Here is indeed a book which will set the Church to singing once more, in an effort to proclaim a new awareness of the presence of God—that same awareness which stirred the composers of our greatest hymns. Dr. Lorenz makes visible to us the golden stairway of great hymn writers, shining at every level of its ascent with the glory of the Christian faith.
THE CONTENTS
Introduction. PART I: The Character of the Hymn. Chapters: What Is a Hymn? The Purpose and Value Of Hymns. The Literary Aspect of Hymns. The Emendation of Hymns. The Content of the Hymn. The Gospel Hymn.
PART II: History of the Development of the Christian Hymn. Chapters: Apostolic Origin and Development. The Post-Apostolic Hymn. The Greek Hymnody. The Latin Hymnody. Luther and the German Hymn. The Later German Hymnody. Metrical Psalmody. The English Hymn before Watts. Isaac Watts and His Period. The Wesleys and Their Era. Hymns in the Church of England. American Hymnody.
PART III: Practical Hymnology. Chapters: The Study of Hymns. The Practical Use of Hymns. The Selection of: Hymns. The Announcement and Treatment of Hymns. Epilogue.
The study is pre-eminently thorough both in literary analysis and in historical research. The altogether practical treatment illuminates the whole field of hymnology and its values.
THE SINGING CHURCH
The Hymns It Wrote and Sang
By EDMUND S. LORENZ
This book merits the careful study of the minister, the choir master, the organist, and others who wish to vitalize public and private worship by an intelligent use of our Christian hymnody.
The book is at once scholarly and practical. No other treats so informatively and yet so interestingly:—