Metrical psalmody in Pennsylvania

Last week I was privileged to speak at two educational institutions in the Pittsburgh area, Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge and Geneva College in Beaver Falls. Trinity is an independent Anglican seminary that serves the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), along with overseas Anglican provinces. On wednesday, 15 February, I spoke twice at Trinity. During the morning I spoke on "Ideology and Idolatry," the topic of my first book. In the evening, I turned to my work with the Psalms, speaking on "Geneva in England: Singing the Psalms in Metre." My talk covered some of the same material on which I spoke last May at Calvin University, but this time I focussed more on the Sternhold & Hopkins Psalter of 1562 and the Tate & Brady "New Version" Psalter of 1696. These, of course, were used in public worship in the Church of England until the end of the 18th century. Most contemporary Anglicans are unaware that their forebears ever sang metrical psalmody.

The man responsible for my coming is my good friend William G. Witt, who teaches systematic theology and ethics at Trinity. We were both graduate students at Notre Dame in the 1980s, so we've been friends for a long time. Among the items in his personal library is a Book of Common Prayer for use in the Protestant Episcopal Church dated 1845. As I paged through this ancient volume, I found a section titled, "Selections from the Psalms of David, in metre; with hymns suited to the Feasts and Fasts of the Church and other Occasions of Public Worship." The versifications are those of Tate & Brady.

I found this volume fascinating, because it is evidence that, well into the middle of the 19th century, American Episcopalians were still singing, if not the entire Tate & Brady Psalter, at least selections from it.

You can read more about my western Pennsylvania visit here.