NORTH-WEST UNIVERSITY (POTCHEFSTROOM CAMPUS) in association with Greenwich School of Theology UK The resilience of the eighteenth century hymn in contemporary Church of Ireland (Anglican) worship – a liturgical study by David Baxter #22299068 Thesis submitted for the degree Doctor of Philosophy (Liturgics) at the Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University Promoter : Prof. Ben de Klerk Co-Promoter : Revd Prof. Roger Grainger November 2012 ABSTRACT The combination of observational, anecdotal and circumstantial evidence suggests that, in the present-day Christian church, older, traditional hymns are slowly but inexorably being replaced by modern, contemporary ones. Whilst it is a truism that hymnody, like every other aspect of civilisation, moves forward with the times, there still remains a large number of people, congregations and clergy for whom the early eighteenth century English hymn is a genre that remains ever-popular. This research focuses deliberately on the eighteenth century hymn for four main reasons. First, hymns from this period are widely used in most Christian denominations. Second, the eighteenth century was a particularly fertile period for hymnody. Third, this was the era of Watts and Wesley, arguably two of the greatest hymn writers of all time; their burgeoning popularity thrust the eighteenth century into a period of proclivity for hymn writing. Finally, the whole area of hymnody in the Church of Ireland appears to be under-researched. Thus, in seeking to determine why older, more traditional hymns continue to be published in Church of Ireland hymnals this research fills a very obvious gap. This study establishes that this resilience is real and not merely perceived. Eighteenth century hymns are still widely sung in today’s Church, irrespective of size, location, setting, status, leadership or congregation. The study explores the many reasons behind this resilience—reasons that go beyond the more obvious musical and liturgical ones and highlight the impact of hymnody from a variety of angles. KEY WORDS / TERMS hymn*, contemporary worship, eighteenth century church, Church of Ireland, Anglican. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Sincere thanks to Professors Ben de Klerk and Roger B. Grainger for their unyielding support and academic advice and to Mrs Eleanor Margaret (Peg) Evans for her advice, support and guidance throughout the completion of this dissertation. Many thanks also to my family, friends, work colleagues and pupils for their assistance, interest, encouragement and support. CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background and problem statement 1 1.1.1 Background 1 1.1.2 Problem Statement 2 1.2 The Aim and objectives 4 1.2.1 The Aim 4 1.2.2 The Objectives 4 1.3 Central theoretical argument 4 1.4 Methodology 4 2 The Anglican context. Hymns and hymnodistic developments in the “mother” Anglican community, the Church of England, from the Reformation to the present day 6 2.1 Research aim for this chapter 6 2.2 Research method for this chapter 7 2.3 Structure of this chapter 8 2. 4 Hymnody from its beginnings until 1707 9 2. 4.1 The beginnings of hymnody up until the publication of the 1562 Old Version Psalter 9 2.4.2 The first hymnbooks in the Church of England and early hymn writers: 1562 – 1660s 13 2.4.3 Developments in the late seventeenth century, the Restoration, the Savoy Conference and the debate on congregational singing 18 2.5 The publication of Watts’ Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707 until A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for Public and Private Use by Thomas Cotterill, 1819 22 2.5.1 Isaac Watts, his imitators and followers (1707 – 1780) 22 2.5.2 John and Charles Wesley, their contemporaries and imitators 30 2.5.2.1 John Wesley 30 2.5.2.2 Charles Wesley 32 2.6 Post-Wesleyan hymnody until A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for Public and Private Use by Thomas Cotterill (1780 – 1819) 39 2.7 1819 until the publication of Hymns Ancient and Modern (1819 – 1886) 43 2.8 Hymns Ancient and Modern until the present day (1886 – Present day) 55 2.9 Addressing the research question 56 3 The historical context of hymnody in the Irish Anglican Church; the periodisation of Irish hymnody according to significant events in relevant Irish Church and civic history and the relevant developments that occurred within these periods 60 3.1 Introduction, context and relevance of this chapter to the overall research questions 60 3.2 Research method for this chapter 61 3.3 Structure of this chapter 61 3.4 The reasons for starting in 1691 62 3.5 1691 – 1801 (Protestant Ascendancy – The Act of Union) 67 3.6 1801 – 1871 (The Act of Union – The Disestablishment of the Anglican Church) 71 3.6.1 Other internal and external influences from this era 78 3.7 1871 – 1921 (The