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Then Sings My Soul
When my grandmother died at 105 years old, she had outlived her memory. But she recognized hymns that she had learned as a child until almost the end of her life. These are some of the same hymns that I learned in church and that my children have subsequently learned. Hymns cross the generation gap and unite believers across centuries. If you've ever heard or sung "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" you have crossed ten centuries of shared Christian experience. It's amazing to me that we can sing these old hymns and recognize biblical truths and shared faith experiences. These books will add breadth and depth to your knowledge of Christian hymns. Book 1 and 2 follow a similar pattern. Each contains 150 grand - timeless and best-loved - hymns (written with musical notation - i.e. playable/sing-able) and a story about each (on facing pages). The stories always start with a scripture reference and usually provide some sort of personal application. Usually they will include a biographical sketch of the hymn writer and some background information about the hymn. Since hymns are written out of life experience, these often strike an emotional chord. Three indexes in the back of the books help you locate any hymn by its title, author/songwriter, or first line. Book 3 is different. This volume is more conversational and has fewer hymns; tracing the history of hymnody from the biblical hymns through ancient, medieval, German and English hymns to our present day gospel songs and contemporary praise and worship music; delving into some of the distinctives of the different periods of hymns; and closing by sharing the hymn stories that are nearest and dearest to the heart of the author. Each volume is about 300 pages and designed to be a “gift book” with heavy ragged edge paper and self-flaps on the heavy paper cover. ~ Janice
