What is Hymnology?

Up until the invention of the printing press, hymns were primarily sung in Latin and reserved for monastic orders. When hymns and hymn books were printed, many churchgoers carried them to church alongside their Bible. English churches believed in exclusive psalmody, meaning that only psalms were to be sung in churches because they were divinely inspired. This is still a typical disagreement in churches today. Many hymn books were psalters that the congregation followed along while singing in church. Isaac Watts was one of the main hymn-writers that brought hymn-singing into churches. He believed that churchgoers should be able to express their feelings through singing. He wrote an astounding amount of hymns that churches have been singing for centuries. At the same time, John Wesley and his brother Charles were leading the Methodist movement, which simplified hymns so that ordinary people outside the educated class would understand them.

Hymnbooks were also used as a part of daily devotions and family worship. Families in the 17th and 18th centuries commonly read Scripture together, prayed, and then read a hymn aloud from their hymn book. This period became known as "The Golden Age of Hymnody." In the 19th Century, hymn books began to include music. Church leaders proposed that the congregation learn the language of music, and as a result, music notes were now published alongside the lyrics of each hymn. This is where the term "hymnal" came from. Before this, churches began holding Sunday schools for children to catechize them. When music was integrated into the publication of hymn books, these children also learned musical skills. While it was well-intentioned, this made the publication of hymns much more expensive and more difficult to read. Consequentially, families in the lower class could not take their hymns home with them, and the hymnals kept in churches were challenging to follow. This was when the use of hymn books as devotionals began to fade, and the practice of family worship was along with it. Slowly, the voices of congregations were silenced. Only those who were musically educated sang in church. This led to the church singing that we are familiar with today; a worship leader teaches singing, and the voices of the people are hardly heard.

More information can be found in the book The Hymnal: A Reading History by Christopher N. Phillips

Hymnology has gone through many changes throughout history. Hymns used to be used only for church singing or education. That is why many hymns in the collection are books for children. Singing aids learning in a child's mind. Currently, hymns are now used mostly as entertainment. Even the hymns we sing in church are often geared toward entertainment. One benefit that has come out of this, however, is that modernizing hymns has captured listener's attention through melodies, potentially making them want to know God more. Hymnology texts could be found digitally due to today's technology where people could analyze the hymns and understand them. Many old hymns are interpreted to create new ones, which expand the collection even more. There are different versions of hymns based on the language that the people who listen to them understand. A universal understanding was brought to the hymnology. Many church services started incorporating hymns into their scriptures and talking about analyzing the text for education rather than entertaining. Worship isn't just restricted to singing; instead, worship presents your body as a living sacrifice to Christ, which we do in the reading of the Scriptures, the gathering of the saints, and in prayer (Rom. 12:1).