Theology Today - Vol 42, No. 1 - April 1985 - ARTICLE

59 - Hymns are Theology

Hymns are Theology
By S T Kimbrough, Jr.

"All Christians need to develop critical acumen about what they sing. Hymns are theology, and Christians tend to reflect the content and mood of their hymns in the way they think and live as a church and community…. There is a need to recognize hymns for precisely what they are, in both words and music, and to discard poetical and musical statements which perpetuate a static theology which never leads beyond self to service. "

THE hymns of the church are theology. They are theological statements: the church's lyrical, theological commentaries on Scripture, liturgy, faith, action, and hosts of other subjects which call the reader and singer to faith, life, and Christian practice. Unfortunately, hymnody as a branch of study in theological and Christian education has enjoyed little integrity, due to approaches to the subject which have not taken hymns themselves seriously as theology. To be sure, the theology of hymns may be good or bad, perceptive or trite, well-meaning or wrong-headed, and may or may not affirm biblical theology and church tradition. Hugh T. Kerr and David Weadon aver in "Hymns and Theology: A Little Case Study": "if hymns are selected for us and are not of our own choosing, then the theology expressed may or may not be compatible." ¹ Here is precisely a primary problem in Christendom: singing that which is compatible. All too few hymn books rise above denominationalism, and all too few hymn writers rise above confessional idiosyncrasies. Compatibility with the Scripture and church tradition is more of a primary concern than whether the theology of hymns is compatible with one's own theology. If the theology of hymns affirms the biblical faith, often it will be incompatible and will judge one's theology, faith and action, just as does the Scripture.

The concern of this article is how hymns can have theological integrity. Four avenues to such integrity will be explored: (1) Hymns must be acknowledged as theology. (2) Hymns should reflect a profound

S T Kimbrough, Jr. is the author of Israelite Religion in Sociological Perspective (1978) and numerous scholarly articles on both biblical studies and church music. He performs in the United States and in Europe as a concert and operatic baritone, and he currently serves as the International Executive Secretary of Christian Arts, Inc
¹ David A. Weadon and Hugh T. Kerr, "Hymns and Theology: A Little Case Study," The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Volume 5, Number 3 [New Series] (1994), p. 228.

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sense of the mystery of the incarnation and its effect on human life. (3) Hymns should affirm a theology of newness. (4) Hymns should be a liturgical bridge to the enactment of faith.

(1) Hymns must be acknowledged as theology-a word about God, a God-word. The word may be ineffectual and contradictory or it may be perceptive and faith affirming. Without question, there are many levels of musical and theological awareness, and certainly there are dangers in musical and theological prejudices which qualify the integrity of hymns. For example, one of the limitations of pietism is that it repudiates subtlety and hence greatly restricts poetry. It also expects of music strong emotion, excitement, edification, and indoctrination. Quickly resolved chords often underscore an overdrawn, simplistic view of faith which allows little place for the soul-searching, introspective and inward-looking aspect of growth in faith.

Hymn books are the lyrical, theological textbooks of Christendom. Their hymns are to be sung corporately, but such an act can take on its fullest meaning when the books are also taken from the pew and made, along with Scripture, a part of the study and devotional life of the Christian. There one studies sources (for example, the church fathers, poets, Scripture), history and events (for example, times of suffering and persecution), liturgical contexts, and so on, which have precipitated the hymn writer's lyrics and theology.

(2)Hymns should reflect a profound sense of the mystery of the incarnation and its effect on human life. It behooves the musician as well as the poet to express this emphasis in hymn writing coupled with a passion for the gospel. Such a sense of the incarnation evokes an "open-ended" theology that allows for the awestruck wonder of God's creative and redemptive process, which is unending. Isaac Watts affirms such a theology in the hymn, " hen I Survey the Wondrous Cross."

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

While protagonists of sex-inclusive language may object to the word " prince," Watts' hymn expresses a theology of wonder which results from viewing life against the backdrop of Christ's cross experience. From that vantage point there is an ongoing opportunity for personal growth as one's self-image is placed in proper perspective and one realizes that earthly riches result in a deficit rather than a profit in living. God's vicarious outpouring of loving-self judges human pride contemptible. Watts' hymn verbalizes the quest for identity through a cruciform life-a life-long quest.

Contrast such a theology with that in the chorus, "At the Cross," which unfortunately has been added to another Watts' hymn, "Alas! and Did my Savior Bleed." The chorus, which appears in the R. E.

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Hudson musical setting, was not part of Watts' original hymn text and expresses a theology quite different from the introspective examination in the hymn. It reads:

At the cross, at the cross,
Where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away;
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day.

The hymn expresses the inner journey of humility and repentance upon which one is launched when one contemplates the vicarious suffering of Jesus upon the cross.

