#hymnwriter

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Today in Christian History

Today is Monday, March 6th, the 65th day of 2023. There are 300 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

1830: The New York Evangelist is founded with the assistance of Charles G. Finney for the express purpose of representing revival interests and will soon command a large circulation.

1883: Death in Oslo of Norwegian editor and hymnwriter, Elevine Heede. Altogether she had written or translated more than two hundred hymns.

1901: Amy Carmichael, serving as a missionary in India, shelters her first temple runaway, a young girl dedicated to the Hindu gods and forced into prostitution to earn money for the priests.

1916: Russians slaughter the Turkish 3rd Army, giving no quarter to the men held responsible for the recent massacre of Armenian Christians.

1919: Death in Peoria, Illinois, of hymnwriter Julia Harriette Johnston who had directed a Presbyterian Sunday school for forty years and written a book of missionary lives. Her best-known hymn was the popular “Grace Greater than Our Sin.”

1933: Death in Massachusetts of Christian educator and hymnwriter Amos R. Wells, editor of Peloubet’s Notes for the International Sunday School Lessons and editorial secretary for the United Society of Christian Endeavor.

1984: Death of Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller, a founder of Germany’s Confessing Church and an opponent of the Nazis, who imprisoned him for many years.

2015: Opening day of The Oromo Theologians’ Forum is held in Oslo, Norway, and seeks ways for displaced Ethiopians to effectively share the gospel in Europe.

[transgenderer]

During the 19th century, the valley was called Neanderhöhle (Neander's Valley) and, after 1850, Neanderthal. It was named after Joachim Neander, a 17th-century German pastor and hymnwriter. Neumann lived in nearby Düsseldorf and loved the valley for giving him the inspiration for his compositions

Denisova Cave is in south-central Siberia, Russia, in the Altai Mountains near the border with Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia. It is named after Denis (Dyonisiy), a Russian hermit who lived there in the 18th century

the two areas from which the non-human hominids that contributed to human genetics are both named after a particular guy who spent a lot of time there. not a common naming scheme for locations. weird coincidence

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 7.17

Beer Birthdays

James Pawley Dawes (1843)

Anthony Straub (1882)

Joshua Bernstein (1978)

Five Favorite Birthdays

James Cagney; actor (1899)

Erle Stanley Gardner; writer (1889)

Vince Guaraldi; jazz pianist (1928)

Peter Schickele; music comedian, composer (1935)

Donald Sutherland; actor (1934)

Famous Birthdays

Berenice Abbott; photographer (1898)

Shmuel Yosef Agnon; Ukrainian-Israeli writer (1888)

Ron Asheton; guitarist and songwriter (1948)

John Jacob Astor; zillionaire (1763)

Lou Barlow; guitarist and songwriter (1966)

George Barnes; guitarist and songwriter (1921)

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten; German philosopher (1714)

Luc Bondy; Swiss film director (1948)

Tim Brooke-Taylor; English comedian (1940)

Mark Burnett; television producer (1960)

Geezer Butler; English bass player (1949)

Diahann Carroll; actor (1935)

Niccolò Castiglioni; Italian composer (1932)

Elizabeth Cook; singer and guitarist (1972)

John Cooper; English car designer (1923)

Chris Crutcher; writer (1946)

Spencer Davis; rock musician (1942)

Paul Delaroche; French painter (1797)

Phyllis Diller; comedian (1917)

Cory Doctorow, Canadian author (1971)

Lyonel Feininger;, German-American painter (1871)

Lionel Ferbos; trumpeter (1911)

Wolfgang Flür; German musician (1947)

Wendy Freedman; Canadian-American cosmologist and astronomer (1957)

Elbridge Gerry; politician (1744)

Sergei K. Godunov; Russian mathematician (1929)

Gordon Gould; laser inventor (1920)

David Hasselhoff; actor (1952)

Hermann Huppen; Belgian author and illustrator (1938)

Bruno Jasieński; Polish poet and author (1901)

Scott Johnson; cartoonist (1969)

Darryl Lamonica; Oakland Raiders QB (1941)

Nicolette Larson; singer-songwriter (1952)

Thé Lau; Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist (1952)

Georges Lemaître; Belgian priest, astronomer, and cosmologist (1894)

Art Linkletter; humorist (1912)

Pierre Louis Maupertuis; French mathematician and philosopher (1698)

Robert R. McCammon; author (1952)

Angela Merkel; German chemist and politician (1954)

Craig Morgan; singer-songwriter and guitarist (1965)

Luis Munoz-Rivera; Puerto Rican patriot, poet (1859)

