Hymn

Definition and Meaning

A hymn (Korean chansongga, 讚頌歌) is a song sung by a congregation to praise God and confess the faith; the term also refers to a book collecting such songs. In Korean Protestantism, it commonly refers to the common hymnal published by the Korean Hymnal Society. In church, hymns are announced by number, as in "Hymn No. ___." Hymns are often distinguished from gospel songs, which are contemporary pieces with a relatively free form.

Biblical and Historical Background

The Old Testament book of Psalms is a collection of songs sung by ancient Israel. In the New Testament, Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 mention "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."

During the Reformation, Martin Luther encouraged congregations to sing hymns in their own language. Reformed churches influenced by John Calvin sang chiefly metrical psalms, in which the texts of the Psalms were set in meter. In eighteenth-century England, Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley, the younger brother of John Wesley, wrote many hymns and laid the foundation of English hymnody. A considerable number of the hymns in Korean hymnals are translations of such English-language hymns.

Hymns in the Korean Church

In the early mission period, each mission board and denomination published its own hymnal. Chanyangga (Hymns of Praise), published in 1894 by the Presbyterian missionary Horace G. Underwood, is known as one of the earliest hymnals with musical notation. After a series of mergers and splits, the Unified Hymnal (558 hymns), used jointly by many denominations, appeared in 1983. In 2006 a new edition (645 hymns) was published, reportedly containing more hymns composed by Koreans; this edition is commonly called the New Hymnal or the 21st Century Hymnal.

Today many Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, Baptist, and Full Gospel denominations use this common hymnal. Churches print hymn numbers in the church bulletin, which lists the order of worship. For some time after the new edition appeared, some churches listed both the old and the new numbers.

Not all churches use the same book. Some denominations, such as the Anglican Church of Korea, use their own hymnals, and some churches continue to use earlier editions. Some Reformed churches that emphasize psalm singing also use a psalter alongside the hymnal.

Hymns are used not only in congregational singing but also in a variety of other settings, including anthems sung by the church choir, family worship, and funeral services. In recent years, many churches have combined hymns with gospel songs led by a worship team in the same service.