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Chapter 9

The 1980s Hymnal revision project

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Postcard showing aerial view of The Mother Church and the Christian Science Center in Boston, 1979.

Interest in a revision of the 1932 Christian Science Hymnal began in the early 1970s, when The Mother Church heard from interested members. There was a growing awareness that the Hymnal currently in use needed a more international scope, to better reflect the worldwide embrace of Christian Science. Some felt that certain texts should be reviewed for their metaphysical accuracy, as well as their relevance to current times. In addition some church musicians were concerned that the keys for many hymns were pitched too high for church congregations to sing comfortably.¹

Most religious denominations revise their hymnals. When a church undertakes this work, revision committees consider the inspiration of new poetic ideas, contemporary musical styles, and the current expectations of their congregations. They add new texts and tunes, remove hymns that are not sung often, and in general attempt to ensure that the hymnal remains a vital, relevant component of their worship services. By the 1980s, the beloved 1932 Hymnal was almost 50 years old. Congregations had largely found the hymns they liked and narrowed the number of ones they sang, ignoring others they considered hard to sing, musically dull, or lacking in spiritual vitality. Clearly it was time for a revision.

Although preliminary efforts began in early 1974, serious movement toward a major revision did not begin until late 1978. The project was not formalized until March 1, 1979, when Rowene L. Tennant, manager of the revision project, sent a memo to Frederic C. Owen, manager of The Christian Science Publishing Society:

Will the Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors approve General Publications’ proceeding with the revision of the Christian Science Hymnal and Hymnal Concordance with Hymnal Notes as outlined in this memorandum? Will they authorize expenditure of the funds needed to carry the revision forward?²

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Peter Hodgson, c. 1994. Courtesy of the Principia Archives.

The October 1985 Christian Science Journal issued a call for the submission of new hymns:

All students of Christian Science are invited to take part in a revision of the English-language edition of the Christian Science Hymnal. Poems suitable as hymn texts (in any language), musical settings for texts, and complete hymns (texts and music) are needed from throughout the Field. We especially hope that new material from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, as well as from Europe, will permit the Hymnal to depict, to an even greater degree, the universality of the Church of Christ, Scientist.

Our goal is to produce a revised edition that is

• fully compatible with the teachings of Christian Science and able to speak to all mankind;
• international in character and suitably reflective of the varied styles of hymn singing;
• consistently high in musical and poetical quality.

It will take several years to complete the revision. Branch churches of The Mother Church will be notified of the date of publication well in advance. The purpose of our Hymnal remains unchanged. Through words and music it will continue to comfort, inspire, and bless, to bring joy and healing to all mankind. Your support and participation will help us achieve this purpose.⁷

Eager to generate interest on the part of Christian Scientists to become involved in the revision process, the Publishing Society printed an article in the same Journal issue. It included information about the Hymnal’s history, affirming that the central goal for each revision was to “increase the Hymnal’s spiritual content and its power of expressing this spirituality to the congregations of the day.” The article cited the significance of the 1892 Hymnal in the growth of Christian Science and praised the contributions of those who had shared rich texts and tunes with God-inspired qualities associated with healing.⁸ A July 1985 church document titled “Guidelines for a revision of the Christian Science Hymnal” articulated the essential elements that a revision needed to address. Borrowing from the Hymn Society of America, the document adopted the working definition of a hymn as a “‘congregational song…both text and tune,’” and noted that, unlike other denominations, “the Christian Science church hymnal has no liturgical function.” It also emphasized that “grace and inspiration find happy communication in the act of congregational singing.”⁹ The Guidelines outlined three major areas that the committee should address:

1. Healing efficacy: Texts needed to be metaphysically accurate. God and the seven synonymous terms for God needed to be at the center of the texts, which had to express a higher sense than just human optimism. Finally, all texts needed to include the healing quality of divine Love. The tunes should reflect “a unity and integrity of musical thought” and “seek to illuminate and enhance…the words.”¹⁰
2. Congregational usability: The Hymnal should be “quintessentially a book of congregational song.” Texts should include various styles, some with simple, repetitive poetry, others more metaphoric. Each poem should be “wedded” easily to its tune and be in a vocal range that the average congregational singer could manage. The music should illuminate the text in a way to ensure that the words were memorable. Above all the Hymnal should be “theocentric,” with inspiring, uplifting, unifying, healing texts and tunes.¹¹
3. International acceptability: Christian Science has always defined itself as a universal, world-embracing religion. Thus texts should reflect the international scope of the church movement and be acceptable anywhere in the world. They should include a breadth of subject matter, addressing various challenges and worldwide concerns. The music “should be responsive to multi-national preferences and sensitivities.”¹²

The committee’s principal responsibilities were broad:

• Evaluate texts and tunes in the 1932 Hymnal and make recommendations
• Compile and appraise survey results and commentary from First Readers in churches, consultants, and Christian Scientists
• Evaluate new material and make recommendations
• Develop and implement editorial guidelines and policies
• Edit all texts and tunes, including for metaphysical and scriptural accuracy
• Compile the manuscript for the 1990s edition¹³

Enthusiasm for this newest revision project was high among workers at The Mother Church, as seen in an article in the March/April 1986 Church Center News, titled “In tune with the times”:

As the committee appointed to revise the Christian Science Hymnal heads into an allegro second year, project staff members say they’ve appreciated employees’ interest and opinions to date – and are hoping for more to come.

 

Nineteen Boston-area church members, including employees from eight departments of The Mother Church, signed up to help with the project at the December Employees Meeting. They met in early January to look at possible page designs for the new Hymnal.

 

“Those meetings were invaluable in helping us see what church members might accept in terms of a new layout,” says [the Hymnal Project Manager]. “Now if more employees will send in material for consideration between now and October….”¹⁴

“The tempo’s picking up,” Church Center News, March/April 1985.

According to the author’s recollection, committee members met in Boston about every six weeks from 1986 to 1988. They carefully evaluated every hymn in the 1932 edition, revising texts where necessary, lowering keys where possible, and removing several hymns that were infrequently used in services. They considered over 1,000 new submissions, all handled anonymously. At the end of their work, the committee submitted a manuscript for a new Hymnal edition that contained about 300 selections.

The March 1989 Journal updated readers:

Many have inquired about the status of the revision of the Christian Science Hymnal. This has been an enormous undertaking, spanning a number of years. Although a completed manuscript is now in hand, the production schedule has not yet been established, pending final review by the Board of Trustees of the Publishing Society and The Christian Science Board of Directors.¹⁶

It should be noted that this project to revise the Hymnal, begun in 1979, stopped and started again at least once over a decade of activity. And at length, the long-expected revision was not issued; the Directors withdrew their support for the project in 1989. The edited manuscript from the 1980s was, however, preserved in the archives.

Christian Scientists would indeed see the publication of new hymns and sing them in their churches, some two decades later. And the work done previously would prove useful to another committee—one that oversaw the preparation of the Christian Science Hymnal Supplement, issued in 2008. At that time the Publishing Society’s Trustees would provide special recognition: “While no new publication resulted at that time [in the 1980s], we have reviewed that body of work and are enormously grateful for the dedication and inspiration of that committee,” they wrote in the Journal. “In fact, one of its members serves on the current Hymnal Supplement Committee.” And they went on to acknowledge, “The healing steps already taken are blessing our efforts today.”¹⁷

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