What does everyone think of metrical Psalms?

Discussion in 'Liturgy, and Book of Common Prayer' started by DadHocHypothesis, Jul 21, 2022.

  1. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    I heard that as well when I was visiting Jamestowne Settlement once.

    I just saw news yesterday that Archdeacon Rehberg and Bishop Seely of CONNAM are preparing to run a camp for chanting in San Antonio, TX.
     
  2. DadHocHypothesis

    DadHocHypothesis Member

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    I suppose it sounds right if one goes by the stereotypes of the time. Williamsburg is the only part of the Historic Triangle I've ever visited, and unfortunately, Bruton Parish Church doesn't recreate Colonial-era liturgy (though I wish they would).

    I'm conflicted about whether to replace the 1928 Psalter in my book of devotions with Dru Brooks' metrical version. On one hand, metrical Psalters were how many actually learned the Psalms, and hoi polloi really loved them in their time. On the other, it seems they were never used as part of the liturgy, just as insertions into it. Perhaps the better question there is what the book ought to be: a devotional for just me, a private devotional for Anglicans and fanboys, or a crash-course in Prayer Book spirituality for non-Anglicans.

    It's like every day I discover a new Anglican denomination!
     
  3. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    CONNAM: Church of Nigeria North American Mission

    This was known as CANA previously. When they disaffiliated from ACNA they rebranded. Now I see Bishop Felix saying ACNA is the future. We'll see what that means.
     
  4. Mockingbird

    Mockingbird Member

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    The following description of worship in the first Queen Elizabeth's time from Holinshed's Chronicles suggests that the prose psalms were used for the appointed psalms at Morning Prayer:
    It specifies that the psalms at the office were "read", while it does not specify the method of reciting the psalms at the sermon. Those psalms at the sermon were probably metrical psalms, while the psalms that were "read" were probably prose psalms.

    Charles Wheatly, in discussing the use of the sixty-seventh and hundredth psalms as alternatives to the canticles at the office, makes the following remark:

     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2023
  5. CRfromQld

    CRfromQld Moderator Staff Member

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    For the other people who didn't know what it meant.

    Laudianism was an early seventeenth-century reform movement within the Church of England, promulgated by Archbishop William Laud and his supporters. It rejected the predestination upheld by the previously-dominant Calvinism in favour of free will, and hence the possibility of salvation for all men. It is probably best known for its impact on the Anglican High Church movement and its emphasis on liturgical ceremony and clerical hierarchy.

    Metrical Psalms, or Psalms in Meter, are versions of psalms (usually from the 150 in the biblical book of Psalms) rewritten to make them readily singable in stanzaic, metrical form. Examples include several famous versions of Psalm 23, such as The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want from the Scottish Psalter of 1650, My Shepherd Will Supply My Need by Isaac Watts, and The King of Love My Shepherd Is by Henry Williams Baker.

    Some churches are more inclined to the use of metrical psalms than others, and this tends to be reflected in the denominational hymnals. An example of a current hymnal with a full metrical psalter is the Psalter Hymnal of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, whose first 150 hymns are complete metrical versions of the 150 biblical psalms.