Frank Olson; chemist and microbiologist (1910)

Barbara O'Neil; actor (1910)

Mary Osborne; guitarist (1921)

Quino Spanish-Argentinian cartoonist (1932)

Christiane Rochefort; French author (1917)

Jason Rullo; rock drummer (1972)

Jimmy Scott; jazz singer (1925)

Ephraim Shay, American engineer (1839)

Phoebe Snow; singer (1952)

P.J. Soles; actor (1950)

Red Sovine; country singer (1917)

Christina Stead; Australian author (1902)

J. Michael Straczynski; writer (1954)

Mick Tucker; English rock drummer (1947)

Isaac Watts; English hymnwriter (1674)

Alex Winter; actor (1965)

[shadowfromthestarlight]

Isaac Watts (1674-1748) Appreciation Post

I read up on the brilliant hymnwriter whose songs we still sing today, even though we usually don’t know who wrote them!

The Wikipedia description of his background:

Watts was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England, in 1674 and was brought up in the home of a committed religious nonconformist; his father, also Isaac Watts, had been incarcerated twice for his views. Watts had a classical education at King Edward VI School, Southampton, learning Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.

Watts displayed a propensity for rhyme from an early age. He was once asked why he had his eyes open during prayers, to which he responded:

A little mouse for want of stairs ran up a rope to say its prayers.

He received corporal punishment for this, to which he cried:

O father, father, pity take And I will no more verses make.

Watts could not attend Oxford or Cambridge because he was a nonconformist and these universities were restricted to Anglicans—as were government positions at the time. He went to the Dissenting Academy at Stoke Newington in 1690. Much of the remainder of his life centred on that village, which is now part of Inner London.

Following his education, Watts was called as pastor of a large independent chapel in London, Mark Lane Congregational Chapel, where he helped train preachers, despite his poor health. He held religious opinions that were more nondenominational or ecumenical than was common for a nonconformist Congregationalist. He had a greater interest in promoting education and scholarship than preaching for any particular sect.

Watts took work as a private tutor and lived with the nonconformist Hartopp family at Fleetwood House on Church Street in Stoke Newington. Through them, he became acquainted with their immediate neighbours Sir Thomas Abney and Lady Mary. He eventually lived for a total of 36 years in the Abney household, most of the time at Abney House, their second residence. (Lady Mary had inherited the manor of Stoke Newington in 1701 from her late brother Thomas Gunston.)

On the death of Sir Thomas Abney in 1722, his widow Lady Mary and her unmarried daughter Elizabeth moved all her household to Abney House from Hertfordshire, and she invited Watts to continue with them. He particularly enjoyed the grounds at Abney Park, which Lady Mary planted with two elm walks leading down to an island heronry in the Hackney Brook, and he often sought inspiration there for the many books and hymns that he wrote.

Watts lived at Abney Hall in Stoke Newington until his death in 1748; he was buried in Bunhill Fields. He left an extensive legacy of hymns, treatises, educational works, and essays. His work was influential amongst nonconformist independents and religious revivalists of the 18th century, such as Philip Doddridge, who dedicated his best-known work to Watts.

The title page of Isaac Watts' "Guide to Prayer", fourth edition, 1725

Sacred music scholars Stephen Marini, Denny Prutow and Michael LeFebvre describe the ways in which Watts contributed to English hymnody and the previous tradition of the Church. Watts led the change in practice by including new poetry for "original songs of Christian experience" to be used in worship, according to Marini.The older tradition was based on the poetry of the Bible: the Psalms. According to LeFebvre, Psalms had been sung by God's people from the time of King David, who with a large staff over many years assembled the complete book of Psalms in a form appropriate for singing (by the Levites, during Temple sacrifices at the time). The practice of singing Psalms in worship was continued by Biblical command in the New Testament Church from its beginnings in Acts through the time of Watts, as documented by Prutow. The teachings of 16th-century Reformation leaders such as John Calvin, who translated the Psalms in the vernacular for congregational singing, followed this historic worship practice. Watts was not the first Protestant to promote the singing of hymns; however, his prolific hymn writing helped usher in a new era of English worship as many other poets followed in his path.

Watts also introduced a new way of rendering the Psalms in verse for church services, proposing that they be adapted for hymns with a specifically Christian perspective. As Watts put it in the title of his 1719 metrical Psalter, the Psalms should be "imitated in the language of the New Testament." Besides writing hymns, Isaac Watts was also a theologian and logician, writing books and essays on these subjects.

