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 NewtonApproach, 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.
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[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.Speaking as a regular member, there’s no reason to stay with just one (though that’s more likely what a church will have to do). I own Cantus Christi, as well as Hymns, Modern & Ancient, Hymns of Grace & Glory, Majesty, Rejoice, and a number of others. All are useful for some things, and if there are songs in one or another that have doctrinal issues, there are plenty of others to choose from.
I am alarmed that Central has just adopted (for Central Chapel) this hymnal edited by Pettit. This is not A Fundamentalism Worth Saving.
Dave Barnhart
http://www.hymnary.org/hymnal/BH2008
Aaron, your make-your-own comment got me thinking. A loose leaf has some benefits, especially while still in development, but I would not expect them to last well under heavy usage. However, the print-on-demand and self-publishing industries may be giving us new options. I just did a Google search for “self publishing” and visited the site of the first company that came up, Lulu. According to its book cost calculator, the manufacturing cost for a 6x9 B&W hardcover book of 500 pages is $23 for a single copy, and that drops to $19.55 each when ordering 100 copies.
That price does not cover royalties. Since the vast majority of the music that I would want included is not subject to copyright, I am not concerned about that. I realize that would be a bigger issue for some.
One still needs to find someone with software (e.g., Finale and InDesign), skills, and time to do the editing and layout. But if each hymn were set up in a separate PDF file, it would not seem too difficult to choose the hymns one wanted and combine them into a larger PDF file suitable for self-publishing.
I have no illusions: this would be a bunch of effort. But it might just be viable.
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
There are also clips that will attach to mic stands that can hold iPads and display lead sheets, guitar chord sheets, etc. And with the ipad’s screen resolution, it’s not too far out the realm of possibility that you could put hymnal pages in a PDF format for a pianist to read from. Stocking the pews, though, may be out of most churches’ budgets. ;)
And there are downsides. When I first started using my iPad I forgot to turn off the screen timeout. Sure enough, during the Scripture reading, when I hadn’t touched it in a few minutes, it locked with a loud “click.” At least it didn’t happen during a song. And what do you do if you forget to charge it Saturday night?
So it’s not all rainbows and unicorns. But by and large it’s a huge help for our worship team.
Andrew Henderson
[Andrew Henderson] Seriously, if the “Fundamentalism Worth Saving” includes being “alarmed” that an institution would adopt HMA as their hymnal, then it just needs to die. Sheesh.Andrew, it was a joke.
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Greg Long, Ed.D. (SBTS)
Pastor of Adult Ministries
Grace Church, Des Moines, IA
Adjunct Instructor
School of Divinity
Liberty University
Central is still the best seminary I know for theological education. And for a few years under Dr. Bauder, it was possible to get that theological education without being immersed in typical Fundamentalist sensibilities. But the adoption of this hymnal, as a supplement to the existing one so that students can learn how to sing and how to worship from the likes of Pettit, Getty, Townend, Kauflin, et al, seems to mark the end of that era.
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Greg Long, Ed.D. (SBTS)
Pastor of Adult Ministries
Grace Church, Des Moines, IA
Adjunct Instructor
School of Divinity
Liberty University
[Todd Mitchell] [Central’s] adoption of this hymnal, as a supplement to the existing one so that students can learn how to sing and how to worship … .This baffles me. The two goals are worthy ones, but the stated means will not work. How can one expect to accomplish this with HMA or any other hymnal, for that matter? One may use a hymnal as a source of music when teaching a person how to sing, but one does not learning how to sing from the hymnal. Similarly, a hymnal has a significant role in our worship, especially as the doctrine and sensibilities of its contents can enhance or detract from our worship, but again, it does not teach us how to worship.
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
[Jonathan Edwards] And the duty of singing praises to God, seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned, why we should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than in prose, and do it with music, but only, that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections.To interpret that properly, one must understand Edwards’ terms. As to the affections, he explains that the soul has two faculties, one focused on perception (the understanding) and the other on inclination or aversion to things perceived. The latter is variously termed the mind, will, or heart. Edwards then describes the affections as “the more vigorous and sensible exercises of the inclination and will of the soul.”
Edwards argues that there is a critical link between holy affections and true religion. As part of that, hearing and perceiving religious truth is not enough: the affections must be moved, or no action or change will result.
Food for thought.
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
And as Edwards points out, they must be moved correctly.
Lex orandi, lex credendi.
A hymnal is going to reflect somebody’s musical sensibilities. This is unavoidable and why would we want to avoid it anyway? I don’t think it’s accurate to say HMA is “Steve Pettit’s musical sensibilities” any more than it is to say it’s the sensibilities of whoever chooses it as their hymnal. That is, the fact that they chose it means it reflects their own musical sensibilities.
“Students can learn how to sing and to worship…” can easily be understood to mean “Students can learn how to exercise good judgment in selecting material for use in worship.”
It isn’t really that difficult.
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.
[Aaron Blumer] In ref to #25 & #26… You guys are overthinking it.Aaron, I am not sure what you think the “it” is that we are overthinking. You seem to be focused narrowly on Central, but I do not think that can be divorced from broader issues. When I quoted Edwards, I was not focused on Central’s decision but on the whole issue of hymnals and hymnody and their role in our worship. Todd’s reference to Lex orandi, lex credendi suggests that he is thinking generally, also. Having recently read Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy, this excerpt from the preface comes quickly to mind:
A hymnal is going to reflect somebody’s musical sensibilities. This is unavoidable and why would we want to avoid it anyway?
[A. W. Tozer] The message of this book … is called forth by a condition which has existed in the Church for some years and is steadily growing worse. I refer to the loss of the concept of majesty from the popular religious mind. The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshiping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.As Tozer says, we have a big problem. And I think that we are deceiving ourselves if we think this problem is largely confined to circles of Christianity other than our own. The Edwards quotation that I posted yesterday provides a specific link to music. Tie these together, and there is much for serious analysis regarding worship music. How can this be overthought?
The low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us. A whole new philosophy of Christian life has resulted from this one basic error in our religious thinking.
With our loss of the sense of majesty has come the further loss of religious awe and consciousness of the divine Presence. We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence. Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience the life in the Spirit.
A key issue flows from the exact point that you made: every hymnal reflect musical sensibilities. In choosing a hymn or a hymnal, one gets more than notes and words, one gets ideas and attitudes and sensibilities that shape our view of God. Thus, critical questions for anyone choosing a hymnal include “why should I use this?” and “what does it get me?” I do not mean simply what songs are in the volume—that is obvious. I mean the ideas and attitudes and sensibilities that shape our view of God.
A related critical issue is “what does this cost me?” Every choice of hymns and hymnals has an opportunity cost. By choosing this, we lose the opportunity to choose that. This, too, affects my attitudes and sensibilities and my view of God.
How can this be overthought?
[Aaron Blumer] “Students can learn how to sing and to worship…” can easily be understood to mean “Students can learn how to exercise good judgment in selecting material for use in worship.”That may be what was in the mind of the speaker, but that is not close to what was said. I think about this frequently, for my son believes that the Lord would have him be a preacher of the Gospel, and I am trying to help him learn the discipline of being precise in how he communicates. I often tell him that our professions (law and gospel ministry) require us to communicate clearly and carefully. Here, I genuinely hope that imprecise speech is not indicative of imprecise thinking (“underthinking”)?
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
Discussion