A column in Christian Century by a Presbyterian celebrates that the Presbyterian Church USA is publishing a new hymnal that will, as two previous hymnals, exclude “Onward Christian Soldiers.”
“Good riddance,” he wrote. “This hymn, with its ‘hut-two-three-four’ tune and its warring call for Christians to raise the battle flag, has long outlived its usefulness,” he insisted. “Few are nostalgic for a hymn that celebrates Christian soldiers marching to war.” But he admits tearing up when recently singing the hymn at a Methodist church, if only for the “irony” of it.
United Methodists also once nearly banished this supposedly naughty hymn. A hymnal revision committee in the 1980s was raring to delete it and the equally offensive “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Readers Digest reported the attempted deletion, and thousands of Methodists wrote protesting letters. The new 1989 hymnal, still in use, thankfully has these wonderfully stirring, bombastic hymns.
Remarkably, thanks to all the publicity, there are still indignant people today believing the hymnal lacks “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Battle Hymn.” I overheard one complaining just recently. Twenty years ago, I recall our pastor, responding to complaints, carrying the new hymnals into an administrative board meeting to prove that beloved old hymns had survived.
The 1980s United Methodist Hymnal controversy occurred when I was in college and helped to awaken me to the reality of church activists who think very differently from most church members.
Of course, both “Onward” and “Battle Hymn” are very biblical in their language. The New Testament is full of martial metaphors, and even the casual reader can understand that the hymns call for spiritual battle against wickedness, without and within. But apparently even apostolic language is offensive to enlightened church pacifists, still repenting for the Crusades of 1000 years ago, or whatever. They emasculated their churches’ theology, and often the hymnal was the last bastion of orthodoxy. Many of us remained orthodox partly thanks to the hymnal.
The new Presbyterian Church USA hymnal will need fewer copies, since the denomination is sadly in membership free fall. But maybe some Presbyterians, hungry for militant hymns, can occasionally visit a Methodist church.
What would Jesus sing? I remember him telling his followers to turn the other cheek, love enemies and put swords away. Those who love “Onward Christian Soldiers” are cultural conservatives, but not biblical-based conservatives. Check out the online book, “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More: Biblical Ambiguity and the Abolition of War” by Albert C. Winn http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=3270
As a life long Presbyterian and Certified Church Musician, l have served in 6 denominations over my long career of ministry, at present in the UMC. I find that there are certain hymns that would never be sung in other denominations. It took me going to a Brethren in Christ college to hear hymns I’d never heard of, they weren’t in the ’55 hymnal I was raised in. And as I progressed from one denomination to another, I have broadened my repertoire of hymns. What I thought of as old gospel hymns, this church I serve had never heard, yet they seemed to have existed on gospel exclusively. So, the argument is made, you don’t have to sing just what’s in the hymnal. I believe years ago, it was nearly unthinkable not to sing from the hymnal. It was a rare day to see another hymn. And remember, you didn’t often see “copies” in your bulletins 35 years ago. I find that too many church musicians today don’t have a clue about other hymnals, too many have been locked into one denomination. And then they aren’t aware of the licensing it takes to use other hymns if they aren’t in public domain. And then there are those that have asked me, how do I know if it’s public domain? We sorely lack in the education of church musicians. As for the “offensive” texts, those have never bothered me, whether it is male dominated texts or so-called warfare. If we call God, the Father, that’s male to me. I’m not offended in the least. In fact, I have so many hymns memorized, when I’ve had texts altered it offends me most. But I do agree with the previous post that it won’t matter with the presbyterian hymnal as the denomination is in free-fall. Sad, but true.
Brenda’s comments on “public domain” make no sense. Churches do NOT purchase hymnals (which are expensive, btw) for the copyrighted material, they buy hymnals in order to have all the hymns in one book for use in worship. Sure, the church could print out a public domain hymn like “Onward” and use it as a bulletin insert. But, as the Methodist bureaucrats discovered, the better course is to simply leave a beloved hymn where it belongs–in the hymnal.
As a church musician, I’m aware that the average congregation probably has maybe a hundred hymns that it likes to sing. A hymnal usually has 500 or more, so each church can pick and choose which it sings, and I think it’s safe to say the liberal congregations will not sing “Onward.” The point of the Presbys and others excluding it from the hymnals is to strike their moral pose of nonviolence. Do they really think churchgoers are so stupid that they don’t understand that the military imagery in the hymn is metaphorical?
We should be onward Christian soldiers right now to save our country — ALL OF US no matter Catholism, evangelical , whatever!
Let us pray that no Christian soliders will march onward to defend the Presbyterians when attacked by Muslims demanding conversion to Allah, or by gays demanding their sons…
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I seldom (perhaps this is the first time) disagree with Mark. But ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ was the rallying cry for one side in the War Between The States and I personally find it offensive for that reason.