Alas! and did my Savior bleed?
And did my Sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?*
Was it for crimes that I have done,
He. groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! Grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

*(This line aroused much objection and was changed to "For sinners such as I" and "For such an one as I" in many hymn books.)

The hymn calls individuals to ask each time it is read or sung: Did the Savior die on my behalf? Did God go to a death in search of me? Could such sacred devotion to life in death be for the unworthy such as I? Did misdeeds such as those in my life put Christ upon the cross?

One stanza of the hymn which does not appear in most modern hymn books reads:

Thus might I hide my blushing face,
While his dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

The confrontation of Calvary is an embarrassment to human justice whereby wrong-doers are punished for their unjust deeds. The realization of the magnitude of God's love in dealing with human waywardness and corruption brings one to gratitude and tears. This often-omitted stanza provides the proper thought sequence to the stanza generally printed in most hymn books as the last and which begins:

But tears of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe….

The chorus, "At the Cross," sometimes added to Watts' hymn, expresses a static theology quite different from the hymn itself. Indeed, it describes a blissful state evoked by encountering the cross: one is "happy all the day." While the hymn takes one on an inward journey of humility and repentance that is agonizing and creative for growth in faith, the chorus transports one to a state of ecstasy and euphoria which all but obliterates the soul-rending thoughts of Watts' words, which are

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embued with the mystery of the incarnation. Those of the chorus are not.

(3) Hymns should affirm a theology of newness. The psalmist adjures all to "Sing to the Lord a new song!" (Psalm 96:1). Life, God's gift, is for singing. Human beings are called to effervesce in melodious praise of God for the duration of life and in a new song. What can the psalmist mean? There are at least two levels of such newness which should be reflected in hymns: (a) Hymns should communicate a theology of expectancy, anticipation, and openness. (b) Hymns should appropriate the language of the time.

(a) Hymns should communicate a theology of expectancy, anticipation, and openness. There is the constant possibility of the new experience in the walk with God. Human beings never reach full perfection in the faith journey, never fully understand, never fulfill completely faith's expectations. When Charles Wesley, the eighteenth century Anglican priest who is Christendom's most outstanding English language hymn writer, bad a life-transforming experience (this was three days before his brother John's celebrated "heart warming experience" in May of 1738 at Aldersgate in London), he wrote what he later called his conversion hymn: "Where Shall My Wondering Soul Begin?" Two stanzas of it read as follows:

Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
A brand plucked from eternal fire,
How shall I equal triumphs raise,
Or sing my great deliverer's praise?

And shall I slight my Father's love?
Or basely fear his gifts to own?
Unmindful of his favors prove?
Shall I, the hallowed cross to shun,
Refuse his righteousness to impart
By hiding it within my heart?

Charles Wesley's experience of Christ was open to newness, as his questions indicate. It was never a final experience. It was an ongoing part of God's creative process. His hymns reflect a maturing, growing faith. They are not dogmatic statements formulated for indoctrination. They are ever new because they lead into the questions of faith. They question the authenticity and validity of one's faith, and result in a doxology:

Hark! How all the welkin rings,
"Glory to the King of Kings!"

These are the original opening lines to Wesley's familiar hymn:

Hark! The herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"

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(b) Hymns should appropriate the language of the time. Every age brings new language, new persons, new life, and new faith which are part of the song and the singer. This is why the hymn books of Christendom are ever changing. They may not become closed books. They must appropriate the best texts and music of the past, present, and future to bring the gospel to life in the language of faith as sung by the church.

Fred Pratt Green, a retired British Methodist pastor who lives in Norwich, exemplifies as well as any other twentieth century hymn writer the importance of this aspect of newness. How poignantly his hymn on the contemporary city speaks to this age!

Pray for our cities! Grown too fast,
How many lives they crush or break!
Their golden nets too widely cast,
They gather more than they can take.
How many seeking gold find dross!
Who can assess the gain and loss?

Look kindly on each nameless face,
All who make up the motley throng;
That immigrant of alien race;
The lonely old, the rootless young;
The ones who rise, the ones who fall;
The rich, the poor: pray for them all!

What sins the great apostle saw
In Corinth, Athens, Ephesus!
What breaking of the moral law!
How these same problems stare at us,
From sordid sex to double-talk,
In modern London or New York.

But Christ, who teaches us to care,
Who loved the city David planned,
Who wept for it, and suffered there;
Who builds on rock and not on sand;
He shares with us each urban task,
And gives new life to all who ask. ²

How fresh and compelling are his words for an age overwhelmed by injustice!

Once upon a time they went,
King and page together,
On a deed of kindness bent,
In the winter weather.
Every legend has its truth,
May this one remind us
Where a neighbour is in need
Christ expects to find us.

