These are all affiliate marketing links. I receive a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase. This costs you nothing and goes a long way to supporting this channel and website.
Here are some of my favorite Hymnals:
Presbyterian 1955 Hymnbook: http://amzn.to/2zSRdpL
Episcopal 1940 Hymnal: http://amzn.to/2DEOl1H
Broadman 1940 Hymnal: http://amzn.to/2C1WuwK
Methodist 1939 Hymnal: http://amzn.to/2CfJ1Wq
Pilgrim 1935 Hymnal: http://amzn.to/2DDvbJC
Now Sings My Soul, New Songs for the Lord by: Linda Bonney Olin: http://amzn.to/2DQ6gUy
Choice Hymns of the Faith 1945 http://amzn.to/2Dx97nA
Book of Psalms for Singing https://amzn.to/2ygM00b (1912 Psalter is unavailable)
Hymns Ancient and Modern https://amzn.to/3dfaHIY
Lutheran 1941 Hymnal: http://amzn.to/2zUmYi2
Here are my new projects:
Trinity Hymnal 1960 https://amzn.to/3ZU7esg
Lutheran 1909 Hymnal https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25240909M/Evangelical_Lutheran_hymn-book
J S Bach Riemenschneider 371 Harmonized Chorales http://amzn.to/2DSy5f9
References:
Dictionary of Hymnology: http://amzn.to/2BxPabk
American Hymns Old and New https://amzn.to/3fqkkVU
One of my favorite aphorisms is this (probable) Samuel Clemens quip: “God created man in his own image and ever since man has been returning the favor.” I don’t remember the first time I heard it, I suspect sometime in my childhood, and it has served as a framing point in how I understand the world. I can site a few examples throughout human history which demonstrate God’s decent in our own minds. In Genesis 3:4-5 the author of all lies tells Eve: 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The very first lie was an enticement to be “like God.” But how can the pot be like the potter? Or the creature like the Creator?
There are numerous examples in Greek and Roman philosophy about becoming like a god. In Seneca’s Letters No. 48, at the end of the penultimate paragraph: “For this is what philosophy has promised me – the she will make me God’s equal. That’s the invitation and that’s what I’ve come for…” By this point the notion of “god” has been reduced to nothing more than a smart man. What a debasement!
And as far as modern examples, how many times have we heard the expression: “Well, my God wouldn’t…or would do such and such”? Your god?? As if you can conger a deity out of wood, tin, or thin air! And now “god” is nothing more than our own creation. We have become the creator of God!
When people speak of “progress” one has to wonder where exactly this “progress” happens! Since the dark history of mankind we have striven to be like God, and when all else fails, we reinvent our Creator into a more manageable…thing. I think this is a very cautionary tale. If we decide God’s revelation is open to editing and deletion at any point, to any degree, we will find ourselves right next to Eve in the Garden.
