{Book Review} 40 Favorite Hymns on the Christian Life

P&R Books has published a beautiful book called 40 Favorite Hymns on the Christian Life: A Closer Look at their Spiritual and Poetic Meaning. The book is authored by Leland Ryken, a well-known author who has written much and written well on the topic of literature. 

40 Favorite Hymns on the Christian Life: A Closer Look at their Spiritual and Poetic Meaning

A quick glimpse at the subtitle of the book reveals some of the purpose behind this book. The wonderful hymns that are sung corporately by the church and within family worship settings contain rich, biblically-faithful, Christ-exalting lyrics that stir our hearts to worship. But sometimes the meaning of the hymns gets lost in the midst of the singing. It is for this reason that Ryken wrote this book.

As mentioned in the introduction, “every hymn is a poem first, and only later becomes a hymn. As a verbal text, a hymn possess all the qualities of a poem. Only when it is paired with music does it become a hymn.”

Before a piece of literature makes its way into a hymnal, it is first and foremost a poem. Ryken points out that “much is gained by singing hymns accompanied by music, but much is also lost.” One of the advantages given for reading a hymn as a poem is that “we can read slowly instead of being hurried along by the music and signing. Poetry is concentrated, and it accordingly requires pondering and analyzing. When reading a poem, we can take as long as the text requires.”

Ryken continues to make his point by saying, “Much of the beauty that we experience when we sing hymns is the beauty of the music. Experiencing hymns as poems puts the focus on the verbal beauty of the words and phrases.” So this is why you should buy this book: to read 40 glorious hymns as poetry, and in the manner which poetry is intended to be read. 

What else makes this book worth reading? The format. Each of the forty entries provided contains three elements: (1) the hymnic poem; (2) an exposition of the hymnic poem (including some background info as well as how the poem is formatted); and (3) a passage of Scripture that ties together the hymn and its exposition.

The combination of these three elements lead me to conclude that this book is well-suited for devotional use. As a matter of fact, if it isn’t being used in a devotional manner, it’s most likely not being used as it was intended, and one would not be getting all that this book has to offer. 

Some of the hymns that are found in this work include:

• Holy, Holy, Holy 
• Amazing Grace
• How Firm a Foundation
• Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
• In Christ Alone
• How Great Thou Art
• It is Well with My Soul
• Be Thou My Vision
• A Mighty Fortress is Our God
• Rock of Ages
• Many more (30 more, to be exact)

I really appreciate the length of each entry (there aren’t “chapters”, per se, but each poem is its own section, or entry). Most of the entries are 3-4 pages long, and that includes the poem, which itself takes up one page usually due to its format. Each entry also indicates who the author(s) of the poems are, and their date of birth and death (if applicable) is also provided.

Ryken does a wonderful job of providing the spiritual and poetic meaning of each hymn in a very concise manner. His writing is very understandable, so you don’t need to be a literature major to follow along with his expositions. They are very heart-warming entries that, coupled with meditation upon the given biblical passage, lead to worship and adoration of the Triune God! 

Where to Buy 40 Favorite Hymns on the Christian Life

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The book can be found at P&R’s website and Amazon, as well as anywhere that Christian books are sold. 

Summary

I highly recommend this book to be read by all Christians. I would also suggest this book to be used within family worship times. Though music isn’t included (which makes sense if you read the above), this book could be used without a hymnal if you’re familiar with the melody of any of these hymns. This is a wonderful little book that I am grateful to P&R for publishing. 

Disclaimer: My thanks to P&R Publishing Company for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book as part of the Reviewer Program. The opinions expressed are my own.