From the Christianity Today article:

Young Isaac showed genius early. He was learning Latin by age 4, Greek at 9, French (which he took up to converse with his refugee neighbors) at 11, and Hebrew at 13. Several wealthy townspeople offered to pay for his university education at Oxford or Cambridge, which would have led him into Anglican ministry. Isaac refused and at 16 went to London to study at a leading Nonconformist academy. Upon graduation, he spent five years as a private tutor.

In 1702 he became pastor of London's Mark Lane Independent (i.e. Congregational) Chapel, then one of the city's most influential independent churches. But the following year, he began suffering from psychiatric illness that would plague him for the rest of his life. He had to pass off more and more of his work to his assistant and eventually resigned in 1712.

Though German Lutherans had been singing hymns for 100 years, John Calvin had urged his followers to sing only metrical psalms; English Protestants had followed Calvin's lead.

Watts's 1707 publication of Hymns and Spiritual Songs technically wasn't a collection of hymns or metrical psalms, but it was a collection of consequence. In fact, it contained what would become some of the most popular English hymns of all time, such as "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."

Watts didn't reject metrical psalms; he simply wanted to see them more impassioned. "They ought to be translated in such a manner as we have reason to believe David would have composed them if he had lived in our day," he wrote. Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament followed in 1719.

Many of his English colleagues couldn't recognize these translations. How could "Joy to the World" really be Psalm 98? Or "Jesus Shall Reign Where'er the Sun" be Psalm 72>, or "O God Our Help in Ages Past" be Psalm 90?

Watts was unapologetic, arguing that he deliberately omitted several psalms and large parts of others, keeping portions "as might easily and naturally be accommodated to the various occasions of Christian life, or at least might afford us some beautiful allusions to Christian affairs." Furthermore, where the psalmist fought with personal enemies, Watts turned the biblical invective against spiritual adversaries: sin, Satan, and temptation. Finally, he said, "Where the flights of his faith and love are sublime, I have often sunk the expressions within the reach of an ordinary Christian."

Such looseness brought criticism. "Christian congregations have shut out divinely inspired psalms and taken in Watts's flights of fancy," protested one detractor. Others dubbed the new songs "Watts's whims."

But after church splits, pastor firings, and other arguments, Watts's paraphrases won out. "He was the first who taught the Dissenters to write and speak like other men, by showing them that elegance might consist with piety," wrote the famed lexicographer (and Watts's contemporary) Samuel Johnson.

More than a poet, however, Watts was also a scholar of wide reputation, especially in his later years. He wrote nearly 30 theological treatises; essays on psychology, astronomy, and philosophy; three volumes of sermons; the first children's hymnal; and a textbook on logic that served as a standard work on the subject for generations.

But his poetry remains his lasting legacy and earned him acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Benjamin Franklin published his hymnal, Cotton Mather maintained a long correspondence, and John Wesley acknowledged him as a genius.

Songs he’s known for:

Joy to the World O God Our Help in Ages Past I Sing the Mighty Power of God When I Can Read My Title Clear O God Beyond All Praising

And a lot more can be found here.

[tmarshconnors]

*A pastor who fails to deal with sin is like a doctor who fails to deal with illness. You better find another one."

Martin Luther OSA was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Western and Christian history. 

Nailed the 95 Theses: Martin Luther is best known for his 95 Theses, which he is said to have nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. This act is commonly considered the starting point of the Protestant Reformation, challenging the Catholic Church's practices, particularly the sale of indulgences.

Excommunicated and Outlawed: In 1521, Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X and declared an outlaw by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms. Despite this, he continued to promote his reforms and translated the Bible into German, making it more accessible to the common people.

Translation of the Bible: Luther translated the Bible into German, starting with the New Testament in 1522 and completing the Old Testament in 1534. His translation played a significant role in shaping the German language and making the Scriptures accessible to a broader audience.

Theological Contributions: Luther's theology emphasized key doctrines such as justification by faith alone (sola fide), the authority of Scripture alone (sola scriptura), and the priesthood of all believers. These ideas were foundational to the development of Protestantism.

Lutheranism: Martin Luther’s teachings and reforms led to the establishment of the Lutheran Church, one of the major branches of Protestantism. His followers, known as Lutherans, continued to develop his theological insights and build upon his reforming work, influencing the course of Christian history.

