Hymnody

Abstract Landmark hymn collections by George Whitefield (1753) and especially John Wesley (1780) broadcast the key emphases of the eighteenth-century evangelical movement. John’s brother Charles led in creating a new hymnody for the awakenings’ new sensibilities. Antecedents of evangelical hymnody included the High-Church Anglican societies of the late seventeenth century where psalm-singing played a large part. Continental hymnody, as developed by Lutherans, pietistic movements, and especially the Moravians, contributed more in both expressive content and creative forms. Puritanism was a third historical influence, mostly through the hymns of the Dissenter Isaac Watts who liberated English hymnody from exclusive psalmody. Fervent singing of newly composed hymns or the hymns of Isaac Watts marked evangelical movements throughout the Atlantic region: Methodist led by Charles Wesley in England; Welsh revivalists, among whom William Williams Pantycelyn played the key role; and Samuel Davies who pioneered the use of hymns and hymn-writing in the colonies. Evangelical hymnody linked evangelicals who were otherwise much divided. It innovated with an intense focus on Christ as redeemer, creative allusions to Scripture, and many new meters and rhyme schemes. Black evangelicals participated fully in the era’s new hymnody, as did women hymn-writers like Ann Steele of England and Ann Griffiths of Wales.