For over forty years, Leland Ryken has championed and modeled a Christian liberal arts education. His scholarship and commitment to integrating faith with learning in the classroom have influenced thousands of students who have sat under his winsome teaching. Published in honor of Professor Ryken and presented on the occasion of his retirement from Wheaton College, this compilation carries on his legacy of applying a Christian liberal arts education to all areas of life.Five sectio...

Learn the surprising history shared by some of today's most popular hymns. How did "How Great Thou Art," an obscure Swedish hymn, get covered by Elvis? How did "Just as I Am" save Johnny Cash? How did dc Talk sanctify '90s pop rock?In short: the Billy Graham crusades.Music animated these evangelistic extravaganzas, all of it carefully orchestrated by the "chord of three": celebrated preacher Billy Graham, Gospel Music Hall of Fame baritone Geo...

Hymns and hymnbooks as American historical and cultural icons.This work is a study of the importance of Protestant hymns in defining America and American religion. It explores the underappreciated influence of hymns in shaping many spheres of personal and corporate life as well as the value of hymns for studying religious life. Distinguishing features of this volume are studies of the most popular hymns (“Amazing Grace,” “O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” “All Hail the Power of J...

This volume is the first to examine at length and in detail the impact of the missionary experience on American cultural, political, and religious history.This collection of 15 essays provides a fully developed account of the domestic significance of foreign missions from the 19th century through the Vietnam War. U.S. and Canadian missions to China, South America, Africa, and the Middle East have, it shows, transformed the identity and purposes of their mother coun...

The latest scholarship on the role of hymns in American evangelicalismMusic and song are important parts of worship, and hymns have long played a central role in Protestant cultural history. This book explores the ways in which Protestants have used and continue to use hymns to clarify their identity and define their relationship with America and to Christianity. Representing seven groups—Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Mennonites, Holiness, Hispanics,...

Since the appearance of The Bay Psalm Book in 1640, music has served as a defining factor for American religious experience and has been of fundamental importance in the development of American identity and psyche. The essays in this long-awaited volume explore the diverse ways in which music shapes the distinctive presence of religion in the United States and address the fullness of music's presence in American religious history. Timely, challenging, and stimulating, this collect...