Like many Methodists, Leon French grew up believing some of his favorite hymns were set to tunes of drinking songs – just as “The Star-Spangled Banner” used the melody of English tavern favorite “To ...

There's a myth circulating among Methodists in the United States. Many believe the denomination's founders, John and Charles Wesley, based their hymns on tavern tunes that were popular in 18th century ...

While I can no longer remember who said it and in which class, I recall being taught in seminary that we learn much of our theology from hymn writers. And, at least for me, there is no greater season ...

Hymns are “important in the history of ideas, the formation of culture, and the inner life of individual readers,” J. R. Watson reminds us in this time when the disciplines of hymn writing and singing ...

Lift your voices to these rousing tunes. Here are some of the best hymns of all time... From ‘Amazing Grace’, first published in 1779, to ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’, based on the 23rd psalm, hymns have ...

Virgil Thomson: Symphony on a Hymn Tune, Symphony No. 2, Five tenor solos from Lord Byron, Shipwreck and Love Scene from Byron`s Don Juan, A Solemn Music and A Joyful Fugue (Martyn Hill, tenor; ...

My boss asked me the other day if I knew anything about the hymn “Faith of Our Fathers.” Since I have been an organist in the Catholic Church for about 25 years now, I must have played the hymn dozens ...

Hymns mean so much to so many people and if you have a favourite BBC Songs of Praise would like to know. Choose your all-time number one from the 100 hymns and worship songs that have been most ...

Carolyn Winfrey Gillette creates “sung prayers” for a problem that seems difficult to solve while also spurring people to end gun violence. Her hymn “335,609 (I Cried to God),” sung to the tune of “Be ...