Another source of “red hymnal” liturgical resources

The Services of Religion associated with the red Hymns of the Spirit drew from many sources. One was Devotional Services for Public Worship (1903), an example of English Congregationalist liturgy; it represents a parallel strain to Free Christianity within English Dissent. To note.

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Hurrian Hymn No. 6

The oldest known melody… A hymn to Nikkal, a Ugarit and Caananite goddess of fruit and wife of the moon god, Yarikh (and namesake of Jericho.) All I know from memory about the Ugarit language is that it’s an ancient Semitic language that you could learn in the religion department at my alma mater, UGA… Continue reading Hurrian Hymn No. 6

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New hymnals in!

They’ve been in for a while, truth be told. Not ready to review them, but each is larger that I thought it might be. There is the words-only edition of the United Church of Canada’s Voices United and the Church of Scotland’s Church Hymnary 4 (purple) with the words-only Unitarian and Free Christian Hymns of… Continue reading New hymnals in!

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Unitarian worship resource for Union soldiers

This small 1865 American Unitarian Association assortment of rousing songs and Bible readings (arranged for unison or responsive reading, and with headings like “Those who turn from Holiness are condemned”) isn’t explicitly for Union soldiers, but songs like “Arise, New-England’s Sons!” and “The Massachusetts Line” weren’t likely to appeal to Johnny Reb. The Soldier’s Companion:… Continue reading Unitarian worship resource for Union soldiers

The found would-be Universalist hymnal

The discussions around these hymns and hymnal posts on that walled garden, Facebook, have been far more lively that the comments here might suggest. Thanks to commenters here and there. A bit of alternative history. The Universalists didn’t have to be consolidated with the Unitarians. There was as an eleventh-hour attempt to stop it. (Which… Continue reading The found would-be Universalist hymnal

Another hymnal found: for Unitarian mission

While looking for the source of an obscure responsive reading, I came across this little service book: Mission hymnal of the Unitarian Laymen’s League. Despite it being undated, and Internet Archive dating it to 1900, it is in fact later. Unless the Unitarian Laymen’s League had the powers of time travel, as it includes a… Continue reading Another hymnal found: for Unitarian mission

Historic hymn and worship resource: something for the Humanists

Hello, Humanists? I hope you don’t feel too slighted on this blog; it’s only that I feel a particular mission to the Christian part of liberal religion and Unitarian Universalism in particular. But many of the same hymnological themes I’ve been writing about recently (and many of the worship themes I’ll be turning to) have… Continue reading Historic hymn and worship resource: something for the Humanists

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Review: other lists of Unitarian Universalist “canonical” hymns

Saturday’s blog post (“Fifty Shades of Unitarian“) wasn’t the first time I’ve worked up lists of what might be “canonical” hymns in the Unitarian and Universalist traditions. Because this looks back over several decades, it necessarily includes only old hymns, which is useful (to a point) for finding hymns that have entered the public domain.… Continue reading Review: other lists of Unitarian Universalist “canonical” hymns

Fifty Shades of Unitarian

So, what are the “standards” of Unitarian hymnody? Lacking an objective standard, I’ve looked at the question one of two ways: hymns commonly found in Unitarian hymnals, by Unitarian authors; and those chosem by leading lights. This blog post assumes the later. “The Unitarian faith set forth in fifty Unitarian hymns” by American Unitarian Association… Continue reading Fifty Shades of Unitarian