2002/06/01 by Stephen Marini, Stephen A. Marini
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #American Constitutional Law and Politics #Art #Evangelism #Great Awakening #History #Hymn #Law #Literature #Lyrics #Mormonism, Religion, and History #Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies #Philosophy #Political science #Popularity #Power (physics) #Protestantism #Religious studies #Soul #Theology #Worship
paper · doi:10.1017/s000964070009569x
openalex publication_date 2002/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
The hymns of evangelical Protestantism are the most widely used spiritual texts in American history. Sacred lyrics like “All hail the power of Jesus' name,” “Jesus, lover of my soul,” “How firm a foundation,” and “When I survey the wondrous cross” have been sung, preached, and prayed by millions of Americans since the eighteenth century. At worship, revivals, youth services, conferences, conventions, and colleges, and in the family circle, these hymns have been ceaselessly repeated in an unending round of living oral tradition. Since the Great Awakening two and a half centuries ago, the churches of the evangelical tradition have published tens of thousands of hymn texts and tunes. This continuous popularity since colonial times establishes hymnody as a crucial expression of American evangelical religiousness.