part on how well-received Hymns Modern & Ancient turns out to be.

For my part, I’m glad to see this collection in print and hope it will prove to be an encouragement to churches looking for fresh, poignant and meaty expressions of our faith paired with music that reflects a sober and thoughtful (rather than popular and sensual) aesthetic.

One of my favorite selections is John Newton’s “Approach My Soul, the Mercy Seat” set to a Fred Coleman modified (and improved, I think) version of the tune MORNING SONG. A few archaisms in the text are modified as well (though I think Newton’s “be Thou my shield” is better than “You are my shield.” The latter merely states; the former seeks).

Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat
John Newton

Approach, my soul, the mercy seat,
Where Jesus answers prayer;
There humbly fall before His feet,
For none can perish there.

Your promise is my only plea,
With this I venture nigh;
You call all burdened souls to Thee,
And such, O Lord, am I.

Bowed down beneath a load of sin,
By Satan sorely pressed,
By war without and fears within,
I come to You for rest!

You are my shield and hiding place,
and sheltered near Your side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
And tell him You have died.

O wondrous love, to bleed and die,
To bear the cross and shame,
That guilty sinners, such as I,
Might plead Your gracious name.

“Poor soul, now tempest tossed, be still;
My promised grace receive.”
’Tis Jesus speaks—I must, I will,
I can, I do believe.

I look forward to getting to know the hymns in this collection better and hope to introduce many of them to the congregation I serve. (The collection is not available on Amazon, but can be obtained from Heart Publications.)

Aaron Blumer Bio

Aaron Blumer, SharperIron’s second publisher, is a Michigan native and graduate of Bob Jones University (Greenville, SC) and Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN). He and his family live in a small town in western Wisconsin, not far from where he pastored Grace Baptist Church for thirteen years. He is employed in customer service for UnitedHealth Group and teaches high school rhetoric (and sometimes logic and government) at Baldwin Christian School.

Discussion

Two issues:
  • The binding is very low quality. Turning pages is difficult without tearing them. It will not last long.
  • The price point is too high. 133 songs for $15.95 is too expensive for the average congregation to fill the pews as a supplement to a hymnal. We’re Singing (The Wild’s) is half the price, has more songs, and has a longer lasting binding.
Great selection of songs. Hope they resolve some of these other details.

Ashamed of Jesus! of that Friend On whom for heaven my hopes depend! It must not be! be this my shame, That I no more revere His name. -Joseph Grigg (1720-1768)

The price may indeed be a problem for some churches. In my own case, I’d put the book at a higher value than a We’re Singing because of the smaller size. That is, this collection is far more selective and I think that enhances the value. But from a marketing standpoint, it remains to be seen if enough people want to move away from choruses and gospel songs toward hymnody…. and pay that price.

I have encountered a bit of difficulty with pages moving freely in the wire binding. (The binding is hardcover with internal wire…. this lies flat nicely on a piano, but there are trade offs and people in pews don’t need that.)

Personally, I don’t plan to try to persuade my church to fill the pew pockets with them. Rather, we’ll use selections and introduce them slowly as we learn them. For us, even learning a hundred of these will take years.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

I know Fred Coleman and talked to him at a wedding a few weeks ago about the book. From what I recall shelled out a lot of money for the rights to edit some of the songs to make them more singable for a congregation. That’s part of what you’re paying for and I think it could be worth it.

I took a look at the book and loved the song selection, but I too noticed the pages stuck together. Either way, I’d take it over the Wilds songbook most any day based on style and selection.

People also might want to take a look at the RUF Hymnbook. http://www.igracemusic.com/hymnbook/home.html

Though I’m not necessarily a huge fan of Hamilton and I do love a lot of what comes from Getty/Townend/Kauflin, the disparity in the book is more likely due to the fact that the people most likely to purchase HMA already have access to most of Hamilton’s stuff because they are probably using Majesty Hymns or Rejoice Hymns. I wouldn’t look at the stark contrast in numbers as a statement by Coleman, but rather that he’s simply reading his environment. Seriously, why pay royalties to republish what so many in our circles already have in their pews?

Beyond that, I think what Coleman has done on the whole is excellent (barring the physical quality issues mentioned above). I have an enormous amount of respect for him not only as a former teacher of mine, but also as a mentor and friend.

I got one of these for my daughter (our church pianist) a couple weeks ago. I’ve only briefly perused the song selection, but I have seen some gems in there. For a pianist, it wasn’t really expensive compared to piano editions of other hymnals, but I have to agree that the quality doesn’t seem great. It might last just fine used as a piano copy, but it probably wouldn’t stand up to congregational use very long.

Dave Barnhart

I have a ton of respect for “Uncle Fred” after sitting through so many of his classes in Grad School - I should pick this up if for no other reason than that.

I will say, just as a sort of counterpoint to this paragraph:
True hymn form has the additional advantage of avoiding the rhythmic complexity that makes many contemporary songs difficult for congregations to sing together (unified in melody, tempo and rhythm—as with one voice).
While it’s certainly not the case in every congregation, I’ve consistently been surprised at my church by how quickly a “non-musical” group of people can pick up new songs, even if they are rhythmically complex and don’t conform to the same poetic meters as we usually find in traditional hymnody. I wish I knew what it was about those complex songs that made them easy to learn, whether it was something in the song itself or if it’s just our congregation being more inclined than I give them credit for. But whatever the reason, I’d hate to think that a renaissance in hymn signing would simultaneously “dumb down” the kinds of songs that congregations can sing. (And I know that’s not what Aaron’s getting at here…I’m just talking in general.)

