{"id":34759,"date":"2021-04-29T19:31:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T00:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=34759"},"modified":"2021-04-29T19:31:48","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T00:31:48","slug":"review-of-songs-for-worship-and-praise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/review-of-songs-for-worship-and-praise\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of Songs for Worship and Praise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Wayne S. Walker<\/p>\n

\"\"The newest general hymnbook published for use among churches of Christ is\u00a0Songs for Worship and Praise<\/em>, edited by Robert J. Taylor Jr., and published in 2010 by Taylor Publications of Montgomery, TX.\u00a0 Brother Taylor has been active in church music for many years.\u00a0 I believe that he set the type for the original\u00a0Hymns for Worship<\/em> edited by Dane K. Shepard and R. J. Stevens.\u00a0 Also, I know that he assisted with the research that went into\u00a0Praise for the Lord<\/em>\u00a0edited by John P. Wiegand, and perhaps other recent hymnbooks as well.\u00a0 And he took the late Alton Howard’s very popular\u00a0Songs of the Church<\/em>, which had gone out of print, made a few minor changes and additions to it, and republished it as\u00a0Favorite Songs of the Church<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In addition, he has produced the\u00a0Praise Hymnal<\/em>\u00a0to provide singable, four-part arrangements for many of the popular songs which are often known as “praise songs.”\u00a0 It has never been my privilege to meet brother Taylor, but I have corresponded with him frequently, and he has been very helpful in sharing the results of his research with me to fill some of the gaps in my own research into the backgrounds of the hymns that we sing, their authors, and their composers.\u00a0 In fact, he himself has published several books on the histories of hymns.<\/p>\n

Taylor’s stated goal in\u00a0Songs for Worship and Praise<\/em>\u00a0is as follows:<\/p>\n

“We have taken the best traditional songs with arrangements you know and love, merged them with the best hymns from\u00a0Songs of Faith and Praise<\/em>, then added the best praise songs from the\u00a0Praise Hymnal<\/em>.\u00a0 We then added newer songs just now appearing plus included more traditional songs not usually found in other hymnals.\u00a0 It is our hope and prayer that this blend of old and new hymns will serve the Lord’s Church for years to come.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One modern phenomenon in many denominations today is the “worship wars.”\u00a0 Some prefer “traditional” hymns, while others want more “contemporary” songs.\u00a0 So, still others have suggested the compromise of “blended” worship.\u00a0\u00a0Songs for Worship and Praise<\/em>\u00a0would tend to fall in the last category.<\/p>\n

The book has a total of 1007 selections, and they are all music.\u00a0 There are no numbered selections which are written prayers, scripture readings, or medley instructions.\u00a0 Of this total, my count lists 643 “traditional” gospel songs and hymns and 364 contemporary “praise songs.”\u00a0 I did not base this division on dates or hymn writers but on the style of music.\u00a0 Without getting too technical, traditional hymns are those whose tunes were composed using the basic classical-romantic musical tradition of the Western world with which most of us are familiar, whereas the “praise songs” come primarily from the “Contemporary Christian Music” (CCM) genre which is a fusion of traditional Western music with elements of jazz, rock, and Eastern music.<\/p>\n

Obviously, this kind of categorizing involves some subjective decisions.\u00a0 I tried to be charitable and included in the “traditional hymns” those songs from both religious choral and Southern gospel (e.g, Stamps-Baxter, Brumley, etc.) backgrounds which, although perhaps questionable as to whether they are suitable for public worship since the former was intended primarily for trained choirs and the latter primarily for country music singing conventions, still fall into the category of traditional Western music.\u00a0 Obviously, by this count, there is a clear majority of traditional hymns, but the more contemporary songs still do make up a substantial minority.\u00a0 So the question then becomes what a person, or congregation, thinks of the contemporary style.<\/p>\n

It is sometimes argued that for a hymnbook to be marketable it must include a fair number of the Contemporary Christian Music type of songs to appeal to the younger generation which has been raised on modern popular, rock, and “new age” music.\u00a0 I am not involved in marketing, so I cannot speak to this issue, but if it is true then I am somewhat fearful of the direction in which we are headed.\u00a0 Obviously, doing a review of this nature involves expressing some opinion and judgment, and it is my aim not to make my opinion and judgment the standard for everyone else.\u00a0 If people want to incorporate a goodly number of contemporary religious songs in their worship but still have a wide array of “traditional” songs, Songs for Worship and Praise<\/em> is a well-blended hymnbook to accomplish this purpose.\u00a0 My personal preference still lies with the “traditional” hymns and gospel songs that have stood the test of time.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Wayne S. Walker The newest general hymnbook published for use among churches of Christ is\u00a0Songs for Worship and Praise, edited by Robert J. Taylor Jr., and published in 2010 by Taylor Publications of Montgomery, TX.\u00a0 Brother Taylor has been active in church music for many years.\u00a0 I believe that he set the type for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[520,521],"class_list":["post-34759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-music","tag-songs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34752,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-of-psalms-hymns-and-spiritual-songs-praise-for-the-lord-and-songs-for-worship-praise\/","url_meta":{"origin":34759,"position":0},"title":"What do you think of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, Praise for the Lord, and Songs for Worship & Praise?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your excellent review of the\u00a0Jeffcoat\u00a0Sacred Songs of the Church songbook. Our congregation is considering changing books and we are considering several of the more traditionally focused books. Have you had the opportunity to review and consider the\u00a0Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs\u00a0by Sumphonia? We are also considering the\u00a0Praise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86709,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/songs-of-the-saints-paul-h-epps\/","url_meta":{"origin":34759,"position":1},"title":"Songs of the Saints: Paul H. Epps","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker Paul H. Epps was born on Mar. 20, 1914, in Booneville, Arkansas. Living in Muskogee, Oklahoma, from 1923 to 1945, he attended West Texas University in Canyon, Texas. His interest in music goes back to his early life when he studied rudiments and harmony in summer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59338,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-review-of-the-hymnbooks\/","url_meta":{"origin":34759,"position":2},"title":"A Review of the Hymnbooks","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker Originally published in Torch, October 1988 Please understand that my review is of necessity going to be biased by my own view of what constitutes a good hymn selection. With that in mind, I shall begin by saying that I grew up using the old \"brown\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35011,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-history-of-our-hymnbooks\/","url_meta":{"origin":34759,"position":3},"title":"A History of Our Hymnbooks","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker originally published in Faith and Facts, October 1999 Back in the very late 1700s and early 1800s, the conditions in this new nation appeared just right for a number of different men from different denominational backgrounds in different parts of the country to begin calling for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19283,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-can-i-find-acapella-recordings-for-the-songs-in-our-songbook\/","url_meta":{"origin":34759,"position":4},"title":"Where can I find acapella recordings for the songs in our songbook?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I had a cassette collection of the Songs of the Church Acapella and I think they were sung by the Meistersingers. I moved and my tapes were lost and are sorely missed. Do you know of any source where I could buy another set? I am a song leader\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14609,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-songbooks-would-you-recommend\/","url_meta":{"origin":34759,"position":5},"title":"What songbooks would you recommend?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are building a new building and we are needing songbooks. My husband is one of the song leaders. I would like to know which book you would recommend to us. We are strictly a New Testament church. No musical instruments and no praise teams. Also, I need to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34759\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}