Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby (Library of Religious Biography) [Paperback]

Edith L. Blumhofer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2004 | Series: Library of Religious Biography

Her Heart Can See offers an intimate, informed look at Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915), the most prolific of all American hymn writers. Having lost her sight in infancy through a doctors negligence, Fanny went on to compose more than 9,000 hymns, as well as various other songs, cantatas, and lyrical productions. Crosbys hymns, including such all-time favorites as Blessed Assurance, Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross, Rescue the Perishing, Safe in the Arms of Jesus, and I Am Thine, O Lord, continue to be sung around the world. Celebrated in her own day for her gospel hymns, Crosby was also very publicly involved with New York Citys rescue missions and with other benevolent efforts. She rubbed shoulders with the likes of Henry Clay, Grover Cleveland, Winfield Scott, Dwight L. Moody, Ira Sankey, Jenny Lind, P. T. Barnum, and many other famous figures who people these pages. More than two dozen black-and-white photographs depict the people and settings among which Crosby moved. Drawing on primary sources - including thousands of unpublished Crosby manuscripts - Edith Blumhofer sorts fact from fiction in the life of this remarkable woman. Blumhofer responsibly limns Crosbys life as a gifted nineteenth-century northeastern Protestant woman, in the process showing why this diminutive woman was - and is - so beloved.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Anyone who has stood in church and sung "Blessed Assurance" or "Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It" is familiar with the work of Fanny Crosby (1820–1915), one of America's most esteemed and prolific Protestant hymn-writers. In a marvelous new biography, Wheaton College history professor Blumhofer tells Crosby's story. The musician, blind from infancy, was educated at the New York Institute for the Blind, where she later taught. In 1858, she married Alexander van Alstine, but their marriage was unusual, in that they lived apart for lengthy spells and led largely separate lives. Though she played the piano, harp, organ and guitar, and published several volumes of poetry as a young woman, she didn't turn to hymnody until midlife. Crosby was well-educated, but she never learned to write legibly, so she composed verses in her head and remembered the words until someone turned up to take dictation; sometimes she "wrote" an entire hymn in 20 minutes. She was also active in urban mission work and gave her time to institutions like the YMCA and the Bowery Mission. Not only does Blumhofer offer a lively account of Crosby's many accomplishments, she also contextualizes Crosby's life in larger currents of American history, including the rise of Sunday schools and the mid–19th-century movement to "elevat[e] the nation's musical taste" and "introduc[e] music into the public schools." This is a splendid and entertaining contribution to American religious history. (May)
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About the Author

Edith L. Blumhofer is professor of history and director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. She is also the author of "Aimee Semple McPherson: Everybody's Sister" (Eerdmans).

Product Details

• Paperback: 365 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802842534
• ISBN-13: 978-0802842534
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #295,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An unsentimental account of the life of an extraordinary woman in the context of her times., April 12, 2006

By 

Paul Buford (Southwestern New Jerrsey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby (Library of Religious Biography) (Paperback)

I came to this book knowing very little beyond the sentimental inspirational "Story Behind the Hymns" profiles provided by the religious press. You will go away understanding her world and understand how influential she was in that world. The book places Fanny Crosby in the context of her age, when American Protestantism was at the peak of its influence on society. It explains how she fit into society, she was either related to--or knew--most of the people who held social or political power in the Northeast during the 19th century. This was before Church life had become marginalized from American Life.

One would expect to discover about Crosby's hymns and the growth of Evangelicalism. But one will also learn about the education of the blind, social work, the growth of the Music Publishing industry and the development of copyright law! You will also discover that--yes she was related to Bing Crosby and had a close relative who became a Mormon!

If you read this book, you will receive a great exposure to a wide scope of American life and how one women experienced it with everything but her eyes! A producer at PBS's "The American Experience" could very well use this book as a keystone to developing a wonderful documentary.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Protestant Saint, August 10, 2005

By 

S Donahue (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby (Library of Religious Biography) (Paperback)

People in the latter nineteenth century and early twentieth century(and those today who know of her) considered Fanny Crosby to have been one of the greatest persons who ever lived. They very well may have been right. This tiny (4'9") woman, blinded shortly after birth, wrote over 10,000 gospel hymns, many of which survive today, such as, 'Near the Cross', 'Blessed Assurance', 'To God be the Glory' and others(see the Cyber Hymnal for a partial listing). Having lived her life in poverty for the most part, she wrote her timeless hymns for the masses to enjoy. Fanny knew and conversed with the greats of her era: Presidents Lincoln, Van Buren, Polk, and Cleveland; Gen. Winfield Scott, Henry Clay, Dwight L. Moody, Ira Sankey, Eliza Edmunds Hewitt, Horace Greeley, and many others. She had a troubled marriage, where she and her legally-blind spouse were separated for many years. She was truly the servant of all, and was sought out by the high and low for counsel and prayer. Active for many years on New York City's rescue mission circuit, she was a speaker for whom crowds would line up around a city block and wait for hours to hear. An active member of the International Order of The King's Daughters and Sons, she also aided the city of Bridgeport(CT)with their missions on skid row. I would urge anyone to read this wonderful biography of a chosen soul who taught the world many lessons, chiefest among them that, no matter one's disability in life, one can truly excel. Get yourself a copy of this book and enter a more gentle, humble, and pious age where the things of God were held in major importance by persons in all stations of life.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars impeccable scholarship and a fascinating figure, March 27, 2010

By 

jaigner "http://jaaigner.blogspot.com/" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby (Library of Religious Biography) (Paperback)

This book represents the best kind of scholarship. Edith Blumhofer, with whom I was fortunate enough of study reformation history at Wheaton College, is an amazing historian and scholar. Her work is exhaustive but not suffocating.

While other accounts of Crosby's life are trite and a bit sappy, Blumhofer paints a more realistic portrait of this irresistible subject, with all her imperfections and eccentricities. The result is one of the very best biographies I have ever read.

If you're looking for shallow, feel-good Christian writing, this book is not for you. If you're looking for incredible, thorough scholarship, historical accuracy and writing with heart, you will enjoy this book.