Psalmody

Definition and Meaning

Psalmody (Korean sipyeonga, 詩篇歌) is the setting of texts from the Old Testament book of Psalms as songs that a congregation can sing together. In a broad sense, the term refers to any manner of singing the Psalms. In a narrower sense, it refers to the metrical psalm, in which the psalm text is rewritten to fit a set number of syllables per line and a pattern of end rhyme and is then set to an established tune. The practice of singing the prose text as it stands in a chant-like manner, as in the Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions, is commonly called "psalm chant."

Biblical and Historical Background

The Psalms were originally sung in Israel's worship. The superscriptions of many psalms contain directions concerning instruments and performance, and musical terms such as Selah appear throughout the text. In the New Testament, Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19 exhort believers to address one another "in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," and the church has long cited these verses as a basis for psalm singing.

During the Reformation, John Calvin stressed the use of the Psalms, as the Word of God, in congregational singing. In Geneva, Clément Marot and Theodore Beza rendered the Psalms into French metrical verse, and the Genevan Psalter, containing all 150 psalms, was completed in 1562. Metrical psalmody subsequently spread to the Reformed churches, Scottish Presbyterianism, and the Puritan tradition. From the eighteenth century onward, hymns that freely paraphrased the Psalms multiplied in the English-speaking world, and the emphasis gradually shifted toward the hymns familiar today.

Within the Reformed tradition, churches are divided between those that maintain "exclusive psalmody," holding that only the Psalms should be sung in public worship, and those that sing other hymns alongside the Psalms. The former appeal to the principle that the elements of worship must be limited to what Scripture commands. The latter hold that the New Testament's "hymns and spiritual songs" include songs beyond the Psalms.

Practice in the Korean Church

Because Korean Protestantism has sung translated British and American hymns since the early missionary period, metrical psalters composed solely of the Psalms have never been at the center of congregational singing. The Psalms are used in worship chiefly as responsive readings. The hymnal includes a number of songs based on the Psalms.

Practice also varies by denomination. Some Presbyterian churches and scholars who emphasize the Reformed tradition have undertaken to translate metrical psalms, such as those of the Genevan Psalter, into Korean and to sing them in worship services and other gatherings. The Anglican Church of Korea, following Anglican liturgical tradition, includes the recitation or singing of the Psalms in its services. In other denominations, gospel songs that set psalm verses to music are widely sung, but these are distinct from metrical psalms.