[isaiah4031kjv]

How to Handle Burdens (Psalm 55:22)

This slideshow requires JavaScript. God does not exempt His children from difficulty. Job experienced great sorrow and pain when the Lord permitted Satan to attack him. Abraham, Paul, and others were also severely tested. Yet, as poet William Cowper observed, “Behind a frowning providence God hides a smiling face.” The hymnwriter Georg Neumark was a dedicated Christian who was afflicted with…

[k-she-rambles]

this morning's rabbit hole: advent hymnology & which hymnwriters/translators seem to be allergic to the word "sublime"

[pfalztexter]

Martin Luther

Luther disguised as "Junker Jörg", 1521

Martin Luther OSA (/ˈluːθər/;[1] German: [ˈmaʁtiːn ˈlʊtɐ] ⓘ; 10 November 1483[2] – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar.

"Do you know what the Devil thinks when he sees men use violence to propagate the gospel? He sits with folded arms behind the fire of hell and says with malignant looks and frightful grin: "Ah, how wise these madmen are to play my game! Let them go on; I shall reap the benefit. I delight in it." But when he sees the Word running and contending alone on the battle-field, then he shudders and shakes for fear." (Quelle)

Gombert: Ave Regina

[maureen-corpse]

Shout out to Lesbia Scott on this All Saints Day for being the hymnwriter with the best name of all of them. Please enjoy her best-known and very British hymn, “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God”:

You can meet them at tea.

[dianaleaghmatthews]

Hymn Story: All My Hope On God is Founded

“All My Hope on God is Founded” began as the German hymn. The original words “Meine Hoffnung stehet feste”. Joachim Neander wrote the hymn around 1680. Neander was born in 1650 in Bremen (modern day Germany). He served as a German theologian and hymnwriter. He wrote over sixty hymns and is best known for the hymn Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation. He died in 1680. In 1899,…

[rw7771]

Hymnwriter - Wikipedia

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

It Happened Today in Christian History

May 25, 1825: Death in Bristol, England, of Baptist hymnwriter John Ryland after saying “no more pain.” He had helped William Carey organize the first Baptist mission and had written the hymn “Lord, teach a little child to pray.”

[raisingtheirhearts]

A heart like Jesus

My husband and I had a conversation yesterday that I think every Christian couple does when you have children. How do we teach our children to respond more like Jesus? How do we help them to respond in a Christ like way in any situation, no matter who they are speaking to or what they are confronted with?

We live in a society whose main mission is to indoctrinate our children to say, do, and act in a way that is contrary to God's Word. Apparently these days anything goes, as long as it doesn't involve Jesus. But, as the Bible states it in John 17:14-19, we are to be in the world but not of the world.

Our children are still in the formative years. We have a set of twins (a daughter and a son) that are eleven, and then a 3 month old. Quite an age gap to be parenting at the same time, but it was all God's timing and not ours. After a couple of miscarriages, God blessed us with another son. Our older two are in love with him. If I weren't nursing him still, I wouldn't ever get to hold him. They are fascinated with how we are instilling in him a love for Jesus even at such a young age. The uplifting and doctrinally sound hymns that we sing while bathing him or when he is rocked before bed are taking on a new meaning to our older two. They are concentrating on the words and what they mean, and not just singing along because they are so familiar with them. I am so thankful that we can sing and learn from these hymnwriters who were giants in the faith, and put to use the doctrine that is so clearly presented in them. Our 3 month old has grasped the meaning of patience better than most adults, and patiently waits on us to tend to his needs. His favorite songs are Standing on the Promises and What a Friend We Have In Jesus.

We are honored that God chose us to be the parents to these 3, and entrusted us with the awesome responsibility of raising them for Jesus. They are convicted by the phrase that became oh so popular in the 90's that questioned "What would Jesus do?" It has become something that they both use to determine how their words, thoughts, or actions line up with Jesus. It allows them to self evaluate their actions, while simultaneously using their knowledge of Christ's life to determine their next move. It fosters independence of us as parents who are just sinners saved by grace, and encourages dependence on the Lord who lived a perfect and sinless life and is the only perfect example.

Our prayer for you, is that you will have the courage to stand up against culture and society's ways. That you will teach your children to be dependent on God, and to ask yourselves and them "What would Jesus do?"

