Baptist Hymnody in America: A Documentary History

Baptist Hymnody in America is a collection of primary documents on congregational singing among Baptists in the United States from the eighteenth through the early twenty-first centuries. These documents–many of which are not readily available and are gathered here for the first time–record the struggles and triumphs of Baptists as they have sought to provide acceptable sung forms of worship, suggest how certain types of song became identified particularly as “Baptist,” demonstrate the varying philosophies of hymnody expressed among Baptists for the past four hundred years, and reveal the historic diversity of Baptist worship practices. The introduction describes the purpose, format, and organization of the collection. Subsequent discussions take up the British Baptist background in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the beginnings of Baptist hymnody in America; the earliest Baptist hymnals; local and regional collections in the early nineteenth century; sectional, national, and denominational collections in the mid-nineteenth century; the Sunday school song and revival hymnody; hymnals of the late nineteenth century; hymnals of denominational identity; and new currents in Baptist congregational song. Each chapter is prefaced by a general introduction, and each document or group of documents is provided with a commentary that contains biographical information on the author, the context and a summary of the writing, and a description of the source. The documents included are not only of intrinsic interest but also provide a foundation for engaging current and future issues regarding congregational song within Baptist life.