Sing Them Over Again to Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America

by Mark A. Noll (Editor), Edith L. Blumhofer (Editor), Mary Louise VanDyke (Contribution by), Candy Gunther Brown (Contribution by), John R. Tyson (Contribution by)

Overview

Hymns and hymnbooks as American historical and cultural icons.

This work is a study of the importance of Protestant hymns in defining America and American religion. It explores the underappreciated influence of hymns in shaping many spheres of personal and corporate life as well as the value of hymns for studying religious life. Distinguishing features of this volume are studies of the most popular hymns (“Amazing Grace,” “O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name”), with attention to the ability of such hymns to reveal, as they are altered and adapted, shifts in American popular religion. The book also focuses attention on the role hymns play in changing attitudes about race, class, gender, economic life, politics, and society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780817380717
Publisher:	University of Alabama Press
Publication date:	11/18/2010
Series:	Religion and American Culture
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Mark A. Noll is McManis Chair of Christian Thought at Wheaton College and coeditor with Edith L. Blumhofer of Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land: Hymnody in the History of North American Protestantism. Edith L. Blumhofer is Director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals, Professor of History at Wheaton College, and author of Aimee Semple McPherson: Everybody’s Sister.  

Table of Contents

Contents Introduction 000 I. The History in a Hymn 1. "Amazing Grace": The History of a Hymn and a Cultural Icon D. Bruce Hindmarsh 000 2. The Methodist National Anthem: "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" and the Development of American Methodism John R. Tyson 000 3. "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name": Significant Variations on a Significant Theme Mark A. Noll 000 II. Hymns and Hymnbooks as Cultural Icons 4. Textual Editing and the "Making" of Hymns in Nineteenth-Century America Mary De Jong 000 5. Textual Changes in Popular Occasional Hymns Found in American Evangelical Hymnals Samuel J. Rogal 000 6. Indices: More Than Meets the I Mary Louise VanDyke 000 7. Fanny Crosby, William Doane, and the Making of Gospel Hymns in the Late Nineteenth Century Edith L. Blumhofer 000 III. Understanding the Classical Era of American Protestantism through Hymns 8. Heritage and Hymnody: Richard Allen and the Making of African Methodism Dennis C. Dickerson 000 9. Singing Pilgrims: Hymn Narratives of a Pilgrim Community's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come, 18301890 Candy Gunther Brown 000 10. Children of the Heavenly King: Hymns in the Religious and Social Experience of Children, 17801850 Heather D. Curtis 000 11. Domesticity in American Hymns, 18201870 Susan VanZanten Gallagher 000 Contributors 000 Index 000

Editorial Reviews

"This collection of essays takes the study of hymnody into the broader context of American religious life. Unlike traditional hymnological studies, the present work examines nonmusical aspects of hymns in order to gain a better understanding of the religious, social, cultural, and political lives of Americans from the 17th century to the present. The 11 essays are presented in three sections. The first section includes historical studies of three well-known hymns and how they reflect developments and changes in religious beliefs. For example, D. Bruce Hindmarsh's history of  'Amazing Grace' is an intriguing account of how the text of the hymn evolved in reaction to changing biblical theology and its 20th-century role in a secular context. The second section contains four essays that explore hymnbooks as cultural icons. These contributions include studies on textual editing, the role of editors, and, perhaps most interestingly, a study of hymnal indexes in determining styles of evangelizing. The final section examines social and cultural aspects of American Protestantism in the 19th century through hymns. The collection is a breakthrough contribution to the study of hymnology. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels."
—CHOICE

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