Victims of injustice cry:
On your own confession

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Charity is not enough,
We must end oppression.
Yet, in such a world as this,
Daily we are proving
There are evils none can cure
Without deeds of loving.

We must follow in his steps
Who was found in fashion
As a man, yet never lost
His divine compassion.
Lord, release such love in us
We shall be more ready
To reach out with speedy aid
To your poor and needy. ³

The psalmist's admonition to "sing a new song" is a call to consider carefully sex-inclusive language in hymns. This does not mean a radical and immediate change of all sex-exclusive nouns and pronouns which refer to God in Scripture and theology without tedious scrutiny of the implications of changes for the theology of the Christian faith and the church at large. It does mean taking seriously the quest for language which affirms the common bond of male and female sexuality in the Christian faith. Such a quest will necessitate change. Once again Fred Pratt Green exemplifies the pursuit of this facet of newness. Note the changes he has proposed for his own hymns.

From "Glorious the Day When Christ Was Born": ⁴

Glorious the day when Christ was born
To wear the crown that Caesars scorn,
Whose life and death that love reveal
Which all men* need and need to feel:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

*(suggested change: "we all" or "mortals")

Glorious the day when Christ fulfills
What man* rejects yet feebly wills;
When that strong light puts out the sun
And all is ended, all begun.

*(suggested change: "What self")

From "O Christ, the Healer, We Have Come": ⁵

Grant that we all, made one in faith,
In your community we find
The wholeness that, enriching us,
Shall reach, and shall enrich mankind.*

*(suggested change: "Shall reach the whole of humankind."

The American Lutheran Hymnal includes this

³ Ibid., p. 127. Words ©copyright 1970 by Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, Illinois.
Reproduced by permission.
⁴ Ibid., p. 6.
⁵ Ibid., p. 12.

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hymn with the following change of the line:
"Shall reach and prosper humankind.")

One hymn by Fred Pratt Green, "Now It is Evening," has been honored with first place in a competition for new hymns that use sex-inclusive language sponsored by the Presbytery of Albany, MY. of The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

If hymns are to affirm a theology of newness, their language must also be ecumenical. Hymns have a special ability to transcend denominational boundaries. The church has a superb example of how this is accomplished in the hymns of Charles Wesley. It is rare indeed to pick up a hymn book today, from the Roman Catholic Church to most Protestant churches, and not find Wesleyan hymns. How has Wesley achieved such ecumenical acceptance? (i) On the whole his language points to the realm of spiritual experience rather than doctrinal formulation. What Albert Outler says of John Wesley may be applied to Charles as well: "Belief as such was, for Wesley, a secondary category. His main concern was for spirituality itself, for knowing God in the heart by faith, for practicing the presence of God, for seeking after perfect love." ⁶ (ii) Charles Wesley's emphasis on spirituality had a liturgical context, hence, he combined a sacramental and an evangelical spirituality. One of the richest spiritual resources for the church at large in an age of ecumenism is Wesley's treasure of sacramental hymns. For example:

Come sinners, to the gospel feast,
Let every soul be Jesu's guest;
Ye need not one be left behind,
For God hath bidden all mankind.

In hymns based on passages of Scripture from almost every book of the Bible, on numerous liturgical occasions and the church year, and on a wide spectrum of related theological subjects Charles Wesley has shown how hymns can transcend apologetics. It should be added that the superb hymn editorial ability of his brother, John Wesley, served such transcendence well and in many instances strengthened the universal appeal of Charles' hymns.

(4)Hymns should be a liturgical bridge to the enactment of faith. Hymns are a vital part of liturgy, that is, part of set forms of public worship. To be sure, the use of hymns in worship is as diverse as forms of worship. Some liturgies fix and restrict their usage, while others have no limitations whatsoever. Such diversity affects both the content and context of hymns, hence their theology.

For centuries the daily offices of Roman Catholicism have made wide use of hymns in the context of liturgy as doxologies, illumination of Scripture, prayers, and so forth. Examples include the well known Magnificat, Te Deum, Veni Creator Spiritus, and numerous others.

⁶ Albert C. Outler in the preface to John and Charles Wesley, edited by Frank Whaling (New York: Paulist Press, 1981), p. 8.

