Hymns--Revised Standard Version | This Christian Life

January 17, 2003

Hymns—Revised Standard Version

Category: Postmodernism

Is it time for the “church” to change the words in hymns to better suit our times?

In Quest of an Ancient Future: Old Hymns, Contemporary Context—by John R. Throop

While there are hymn writers composing today, many of the great standards found in hymnals were usually penned in either the 18th or 19th century. Luther’s magnanimous bulwark-never-failing, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” was written over 400 years ago. Those who enjoy hymns need to keep this in mind.
Hymns are indeed a distinctive type of church music. Yet after a generation or two of secularization and the widespread availability and accessibility of popular music-including the amazing growth of contemporary Christian music-hymnody seems isolated in a subcultural music ghetto. This is unfortunate because of the hymn’s remarkable ability to communicate essential biblical truths.

The other Sunday I was in church singing a familiar hymn—one that I like. I’ve sung this hymn hundreds of times in my life, I’m sure. As I sang, I got to a word I didn’t know the meaning of. I found it hard to sing the remaining parts of the verse without thinking about the fact that I had no idea what I was singing about. For the sake of discussion, the hymn and word will remain anonymous, because it occured to me that there are several hymns that this happens with. There may be a word or phrase that is not used anymore in our day and age.

So, I ask again. Is it time to change the words of some of the old hymns we sing? I mean, the Bible, our most used book in the Christian faith, has been translated, re-worded, and re-phrased countless times in an effort to speak to a new age, culture, or era, so why shouldn’t we consider doing the same to hymns?

Posted by pablohart on January 17, 2003 02:10 PM

Comments

The problem is that those who want to revise the hymns want to inject their theology into the hymn as well.

I say let the words of the hymn writer stand. If the hymn falls out of use - so be it.

Posted by Jim at January 21, 2005 12:50 PM

There's certainly no reason not to touch up the words in hymn texts to make the original meaning more clear. I certainly agree with the warning against "injecting" a new theological slant, but the fact is that language changes, and we simply don't use the same words to convey the same meaning over time.

Case in point: I recently ran into the word, "guerdon", in a hymn. While this word is still in our dictionaries (it means "a reward; recompense"), I had no compunction replacing it with the word, "profit".

Case in point: thee/thy/thou/thine/thou'rt/was't, etc. All of these outdated forms can be replaced with normal words without changing the meaning one bit. I know some people still like the old manners of speech, which is fine, too -- but I don't think we should be locked into them for all time.

Posted by Dave at March 15, 2005 3:11 PM

I don't think it's too much of an issue to re-word outdated words in hymns as long as it doesn't get too politically correct.

Dave: you yourself in your comments used some words that are not common to everyday speech or writing, such as recompense (in the dictionary definitation) and compunction.

I personally don't mind some of the older forms. In reading/performing Shakespeare, don't we use the original forms? I personally enjoy reading the older translations of the Bible from time to time, such as the RSV. I also read from the New Jerusalem, which, although it is a relatively modern translation, it is translated into UK English.

Posted by Andrew at March 25, 2005 10:33 PM

I think the key is to modernize the music. Let the words stand as is. We are already becoming a nation lacking in vocabulary and gaining more dribble and catch phrases. Check out Passion :Hymns Ancient and modern. They take the hymns and tweak them a bit to make them more relevant.

Posted by Tim at April 20, 2005 4:57 PM

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