Religion: New Hymnal

Episcopalians have long been justifiably proud of their hymnal. Last week Episcopalians got an even better one: the Joint Commission on the Revision of the Hymnal, appointed in 1937, produced the fruits of six years’ labors.

Of the revised Hymnal’s nearly 600 hymns (an increase of about 40) 201 are new. Some hymns have been dropped. Most of these, like Tarry With Me, O My Saviour, were on the egocentric side. The current trend is toward theocentric hymns. Two surprising deletions: Julia Ward Howe’s Battle Hymn of the Republic, Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar.

Added starters: ten Christmas carols, some of the great German chorals whose sweep and power make them ideal for congregational singing. Many an old hymn has changed its tune. Hymns that were too high-pitched for most singers have been set in a lower key. Except in cases where the hymn is one of praise or prayer, Amen has been dropped from endings.†

Some notable additions: John Oxenham’s In Christ There Is No East Or West, Evelyn Atwater Cummins’ popular poem,

The King’s Highway; Christina Rossetti’s somber In the Bleak Mid-Winter; a Negro spiritual, Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?

†Dr. William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, once observed:”The singing of Amen at the end of a hymn always is a bore—why do we keep ondoing it?”