It is interesting to re-read the New Testament in the search for hymns, but one should remember that the field is controversial. Some commentators would suggest that the entire 13th chapter of I Corinthians is a hymn, beginning,

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels.[15]

A moderate rather than an extreme position, however, upon the identity of hymn sources in the New Testament seems more likely to be productive of a genuine appreciation of the style, subject matter and number of primitive Christian hymns.

Traces of poetic improvisation, which is so closely allied to hymnody, must be seriously considered at this point. The art of improvisation belongs to no one age or country. It happens that the Greeks had practiced it for centuries and that illustrations exist from the time of Homer. To the Hellenized orient it was familiar. “The Greeks of Cilicia and of the region about Antioch and Tarsus,” as Dr. George Dwight Kellogg reminds us, “seem to have cultivated the art and become famous.” He also suggests that the “gift of tongues” refers to this art and that Paul himself possessed the poetic talent in no small degree.[16] It is only natural to assume that, among the early Christians, certain individuals would react to the influence of heightened emotion in outbursts of poetic expression. Passages in the Book of Acts may refer to the use of such hymns, for example, in the case of the Gentiles at Caesarea, who “speak with tongues and magnify God” (Acts 10:45-46), or the Ephesians who “spake with tongues, and prophesied” (Acts 19:6), or perhaps the disciples on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4). Irenaeus, a second century father of the Church and bishop of Lyons, referring to the scene at Pentecost, mentions the singing of a hymn on that occasion.[17] The nature of improvisations is fugitive. They arise from individual inspiration and, even if expressed in familiar phrases, are not remembered or recorded by the singer or hearer. To whatever degree improvisation played a part in early Christian hymnody, to that same degree we lack corresponding literary survivals. Possibly this is one explanation of the dearth of sources which we now deplore.

On the whole, the hymnic evidence found in the New Testament points to a predominant Hebrew influence. Both in the use of psalms and other Old Testament hymns and in the phraseology of new hymns, the Christians found themselves more at home in the traditional forms of expression. Features of style, such as parallelism, uniformity and the repetition of words or word order, were not necessarily restricted to Hebrew poetry but might be found in other oriental sources—a consideration to which further attention will be given later.[18] Still we may assume that the influence of Judaism in form as well as subject matter was supreme.

IV. Liturgical Hymns

Christian practice reveals a third type of Hebrew influence, the liturgical, which brought about the use of the psalms in public worship, together with other elements familiar in the synagogue. At the close of a service of this kind, made up of prayers, readings, psalms and preaching, the eucharist was celebrated. Early writings, for example, the Apologia of Justin Martyr, 100?-165,[19] the Didache[20] and the Apostolic Constitutions,[21] testify to a somewhat fixed type of worship, which, varying in details, seems to foreshadow the liturgical models of the fourth century.

Briefly stated, the Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, is a second century treatise, the second part of which includes a ritual of baptism, fasting and the eucharist.[22] A series of eucharistic prayers is here recorded, beginning, Εὐχαριστοῦμέν σοι, πάτερ ἡμῶν,

We thank Thee, our Father,

offered at stages of the communion ritual where we approach the heart of Christian worship.[23] At this point, hymn and prayer origins merge. Many Christians of our own day, perhaps the majority, regard the true hymn as a prayer offered in direct address to God. Throughout the history of Christian hymns the two forms of worship have overlapped or been identical. Hymn and prayer were also associated in ancient cults, and the chorus of a Greek drama offers an illustration of the superb proportions which this act of worship may assume. Charles Stanley Phillips, who has recently translated anew the eucharistic prayer of the Didache, thinks of it as not a true hymn, but a source and model of hymnody.[24] Improvised eucharistic prayer was interrupted by congregational refrains which provided another opportunity for the evolution of hymns. As a matter of fact, in all ages, expressions of thanksgiving, attending the celebration of the eucharist, have inspired many of the finest hymns of the faith.