The Baptist Hymnal for Use in the Church and Home: Its development, content, and reception

The Baptist Hymnal for Use in the Church and Home of 1883 is a significant hymnal for Baptists in the United States, as it was the first major hymnal after the split of the Triennial Convention in 1845 to bring together Baptists from all over the country in its production. It was an ecumenically broad hymnal, incorporating theological viewpoints from many different Baptists, as well as providing both a familiar and a new tune for most of its hymns. The editor-in-chief, William Howard Doane, was well-known as a Sunday school and gospel music composer. His expertise brought this music into the hymnal, making it one of the first major denominational hymnals to include it. The assistant musical editor, Elias Henry Johnson, was a lover of the high church music of the Oxford Movement, and his influence meant that the hymnal also included much of this body of music.;The Baptist Hymnal (1883) was well-received in the denominational presses, with almost universally positive reviews. It sold well, with claims of sales of around a million copies repeated over several years. It had an immense influence on Baptist hymnals published after it by the Northern and Southern Baptist conventions, the Canadian Baptists, and the African American Baptist conventions. It was still in use by some churches in a 1938 report on music in the Southern Baptist churches, and continues to be used, especially in Primitive Baptist churches, today.;This hymnal is also important for its view into Baptist worship practices of the time. The hymns appearing in the hymnal were chosen by five or more of the participating editors. This method of choosing hymns means that it gives a good record of the hymns that Baptists were singing in the latter nineteenth century. This in-depth study of the hymnal provides insight into nineteenth century Baptist worship.