Now – I’m not from the South; I was born and bred in Detroit with solid midwestern roots and I’m no fan or slavery or racism of any kind. My point is that it calls attention to one side,and makes the other side out to be God’s enemies. I don’t believe we can make that application to the soldiers who fought for the Grey. There were many great Christian leaders in that army (along with the outlandish rogues as well).
As to Reformed hymnolgy, I am a board member (and a past president) of Great Commission Publications. We are the publisher of the VERY Reformed hymnal known as the Trinity Hymnal. ‘Battle Hymn’ was not in the original 1961 version (published then by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church – Northern Presbytery group, I might add), nor is it in the 1990 GCP revision.
BTW, I’m OK with ‘Onward Christian Soldiers!!
Mr. Clements: the Trinity is an outstanding hymnal. I’m glad you’ve come across and commented on our blog!
Yowzers. Not everything is a conspiracy, folks. This committee’s work has been transparent. You can see the survey results, review their research, read their rationales and ask the editor direct questions. Even without bothering to read the copious material provided by the committee, you’d be forced to dismiss your claims if you even glanced at the content list. As Brenda notes, there are plenty of included hymns with martial imagery and loads of Evangelical hymns borrowed directly from the 1990 Baptist hymnal. This new collection seems to be a reaction against the supposed “liberalism” of the 1990 hymnal. You guys should be delighted.
Obviously, the popularity of that hymn is grossly overstated. It didn’t chart the polls; it didn’t make it into the hymnal. It really is just that simple.
Question for Brenda: If “You are at complete liberty both to choose which hymns in the hymnal you will refuse to sing and which hymns from outside of the hymnal you will include in your worship.” then why exclude it from the hymnal? Since churches that find the hymn offensive could simply NOT sing it. Perhaps the hymnal revision committee (or whatever it is called) is indeed trying to promote “emasculated theology that shuns the martial metaphors of the New Testament.”!
Just asking.
Why use space in a hymnal for something that is public domain and therefore easily accessible instead of offering folks the right to sing something they might otherwise not be able to acquire? The publisher has to sell hymnals. I don’t know how your church works, but my congregation doesn’t buy things that we can get for free.
For a hymnal to be marketable, it does indeed need to have a solid core of “classics,” but the real appeal and value of a hymnal is the copyrighted material. You don’t buy a hymnal for the public domain selections. They are already free for your use, and there is no value in there purchase. “Onward Christian Soldiers” simply didn’t make the cut. It met the same fate as thousands of other hymns. I don’t know why that particular hymn has become such a talking point. Stop whining about it not being in a book that you don’t have to buy and just sing the free hymn.
Finally: If the committee is trying to shun martial images, then it has indeed failed. A quick glance at the content list of the new hymnal removes all suspicion of that motive. A committee that includes “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” a song tied to a very real, horrifically violent and continually divisive conflict, is not a committee afraid of war imagery and controversy. It’s time to drop that little conspiracy theory.
Then why have ANY Public Domain hymns in the published hymnal? And if some are left in, why? And why are others omitted? You want to paint a pretty picture of the innocence of the hymnal revision committee when there is clearly an agenda. Why in the world would they exclude a hymn that is still so popular?
This is a frivolous complaint. “Onward Christian Soldiers” is in the public domain, and you are free to sing it whenever you choose. No one has taken any “beloved old hymns” from you. The PC(USA) has no prescribed liturgy or body of hymnody. If you think that a hymn supports the Reformed tradition as described in our Book of Confessions and that its use in worship will help a congregation glorify God, then just sing the hymn. Make copies to insert in your bulletin or project it on a screen, but just sing the hymn. It’s that easy.
It’s remarkably disingenuous to propose that the exclusion of a hymn is somehow an affront to your sense of orthodoxy. Hymns not included in the PC(USA) hymnal are not banned by the denomination; they simply aren’t included in the hymnal. You are at complete liberty both to choose which hymns in the hymnal you will refuse to sing and which hymns from outside of the hymnal you will include in your worship. Because “Onward Christian Soldiers” is public domain, it couldn’t be easier to add it to your congregation’s repertoire if you choose.
I think it’s particularly odd though that you failed to mention that “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” is included in the forthcoming PC(USA) hymnal. I suppose that fact doesn’t much support your thesis that the hymnody in the denominational collection embraces an emasculated theology that shuns the martial metaphors of the New Testament. If that were true, then the hymnal wouldn’t include things like “Fight the Good Fight,” “Sing, My Tongue the Glorious Battle,” or “We Are Marching in the Light of God” either.