The Presbyterian Hymnal (Pew Edition): Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs (Hardcover)

~ No Author (Author) "As the Presbyterian hymnal committee began its work in the spring of 1985, the immediate task was to develop a rationale for choosing the hymns..." (more)
Key Phrases: Carol Stream, Hope Publishing Company, Oxford University Press (more...)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 716 pages
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (January 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 066410097X
• ISBN-13: 978-0664100971
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #113,799 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Presbyterian Hymnal CD and Vista Compatibility, June 19, 2007

By	K. Noar "Presb Church Helper" (Anacortes, Wa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Presbyterian Hymnal: Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs (CD-ROM)

This CD is a great way to copy and paste the songs of the Presbyterian Hymnal into Word documents, Powerpoint, etc. We also use it to import hymns into Mediashout for projection. One thing - to get it to work with Vista requires that two files be manually copied - dirdib.drv and macromix.dll into your c:\windows folder. Otherwise, you'll get error messages saying that the files can not be copied because the disk is full. What's happening is that the new Vista security features are preventing the files from being copied.

So where do you get these two files? Install and run the hymnal CD on a Windows XP computer. The files are only available while the program is running. They are removed when the program is closed. So - while the program is running, copy them to a floppy disk, flash drive or whatever and then manually copy them into the c:\windows folder on your Vista computer. You'll need administrator priveleges to do so.

After that, the CD runs as well on a Vista computer as on our XP computer.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Presbyterian Church Should Have This., April 27, 2007

By	JAD (The Sunshine State) - See all my reviews

We understand that the Presbyterian Church is at the start of making a new hymnal (due to debut in 2014) to replace this one. Their theory is that every generation needs a new hymnal and if you look at the preceding hymnals (the blue or green hymnal of 1933, the maroon hymnal of 1955 and the ill-fated Worshipbook of the 70s), you see their point.

Even so, this one gets most things right and will be hard to beat.

The second half of the 20th century experienced what has been called the Hymn Explosion, and many of the best hymns of that time are represented in this book which is still called the "new" hymnal in most Presbyterian churches. There are some works that were hard to introduce to congregations that are now among their most beloved hymns represented: Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ, Here I Am Lord, etc. Fred Pratt Green, Timothy Dudley-Smith, Jane Parker Huber and Hal Hopson are all represented here, as well they ought to be.

There are also some under-utilized gems in it as well, songs like "Come O Spirit" (for Pentecost) and "God Bless Your Church" (for an anniversary) that have also found their way into other denominational hymnals.

All in all it is a great hymnal for expanding the congregations "Favorites" repertoire without being too jarring.

LindaJo McKim and company did yeoman's work in creating it. The layout is according to the liturgical year. The indexes are thorough and easy to use. The print is clear; the size is comfortable to hold while singing. There is a non-denominational version of this hymnal available too, from the publisher, for non-Presbyterian congregations who find it to their liking.

16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars, and a Half. (Good Resource, but.......), April 24, 2001

By	A.D. Lorenz "alorenz5" (Warsaw, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Presbyterian Hymnal: Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs (CD-ROM)

This is a great hymnal, that was thoughtfully produced, and obviously had a huge amount of time dedicated to its production. Presbyterians now have a hymnal that goes straight through the liturgical year, from Advent to Pentecost/Whitsunday, and beyond. This hymnal also contains all the Psalms, so essential to tradition Presbyterian/Reformed Worship, set to music.

The redeeming quality of the Psalms offsets the fact that many words were to changed for "inclusiveness". I do not always have a problem with accepting everyone into the church, but when great hymns are changed from their original text I wonder... For example hymn 262 reads "God of the Ages, Whose Almighty Hand", when D.C. Roberts wrote "God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand" in 1876 as our National Hymn. Little things like this make me wonder how true other less-well known hymns were translated.

Also included are a number of hymns in foreign tongues, such as Native American Languages, and Korean. This are wonderful additions to congregations with large numbers of members who are of different ethnic origins, but I attend an all-white church, not because we do not welcome people of other races but simply because the community in which I live is close to 99% white, and minorities have teir own strong churches locally, therefore these hymns are useless to us, and could have been replaced by some older hymns that are trditional favorites.

All in all, this is a good hymnal and does remain true to God's will, but I much prefer "The Hymnbook" of 1955 or "The Hymnal" of 1933 or "The Trinity Hymnal". These books contain many more common hymns that many of us who were reared in the Presbyterian Church, or any other Protestant denomination, would recognize.

I guess that if we were truly Presbyterian we would only sing Psalms- acapella, but I think hymnwriters, offer everyone a better chance to praise and worship God.