EXPLORING PRAISE!
Vols. 1 (2006) & 2 (2007)
By Christopher M. Idle
Praise Trust, Darlington. 864 & 535 pages. £36.00 each
These hefty volumes form a ccompanion to the hymn book |Praise! Psalms, hymns and Songs for Christian Worship|, published seven years ago, and already widely used and valued.
It is a major mainstream contemporary evangelical hymn book. Major, because of its size (999 items), the representative nature of the editorial committee (with Christopher Idle as the only Anglican) and the time — seven years — and care taken in its preparation. Mainstream, because it serves and represents a wide, important and vigorous constituency of churches in the UK and beyond. Contemporary, because it includes a range of living writers and composers, and makes deliberate choice of present-day language, for reasons expounded in the Introduction. Evangelical because, on John Wesley’s principle, it forms ‘a body of experimental and practical divinity’ shaped and tested by Scripture. As a hymn book, |Praise!| offers real hymns, together with some better described as ‘worship songs’ but framed and tested by the same criteria: namely that they are biblical, relevant in today’s church and world, singable, and meeting a proper standard of content and craftsmanship.
Many contributors
|Praise!| is the work of many hands and hearts. Writers of texts, let alone tunes, number over 400. But |Exploring Praise!| is the work of one man. When we see that the man in question is Christopher Idle, well known to readers of this paper, such a work at once commands our interest and our confidence.
The two volumes largely consist of three main parts. There is a commentary on every hymn, both text and (usually in smaller compass) tune. These are factual, well-researched, thought-provoking, and often contain insights and information not readily available elsewhere — even in Julian’s celebrated |Dictionary of Hymnology| or in the numerous companions to earlier hymnals. These entries are longer than in most similar works. No. 453, for example, on Watt’s ‘When we survey the wondrous cross’ is a densely-packed 750 words or so, compared with (for example) the six lines given to it in the 1979 |Handbook to Church Hymnary|, or the less than 200 words in Erik Routley’s and K.L. Parry’s |Companion to Congregational Praise|. Even the more recent and invaluable |Companion to Hymns and Psalms| (1988) has to be content with not much more than 350 words on the text of this most celebrated of Isaac Watt’s hymns. Many entries contain the only commentary to be found in any dictionary or companion to the items in question (because the editors of |Praise!| included so much contemporary writing alongside the best of the traditional) and cannot, therefore, make use of the work of earlier researchers.
People in |Praise!|
The second main feature of |Exploring Praise!|, and the bulk of Volume 2, consists of brief biographical notes of all the writers, translators, composers, arrangers and original sources of the hymns. Again, writers of texts loom larger than composers of music; but the space given, the factual information and the brief impressions of the individuals and their work surpass those in any existing Companion known to me. Earlier Companions have no doubt been consulted, together with biographies, and major dictionaries of biography. But since out of some 420 writers of texts in |Praise!| over a third are our contemporaries, much of the biographical work is entirely original, based on interview, correspondence and the like. Even a brief browse in these biographies reveals fascinating insights: what recent hymn writer — a pioneer of the modern movement — left school early to train as a shipwright? Who ‘has done for hymnody in Scotland what Vaughan Williams did for hymnody in England’? Who resigned from his post as Precentor in his village church ‘because of his growing dislike of the vicar’s sermons? (Answers: Albert Bayly, John Bell, Robert Bridges.) The Introduction to Vol. 2 faces the very proper questions, ‘Are biographies good for us?’ and responds with (among much else) a wonderful quotation from Edward Bickersteth (author of 797, ‘Peace, perfect peace’) reminding us that the names of his people are dear to the Lord.
Idle’s immaculate indices
The third main constituent of |Exploring Praise!| is a multiplicity of Indexes, of the kind that Christopher Idle excels in and has contributed to other hymnals on numerous occasions. Volume 1 has four Indexes, including Names, Events, Titles of Christ, and Key words and Topics (almost 200 pages, this; listing such topics as Aliens, Anchor, Animals — to look only at the start of the As). There is also in Volume 1 a valuable bibliography. Volume 2 has further Indexes, including ones to names and items referred to, but not reprinted in, the hymnal; and a very substantial Scripture Index and a selected (but still massive) General Index. My only regret is that there was not space to reprint from the hymnal the Index of First Lines and the Index of Tune Names, which would enable one to use |Exploring Praise!| without constant reference to the parent book.
Serious about songs
|Exploring Praise!| is, beyond question, a monumental achievement by a man supremely qualified to undertake it. Indeed, second only to his own hymn texts, it forms an outstanding example of authorship as Christian ministry. Not every home, perhaps, will want (or, indeed, afford) the two volumes. But to hymn-lovers, to ministers and leaders of worship, to libraries and colleges, they should prove essential. If we are serious in our offering of worship in song, we need to be informed and given biblical insights, to aid our reflection and understanding to the glory of God. Here are two splendid volumes by an experienced ministry of the gospel, a scholar with the gift of communication, which can meet our need. It is a treasure: buy it if you can!
Timothy Dudley-Smith
Volume 1 of Exploring Praise! (words and music) is already published (ISBN 0 9532 809 4 2). Volume 2 of Exploring Praise! (authors and composers) is to be published this summer (ISBN 0 9532 809 5 0). The cost of one copy of either volume is £36.00, including postage and packing. Order both volumes at once, or two of the same, for a special inclusive price of £55.00 via the website, http://www.praise.org.uk.