Hymnology (from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

ὕμνος ''hymnos'', "song of praise" and -λογία ''-logia'', "study of") is the

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

ly study of

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

, or the

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

, in its many aspects, with particular focus on choral and

congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

song. It may be more or less clearly distinguished from ''

ody'', the creation and practice of such song. Hymnologists, such as

Erik Routley Erik Reginald Routley (; 31 October 1917, Brighton, UK – 8 October 1982, Nashville TN) was an English Congregational churchman, theologian and musician and arguably the most significant hymnologist of the 20th century. His nearly 40 books on the ...

, may study the history and origins of hymns and of traditions of sung worship, the biographies of the women and men who have written hymns that have passed into choral or congregational use, the interrelationships between text and tune, the historical processes, both folk and redactional, that have changed hymn texts and hymn tunes over time, and the sociopolitical, theological and aesthetic arguments concerning various styles of sung worship. Hymnology is not an "-ology" in the usual sense of an independent discipline that has a proper set of concepts and critical vocabulary that must first be learned before progress can be made. Rather, it's two disciplines: one that studies the texts and follows the rules of literary scholarship, the other that is trained in music and follows the rules of musicology. The "-ology" just means that they might publish in the same journals, occasionally attend the same conferences, or be asked to serve on a

hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Chri ...

committee. If they write about the interaction between music and text, this is purely by instinct: there is no "scholarly consensus" for an underlying set of principles about how the interaction can be optimized. Often, the term "hymnologist" simply refers to anyone who has enough standing within the faith community to be asked to serve on a hymnal committee. Hymnology is sometimes more strictly construed, as in ''

A Dictionary of Hymnology ''A Dictionary of Hymnology'' (or, more completely, ''A Dictionary of Hymnology: Origin and History of Christian Hymns and Hymnwriters of All Ages and Nations, Together with Biographical and Critical Notices of Their Authors and Translators'') by ...

'',John Julian, ed., (1902/1985), ''A Dictionary of Hymnology'', Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel. edited by

John D. Julian John Julian (27 January 1839 – 23 January 1913) (no middle name on birth certificate) was a Church of England clergyman, known as the editor of ''A Dictionary of Hymnology''. Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first this was th ...

, which concerns itself very largely with the history, textual changes, and translations of hymns, and with the biographies of

hymnographer A hymnwriter (or hymn writer, hymnist, hymnodist, hymnographer, etc.) is someone who writes the text, music, or both of hymns. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the composition of hymns dates back to before the time of David, who composed many of ...

s, and very little with the poetic metres of these hymns, or with the hymn tunes to which these are sung.

References

External links

''A Dictionary of Hymnology''
on Google Books.
The Hymn Society of Great Britain and IrelandThe Hymn Society in the United States and Canada

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{{Authority control Religious music

See also

References

External links