The Hymnal: A Reading History

Interesting history of American hymnals up to about 1870. Discussing the use and development of hymns, not only as part of church services, but as poetry, devotional services and children's literature. The book has some really good insights into the development of children's literature through hymns, and the impact of personal hymn books in the home for teaching children as well as family services.Regretfully, the research is pretty limited to New England and the East Coast, and with little discussion about non-English hymnals from the mid-western or southern areas, especially in the German and Scandinavian languages, nor hymnals developed for Native Americans such as the Sioux or Cherokee languages.However, within these parameters, this book does a good job in showing how hymnals developed from books of poetry with little printed musical notation, to the more robust service books used today. A side investigation correlates the development on indices in hymnals, that went further than just the subject, title and composer, but also to first lines of text.The style of the book is pedantic and the reading is slow. But the book is recommended for seminary libraries, and for people interested in church music, choirs and the development of protestant church services evolution over several hundred years.

I absolutely loved this book! I thought I knew a lot about hymns. After all, Ive taught hymnology for years and have amassed quite a collection (over 1000 volumes) of hymns and books on hymnology along with writing many tunes and producibg the I deliver Grace music projects. But I learned so many interesting things from this book. It is a fascinating read and unique in the field. Highly recommended!

We bought this as a gift for our grandmother and she couldn’t put it down. Great for a history buff with interest in the church!

Filled with interesting detail but not especially cogent. More descriptive than analytical

It was a gift

The book feels good and looks good.

If I could give zero stars, I would. The book I received is missing several chapters, and the front-matter is printed a second time and bound in where the later chapters should be. Ridiculous!!!!!

This is a thorough, readable, fascinating account of the rising culture of hymnals and hymnbooks in the 18th and 19th centuries. Chris Phillips makes a convincing case for the literary value of hymns as a pervasive and yet invisible ingredient of much of the poetry of the era. Indeed, he shows that the difference between hymn and poem may only be imaginary.