The Complete Book of Hymns

The Complete Book of Hymns brings to life the stories behind more than 600 hymns and worship songs. With background on the composer, the inspiration behind the lyrics, scriptural references for devotional consideration, and a sampling of the song lyrics, this book brings forth the message of these great songs of the faith like never before!

Customer Reviews:

It most certainly is complete!

By HeatherHH - May 9, 2008

This book is a hefty volume at almost 700 pages, but, of course, it covers 600 hymns and praise songs. Each entry averages just over 1 page in length. All the old standards are covered, as well as many less commonly-known ones, including many that I do not know. By far, most of the entries are hymns. Off hand, I'd probably say that around 90% or more of the songs referenced were written before 1950. This book is well-organized. The songs are organized by topic, and there are indexes by title, author, and theme.

Here is a sample entry that I opened to randomly: I Need Thee Every Hour. We learn the hymn was written by a 37-year-old Brooklyn housewife while she was busy with her household chores. She could closely feel the nearness of God, and she sat by an open window and wrote out all the verses. When she gave them to her pastor, he wrote the chorus and the music. Evangelist Dwight L. Moody discovered the hymn and began using it in his meetings, which led to it... read more

Terrific buy!

By B. Stack - August 25, 2008

This useful book gives a short history of most popular hymns that you will encounter in the Protestant churches. The music in not included, but all the words to all the verses are there. It has proven valuable when giving a brief history before singing a hymn. The participants are much more appreciative of the hymn after hearing a story about how it was written.

Most of the histories given are about the author of the words and not about the composers of the hymns.

Hymns and their stories

By I. Milton "godstuff" - March 18, 2008

Conducting worship services at a Senior's Care facility, I find that they love to sing especially the old hymns but have short attention spans when it comes to sermons or messages. This book allows me to use a recommended scripture passage and then a little bit about the background and composer of each hymn rather than a long message. The participants are very interested in this information, the feed back has been very positive. As well the themes of the hymn is listed and the words of the hymns are also printed which makes it easy for someone who doesn't read music to read the words and compare to the theme for clarity.