Hymns Ancient and Modern

Hymns Ancient and Modern is arguably the most popular hymnal ever published in the English Language. First published in England between 1859 - 1861, Hymns Ancient and Modern is still published today with a combined total of some 50 million copies in print.

To fully understand the importance and scope of this collection, one must first understand the historical context in which it was first published.

1. By about 1830 the regular singing of hymns in the dissenting churches (outside the Church of England) had become widely accepted thanks to the efforts of hymn writers like Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and others.

2. The growing popularity of hymns (officially and unoffically) inspired the publication of hymnals during the period 1810 - 1850. John Julian (Dictionary of Hymnology, 1907) lists over 100 published during this period. Within the Church of England the practice of singing hymns (as opposed to metrical psalms) was not officially sanctioned. However, after about 1800 the parish churches began using various collections of hymns in informal services and these were greatly influenced by the growing popularity of evangelical hymn writers. Typical examples include:

Lock Hospital Collection, 1769 (an important source for evangelical tunes)
Olney Hymns,1779 (John Newton and William Cowper)
A Collection of Hymns for the Use of The People Called Methodists, 1780 (John and Charles Wesley)

3. After about 1830 an ecclesiastical reform movement began within the Church of England. This was instigated in 1833 with a famous sermon by the Rev. John Keble entitled, "National Apostasy" which attacked Parliament's plan to dissestablish the Anglican Church of Ireland. John Henry Newman and others subsequently published a series "Tracts" (90 altogether -- the Tracts of the Times) in which they argued such things as the superiority of the Church to government and the direct connection of the Church of England to the early Church as established by the Apostles.

4. The "Tractarians" represented a CONSERVATIVE element within the Church of England and were associated with Oxford University. Newman and other writers of the Tracts were based at Oriel College which was part of Oxford University. Newman was vicar of St. Mary's (the University church). Cambridge University, on the other hand was more LIBERAL in both politics and religion. Consequently, the Tractarian ideals became known as the Oxford Movement.

5. Religion in Victorian England in the mid-1800's had reached a crisis. Conservative clergy and laity in the Church of England were faced with two assults: (1) the progress of science was chipping away at the long-held Biblical world view. Consequently, agnosticism and atheism was very much on the rise. (2) On the other hand, the enthusiastic evangelical movement within the Church of England was viewed with distaste. The Oxford Movement represented a perfect solution for the conservative wing of the Church of England. [Ironically, both the Oxford Movement and the evangelical movement within the Church of England were theologically conservative and both held to a LITERAL interpretation of the Bible.] See Conscience and Theology. A liberal wing of the Church of England centered at Cambridge University did not believe that the Bible was literally true and that therefore the scriptures should be read metaphorically or even mythologically. See The Broad Church Party.

6. Concurrent with the Oxford Movement (Tractarian Movement) was an ecclesiological movement which idealized the Church of the Middle Ages both aethestically and ecclesiologically. Consequently, there began a fascination with all things ANCIENT. Erik Routley points out that "the most pervasive adjective in the thinking and preaching of the Tractarians was 'Ancient'." (The Music of Christian Hymnody, p. 89).

In the context of the overall reform ideas of the Oxford Movement, one person in particular began scholarly research into the ancient hymnody of the church and consequently had a significant influence on the shaping of the content of Hymns Ancient and Modern: John Mason Neale (1818-1866).

See John Mason Neale (The Enchiridion)

See Index to Hymns Ancient and Modern

So the stage is set:

1. Many hymnals in circulation
2. Ecclesiastical reform
3. Conservative theology
3. Fascination with all things ancient

Hymns Ancient and Modern also dipped back into the past to include the hymns of those associated with the "dissent" of the Nonconformists and the "enthusiasm" of the Methodists. It therefore brought together into one large collection the two mainstreams of hymnody

-- the evangelical (see British Evangelical Hymnody)
-- the churchly (see the Oxford Movement)

These two mainstreams had been running parallel in English religious life since the beginning of the [19th] century

CONCLUSIONS:

With its initial publication in 1861, HYMNS reached the accepted and respected position they still hold today in the public worship of most groups.

Later hymnals, even though admitting newer hymns, continued to reflect the character, aims, and ideals of Hymns Ancient and Modern.

The contents of this hymnal therefore represent the mainstream of English hymnody throughout the remainder of the 19th century, as well as into the 20th century.

[From Sing with Understanding, by Harry Eskew and Hugh McElrath (Nashville: Church Street Press, 2nd edition, 1995, pp. 156-158.]