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Many of the ancient Latin hymns are less known to Protestants who are influenced largely by a hymnody which developed from the time of the Reformation, except for some Lutheran and Anglican traditions where many Latin hymns have been retained in translation. ⁷

The problem of the accessibility of hymns to the laity was addressed by the Reformation, and it is here that the development of the German hymn thrived, and the chorale form provided a viable musical context for congregation and choir. The problem was compounded in the Church of England by the Tractarian movement, whose theology and practice divided the worshipping community into priests and servers, choir, and the remainder of the congregation. This created the phenomenon of ordinary hymn singing by the congregation, viewed by many as inferior to the exquisite singing of the choir. In the Lutheran Reformation, by and large, congregational singing became a practical way of expressing the priesthood of all believers. For example, by placing the Gradual hymn with the congregation, the people were able through singing to expound Scripture, that is, respond to the gospel and prepare for the epistle. This is a practice less familiar in Protestant church traditions which have preserved hymns primarily for the following uses: "adoration and praise, reflective or topical, and dismissal of the faithful." ⁸ Although Kerr and Weadon maintain that three hymns, one from each of the mentioned categories, are exemplary of "a typical Sunday morning service" and are the "paradigm of all Christian worship anywhere," the hymnody of the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches reveals that the spectrum of usage is much broader.

What happened in Lutheranism, which greatly influenced the future of Protestant hymnody, was that the emerging German hymns influenced by the chorale form were sung as part of the liturgy and began to take precedence over the metrical Latin hymns and metrical psalms. "In England hymns were sung at the liturgy" in contrast to Germany. ⁹ It was two Anglican priests, however, Charles and John Wesley, who transformed hymnody by orienting hymns in their public and private usage to inward spirituality. It was never their intention to deemphasize the liturgy. The opposite was the case, namely, the necessity of constant Communion coupled with introspective dedication. The Wesleys sought spirituality in a liturgical context. Nonetheless, they set the stage for freer church traditions, which place more importance on spirituality than on liturgy, to use hymns "non-liturgically." In the West, hymn usage was destined to move from specific liturgical content and contexts in Roman Catholicism to simple, spontaneous

⁷ See Joseph Connelly, Hymns of the Roman Liturgy (Westminster, Md.: The Newman Press, 1957).
⁸ Weadon and Kerr, p. 224.
⁹ See Robin A. Leaver, The Liturgy and Music (Nottingham: Bramcote Nott, 1976), p. 29.

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usage in some Protestant church traditions with little or no liturgical structure.

What is important here is to understand that hymns are theology and hymns are liturgy, that is, integral parts of forms of worship. Those forms may be structured by the printed word with little flexibility or unstructured and dependent largely on oral tradition. Hymns which affirm only a high liturgy or only an inward spirituality will do little to accomplish the purpose of the church on earth: to live out God's love and justice as experienced in the incarnation of Jesus. Hymns are needed which also have a social element. Such hymns become a bridge between theory and practice, become a living theology to be actualized by the singers-the community of faith. Hence, inward faith and outward works are inseparably joined. Here again the Wesleys epitomize a theology of hymnody wherein the hymns sung in worship propel the congregation into service by going to those who need them most, the hallmark of the Wesleyan emphasis. The Wesleys would have judged futile the personal ecstasy evoked by hymns which embody the language of a stagnant and static orthodoxy which does not lead to social action.

Hymns should be the pulse beat of the church's theology and sociology of music: it sings to live out the faith and lives to sing out the faith. Hymns immured within a non-liturgical pietism or within a liturgical ecclesiasticism will serve only the church's isolation and division.

Hymns are theology. They communicate the Scripture, the gospel, the faith, and church tradition. Hymns affirm a theology of the Word, hence, their language is of utmost importance. It is not a vehicle for the theological ego of a particular group or denomination, but a vehicle for God's praise and human realization of God's will on earth. Therefore, the theology which shapes the language of hymns is of primary importance and Christians must be concerned with its integrity.

All Christians need to develop critical acumen about what they sing. Hymns are theology, and Christians tend to reflect the content and mood of their hymns in the way they think and live as a church and community. Many are limited to a select number of favorite hymns, a practice which greatly restricts growth and development in faith. There is a need to expand the horizons and vision of the community of faith by studying the hymns of the past and present, a vast theological corpus, and developing the ability to judge what has integrity in the light of Scripture, church tradition, and history. There is a need to recognize hymns for precisely what they are, in both words and music, and to discard poetical and musical statements which perpetuate a static theology which never leads beyond self to service.

The hymns of the church are perhaps its finest commentary on faith and practice outside the Scripture. It is time for theological and Christian education, as well as individual Christians, to take the task of

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their study seriously so that present and future generations may decrease the discrepancy between faith which is sung and faith with is lived.

Having written this article, however, the writer must hasten to add that the human soul, which responds in humble gratitude, joy, and wonder to its Creator and the gift of redemption in Jesus, may break forth spontaneously into song and summarize in the Hebrew psalmist's simple acclamation, "Hallelujah!", the metaphors, similes, and figures of speech employed to express praise of God. The soul may affirm in bursts of song what the mind cannot comprehend!