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 7.17

Beer Birthdays

James Pawley Dawes (1843)

Anthony Straub (1882)

Joshua Bernstein (1978)

Five Favorite Birthdays

James Cagney; actor (1899)

Erle Stanley Gardner; writer (1889)

Vince Guaraldi; jazz pianist (1928)

Peter Schickele; music comedian, composer (1935)

Donald Sutherland; actor (1934)

Famous Birthdays

Berenice Abbott; photographer (1898)

Shmuel Yosef Agnon; Ukrainian-Israeli writer (1888)

Ron Asheton; guitarist and songwriter (1948)

John Jacob Astor; zillionaire (1763)

Lou Barlow; guitarist and songwriter (1966)

George Barnes; guitarist and songwriter (1921)

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten; German philosopher (1714)

Luc Bondy; Swiss film director (1948)

Tim Brooke-Taylor; English comedian (1940)

Mark Burnett; television producer (1960)

Geezer Butler; English bass player (1949)

Diahann Carroll; actor (1935)

Niccolò Castiglioni; Italian composer (1932)

Elizabeth Cook; singer and guitarist (1972)

John Cooper; English car designer (1923)

Chris Crutcher; writer (1946)

Spencer Davis; rock musician (1942)

Paul Delaroche; French painter (1797)

Phyllis Diller; comedian (1917)

Cory Doctorow, Canadian author (1971)

Lyonel Feininger;, German-American painter (1871)

Lionel Ferbos; trumpeter (1911)

Wolfgang Flür; German musician (1947)

Wendy Freedman; Canadian-American cosmologist and astronomer (1957)

Elbridge Gerry; politician (1744)

Sergei K. Godunov; Russian mathematician (1929)

Gordon Gould; laser inventor (1920)

David Hasselhoff; actor (1952)

Hermann Huppen; Belgian author and illustrator (1938)

Bruno Jasieński; Polish poet and author (1901)

Scott Johnson; cartoonist (1969)

Darryl Lamonica; Oakland Raiders QB (1941)

Nicolette Larson; singer-songwriter (1952)

Thé Lau; Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist (1952)

Georges Lemaître; Belgian priest, astronomer, and cosmologist (1894)

Art Linkletter; humorist (1912)

Pierre Louis Maupertuis; French mathematician and philosopher (1698)

Robert R. McCammon; author (1952)

Angela Merkel; German chemist and politician (1954)

Craig Morgan; singer-songwriter and guitarist (1965)

Luis Munoz-Rivera; Puerto Rican patriot, poet (1859)

Frank Olson; chemist and microbiologist (1910)

Barbara O'Neil; actor (1910)

Mary Osborne; guitarist (1921)

Quino Spanish-Argentinian cartoonist (1932)

Christiane Rochefort; French author (1917)

Jason Rullo; rock drummer (1972)

Jimmy Scott; jazz singer (1925)

Ephraim Shay, American engineer (1839)

Phoebe Snow; singer (1952)

P.J. Soles; actor (1950)

Red Sovine; country singer (1917)

Christina Stead; Australian author (1902)

J. Michael Straczynski; writer (1954)

Mick Tucker; English rock drummer (1947)

Isaac Watts; English hymnwriter (1674)

Alex Winter; actor (1965)

[tmarshconnors]

"Be careful not to measure your holiness by other peoples sins."

Martin Luther was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar. He was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation.

Cloistered Monk to Reformer: Before becoming a key figure in the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther was a devout Augustinian monk. He entered the monastery in Erfurt, Germany, against his father's wishes, seeking spiritual fulfillment. It was during this time that he struggled with questions of salvation and the nature of God's grace, ultimately leading to his theological breakthroughs.

Tower Experience: Legend has it that Martin Luther had a pivotal moment in his life known as the "Tower Experience." In 1517, while in a tower at Wittenberg, Luther is said to have had a profound spiritual revelation that sparked his theological insights, eventually leading to the posting of his famous "95 Theses" on the door of the Castle Church.

Translation of the Bible: Martin Luther played a significant role in translating the Bible into German, making it more accessible to the common people. Completed in 1534, Luther's translation of the New Testament and later the Old Testament into German greatly contributed to the standardization and development of the German language.

Marriage to Katharina von Bora: In 1525, Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, a former nun. This marriage was considered scandalous at the time, as it challenged the celibacy vows associated with monastic life. Luther and Katharina had a happy and supportive marriage, and they had six children together.

Advocacy for Education: Martin Luther was a strong advocate for education. He believed in the importance of educating the masses and worked to establish schools. His commitment to education laid the foundation for the development of a literate and educated society, and his ideas influenced the later establishment of compulsory education in some regions.

[isaiah4031kjv]

Who Saved the Robins? (Luke 12:7)

This slideshow requires JavaScript. God has a special interest in all His creatures. The hymnwriter John Sammis stated it like this: “He daily spreads a bounteous feat, And at His table dine The whole creation, man and beast, And He’s a Friend of mine.” The God of the infinitely great – the One who created this universe – is also the God of the infinitely small. How encouraging this is for the…