disestablishment of the Anglican Church – Partition) 79 3.8 1922 - 1966 (Partition – the start of “The Troubles”) 83 3.8.1 Partition and its influence 83 3.9 1966 – 1998 (The start of “The Troubles” – The Good Friday Agreement) 87 3.10 1998 – present day (The Good Friday Agreement – present day) 92 3.10.1 Contemporary connections with the Patrician view of Ireland 96 3.10.2 Creeds and parts of worship in a contemporary context and their resultant influences on hymnody 98 3.11 Addressing the research question 100 4 Musical and hymnodistic influences in the Church of Ireland from its beginnings until the present day 104 4.1 Research aim for this chapter 104 4.2 Research method 104 4.3 Structure of this chapter 105 4.4 Music making in the Church; Introduction 105 4.4.1 Pre-Disestablishment 106 4.4.2 Disestablishment of the Anglican Church – Partition 111 4.4.3 Partition – the start of “The Troubles” 115 4.4.4 The start of “The Troubles” – the present day 118 4.5 Organ and choir development 123 4.6 Influences from other churches 125 4.6.1 The Roman Catholic Church 126 4.6.2 Other Protestant faiths: The Presbyterian Church 130 4.6.3 Other Protestant faiths: The Methodist, Baptist and other Churches’ influences 132 4.6.4 The Eastern Orthodoxies: The emergence of the Eastern Church in Ireland and its influences 133 4.6.4.1 The Greek Orthodox Church 134 4.6.4.2 The Russian Orthodox Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church 139 4.6.4.3 Other Orthodox churches 141 4.7 Other influencing factors 142 4.7.1 Urbanism and Ruralism 142 4.7.2 Clergy, Church growth and “high” Church influences 143 4.7.2.1 High church influences 145 4.7.3 Modern Science 146 4.7.4 Church Buildings and architecture 147 4.8 Addressing the research question 151 5 Establishing an 18th century canon of hymns and evaluating current approaches to hymnody 157 5.1 The research question for this chapter 157 5.2 The research method for this chapter 158 5.3 Structure of this chapter 159 5.4 Definition of the term “eighteenth century” 160 5.5 Criteria for deciding which hymns to include in the canon 160 5.6 The chosen canon 164 5.6.1 Pre-eighteenth century hymns; determining a context for hymns used up until the eighteenth century 168 5.6.2 A graphical representation of the data 170 5.7 How music is performed in today’s Church 170 5.7.1 Musical ensembles and methods of accompaniment in today’s church 170 5.7.1.1 Organs 170 5.7.1.2 Pipe and non-pipe organs 171 5.7.1.3 Choirs 171 5.7.1.4 “Praise” groups and bands 172 5.7.2 Quantitative online survey to assess musical decisions, ability as well as uses of choirs, organ and praise groups 172 5.7.2.1 Setting up the online survey 173 5.7.2.2 Sample size 173 5.7.2.3 Sampling method 173 5.7.3 The online survey 174 5.7.4 Analysis of the return 178 5.7.4.1 Question 1 responses 178 5.7.4.2 Question 2 responses 179 5.7.4.3 Question 3 responses 180 5.7.4.4 Question 4 responses 181 5.7.4.5 Question 5 responses 182 5.7.5 Summary of the online survey 183 5.8 Addressing the research question 184 6 The survey 188 6.1 Research aim for this chapter 188 6.2 Research method for this chapter 188 6.3 Structure of this chapter 189 6.4 Collecting data from a number of churches over a fixed period of time 190 6.4.1 The year, days and services on which to base the sample 190 6.4.2 A list of the churches being sampled 192 6.4.3 The results of the survey 195 6.4.4 The number and percentage of eighteenth century hymns being sung both by Church and in total 200 6.5 Qualitative interview surveys 200 6.5.1 The sampling unit and size 201 6.5.2 The sample procedure 204 6.5.3 The questions asked in the survey 204 6.6 Snapshot data over a large number of churches on a given Sunday 205 6.6.1 Deciding the sample for the snapshot data 207 6.6.2 The churches chosen for the snapshot data section of the research 208 6.6.3 The results of the snapshot data 210 6.6.3.1 1st Sunday in Advent 211 6.6.3.2 4th Sunday after Epiphany 212 6.6.3.3 3rd Sunday before Lent 213 6.6.3.4 1st Sunday after Trinity 214 6.6.3.5 All Saints’ Day 215 6.6.3.6 Totals 215 6.6 Addressing the research question 216 7 Findings from the research; the reasons why eighteenth century hymns have proved resilient in the contemporary Church of Ireland (Anglican) worship 223 7.1 Introduction and relation to previous chapter 223 7.2 Research method for this chapter 223 7.3 Structure of this chapter 224 7.4 Analysis of the ongoing data from 6.4 225 7.4.1 The validity of the data in an island-wide context 225 7.4.2 An analysis of individual Churches’ responses and their 227 approaches to worship 7.4.3 An analysis of the selected Sundays, a chronological evaluation 230 7.4.3.1 Advent, Christmas and Epiphany 230 7.4.3.2 Lent, Easter and Pentecost 231 7.4.3.3 Trinity and the Proper Sundays 233 7.4.3.4 Harvest, Remembrance and other festivals 233 7.4.4 The overall reasons