"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779, with words written in 1772 by the English poet and Anglican clergyman John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both religious and secular purposes.
Spirituals is a genre of Christian music that is "purely and solely the creation" of generations of Black Americans, which merged African cultural heritage with the experiences of being held in bondage in slavery, at first during the transatlantic slave trade—the largest and one of the most inhumane forced migrations in recorded human history, and for centuries afterwards, through the domestic slave trade. Spirituals encompass the "sing songs," work songs, and plantation songs that evolved into the blues and gospel songs in church. In the nineteenth century, the word "spirituals" referred to all these subcategories of folk songs. While they were often rooted in biblical stories, they also described the extreme hardships endured by African Americans who were enslaved from the 17th century until the 1860s, the emancipation altering mainly the nature of slavery for many. Many new derivative music genres emerged from the spirituals songcraft.
A doxology is a short hymn of praises to God in various forms of Christian worship, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. The tradition derives from a similar practice in the Jewish synagogue, where some version of the Kaddish serves to terminate each section of the service.
Frances Jane van Alstyne, more commonly known as Fanny Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs, with more than 100 million copies printed. She is also known for her teaching and her rescue mission work. By the end of the 19th century, she was a household name.
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. Revivals and camp meetings continued to be held by various denominations, and in some areas of the mid-Atlantic, led to the development of seasonal cottages for meetings.
Cwm Rhondda, taken from the Welsh name for the Rhondda Valley, is a popular hymn tune written by John Hughes (1873–1932) in 1907.
The Improperia are a series of antiphons and responses, expressing the remonstrance of Jesus Christ with his people. Also known as the Reproaches, they are sung In the Catholic liturgy as part of the observance of the Passion, usually on the afternoon of Good Friday. In the Byzantine Rite, they are found in various hymns of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The Improperia appear in the Pontificale of Prudentius (846–61) and gradually came into use throughout Europe in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, finally being incorporated into the Roman Ordo in the fourteenth century.
"The Old Rugged Cross" is a popular hymn written in 1912 by American evangelist and song-leader George Bennard (1873–1958).
William Batchelder Bradbury was a musician who composed the tune to "Jesus Loves Me" and many other popular hymns.
The Methodist Church Ghana is one of the largest and oldest mainline Protestant denominations in Ghana. It traces its roots back to the landing of the Rev. Joseph Dunwell on 1 January 1835 in Cape Coast, in the Gold Coast. The Rev. T. B. Freeman, another missionary, took the Christian message beyond Cape Coast to the Ashanti Kingdom, to Nigeria, and to other parts of the region to become the father of Methodism in West Africa.
Carolyn Winfrey Gillette is a hymn writer and Presbyterian pastor. Gillette and her husband Bruce are the co-pastors of Overbrook Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania since April 2017.
("Give Me That") "Old-Time Religion" is a traditional Gospel song dating from 1873, when it was included in a list of Jubilee songs—or earlier. It has become a standard in many Protestant hymnals, though it says nothing about Jesus or the gospel, and covered by many artists. Some scholars, such as Forrest Mason McCann, have asserted the possibility of an earlier stage of evolution of the song, in that "the tune may go back to English folk origins". In any event, it was by way of Charles Davis Tillman that the song had incalculable influence on the confluence of black spiritual and white gospel song traditions in forming the genre now known as southern gospel. Tillman was largely responsible for publishing the song into the repertoire of white audiences. It was first heard sung by African-Americans and written down by Tillman when he attended a camp meeting in Lexington, South Carolina in 1889.
Rev. Richard Jukes (1804–1867) was a popular Primitive Methodist minister and hymn writer. This article provides a brief biography, and a summary of his work as a popular minister and hymn writer during the first half-century of Primitive Methodism.
"This is My Father's World" is a Christian hymn written by Maltbie Davenport Babcock, a minister from New York, and published posthumously in 1901.
"I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" is a Christian hymn that originated in Assam, India.
"Jaya Ho" is a Christian hymn written in the Hindi language by an unknown author. The song's Hindi title, more frequently transliterated "Jai ho" in other contexts, means "may there be victory" and is frequently used interjectively to praise God. The hymn's English title is often given as "Victory Hymn" or "Victory Be to You [i.e., God]".
"Down in the River to Pray" is a traditional American song variously described as a Christian folk hymn, an African-American spiritual, an Appalachian song, and a Southern gospel song. The exact origin of the song is unknown.
Martin Wells Knapp (1853–1901) was an American Methodist minister who founded several institutions including the magazine "God’s Revivalist" in 1888, the International Holiness Union and Prayer League in 1897, and God's Bible School, later known as God's Bible School and College. He was a central figure of the more radical wing of the Holiness movement.
Jesus Paid It All is a traditional American hymn about the penal substitutionary atonement for sin by the death of Jesus. The song references many Bible verses, including Romans 5 and Isaiah 1:18.
