The whole idea of changing words to traditional hymns has always been a beef with me. I noticed this over the years as words were subtly changed to reflect the more PC idea of ”people” vs. “man” or “son” in the United Methodist hymnbook.
What’s worse is when it takes place without footnotes indicating the change, but still attributing the words to the original author. Liberal academia will remove students from their universities for doing that, but somehow it is permitted, and integrity overlooked, when it comes to hymns.
Here is a great article by Keith Drury, and how the idea of hymn lyrics being changed around the subject of the ’gospel of self-esteem’ vs. ‘the gospel of Jesus Christ.’
You won’t be hearing this on the “Hour Of Power” with Robert Schuler, trust me!
Filed under: Apologetics, Church Life, Devotions, Evangelism, Methodists, PCUSA
Thanks for the heads-up. I have a heard of this before. Is there somewhere you can get a list of hymns and the alterations?
Better check out why those who change the words do so. Often it is for sensitivities to gender issues. This was not an issue for most of church history because women were not considered to have anything valuable to say and werent allowed to say it. Turns out, many women feel alienated by the exclusive use of male pronouns, imagery, and language in the church. This is not an attack against men or the tradition, it is a response to the honest testimony of the women in the church. There are many other issues at hand, such as the reality that God is not a man or a gendered being.
Craig,
Your statements about women not having anything valuable to say is incorrect and historically inaccurate. The existance of the Christian gospel and Christianity in general systematically changed the view of women and was truly what began a different attitude towards women in a culture that was hostile to them. The culture had crude views against women, and the gospel is what changed that, it wasn’t responsbile for it.
tr