I feel this book does have more worth than We’re Singing, but the latter has greater value. My families (immediate and church) are thoroughly enjoying learning and singing various songs from HMA. I just don’t think it will gain the coverage that We’re Singing has achieved, mostly because of the price point. What we’ve done at my church is purchased a few for the leaders and musicians, and then post the lyrics on PowerPoint. So most of the congregation has no idea what book is being used, they just enjoy the songs. I hope the publisher improves the cost to value ratio and physical quality, because it is a great publication.

Ashamed of Jesus! of that Friend On whom for heaven my hopes depend! It must not be! be this my shame, That I no more revere His name. -Joseph Grigg (1720-1768)

The best we’ve been able to find is Cantus Christi, published by Canon Press. Our church adopted Cantus Christi a year ago and it has already improved our worship, our sensibilities, and our view of God.

I am alarmed that Central has just adopted (for Central Chapel) this hymnal edited by Pettit. This is not A Fundamentalism Worth Saving.

I was at BJU when Fred Coleman began serving there. I really appreciated him.

As for all of these new hymnals, why not just make a powerpoint hymnal? The problem with hymnals is that none of them contain all of the songs a church should be singing. Also, revising a hymnal to add new songs is expensive. I have noticed that when the church used powerpoint, people sing looking up instead of having their heads buried in a book. Also, I have noticed that visitors will sing from powerpoint more willingly than they will pick up a hymn book.

Let me also note that Fred Coleman has a good philosophy of music that his reflected in his choices for this hymnal. That is healthy.

On our 9.11 memorial service, we will be singing the Anderson, Habegar, hymn entitled “I Run To Christ.” Good stuff!

[Todd Mitchell] The best we’ve been able to find is Cantus Christi, published by Canon Press. Our church adopted Cantus Christi a year ago and it has already improved our worship, our sensibilities, and our view of God.

I am alarmed that Central has just adopted (for Central Chapel) this hymnal edited by Pettit. This is not A Fundamentalism Worth Saving.
Yep. That is just horrible. Next thing ya know, Bauder and Horn wil get a mohawk and boogie down the isle during chapel.

How do church members acquire and carry PowerPoint hymals?

I ask because I think that, in addition to owning and using Bibles, believers should own and use hymnals. This is important in one’s private devotional life and in family worship. One can learn and use the Psalms and good hymns and spiritual songs much better with daily access to a good hymnal.

Things That Matter

As the quantity of communication increases, so does its quality decline; and the most important sign of this is that it is no longer acceptable to say so.--RScruton

[Brent Marshall] How do church members acquire and carry PowerPoint hymals?

I ask because I think that, in addition to owning and using Bibles, believers should own and use hymnals. This is important in one’s private devotional life and in family worship. One can learn and use the Psalms and good hymns and spiritual songs much better with daily access to a good hymnal.
Brent,

I am not asking for the elimination of hymnals. I carry a number of them. I still think making a powerpoint hymnal available would be more helpful for corportate worship in many churches.

When we went through a long and somewhat tedious new-hymnal selection process about 8 yrs ago, I frequently wondered why someone is not producing a Make Your Own Hymnal hymnal.

What I really wanted to do was take two or three hymnals, remove the songs I knew we’d never use and combine them into one.

Publishing a hymnal like that would be somewhat expensive maybe… but I’m not so sure. What if you make all the copies a looseleaf three-ring binder?

We could make this ourselves of course, but managing all the royalties would be time consuming—not to mention getting all that musical notation looking good on every page.

But seriously, someone should publish a hymnal like that. It would be worth a little extra money to have something where it’s all good, nothing is wasted and you can easily add songs to the end and grow it.

About Cantus Christi

I’m pretty sure there would be some doctrinal problems in some of these hymns that would be of concern to some churches…. post millennialism, etc. But we already have these problems in most hymnals.

Image shows the selections in CC by century… from the Canon Press website. CC is a Doug Wilson/Moscow Idaho production (Presbyterian? Certainly Reformed)

I must admit it’s attractive… and Canon Pres has lots of audio you can get to go with it to help you learn the hymns.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

[Brent Marshall] How do church members acquire and carry PowerPoint hymals?

I ask because I think that, in addition to owning and using Bibles, believers should own and use hymnals. This is important in one’s private devotional life and in family worship. One can learn and use the Psalms and good hymns and spiritual songs much better with daily access to a good hymnal.
Well, maybe powerpoint would not be the best format, but how about PDF or some other e-reader format? I own a number of hymnals, and it would be nice to have them in a format that was searchable, something I could put on a laptop, tablet, or even phone, and I’d always have it available or even with me. I already do this for multiple versions of the Bible that I have on my phone. It would be great to have a number of hymnals there too.

I’m not opposed to paying the cost of licensing the music, but I’d like to get rid of all the paper, ink, shipping, etc. costs. Not to mention it would make keeping them around much easier. A tablet computer could even be used on the piano, and would take up much less space than even two hymnals, let alone more.

If hymnals could be acquired in this format, it would make a “Mix and match” hymnal even more easy to put together and acquire. Go to the publishing house, pick the hymns out of the available selection you want in your copy, pay the fee, and download. If one of these was acquired by a church, then it would also be in Powerpoint format for use in the services, and there would be a site-license for copies that the members could download for personal use.

Dave Barnhart