Heilige gezangen

The Reformed Church and hymns: the relationship between these two has always been problematic throughout Dutch church history. Following in the footsteps of Calvin, the 150 Psalms, as the God-given hymns for the worship service, have been afforded a central place since the establishment of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands from the sixteenth century onward. Other hymns are rejected as product of human ingenuity. Throughout the centuries the conservative Reformed have maintained that position and this principle is still supported and promoted within the Reformed experiential community, also referred to as the ‘Biblebelt’. But remarkably enough, the Dutch Reformed have, nonetheless, always had a small collection of hymns in their Psalters. A number of hymns is included in the Psalter of Petrus Dathenus of 1566, that is used until far into the eighteenth century. And in the Authorized State Psalter of 1773, that replaces the Psalter of Dathenus, these hymns reappear in a new rhymed version as ‘Eenige Gezangen’ (‘A few Hymns’).

In this study ”Heilige gezangen” (Sacred Hymns), this collection of ‘Eenige Gezangen’ takes central stage. This study intends to answer such questions as: How did this collection of hymns come into existence? What is the origin of each of these hymns? And why did they acquire this unique status?

This book fills a hymnological gap, and offers a contribution to the study of the history of congregational singing in the Netherlands.

Proefschrift: http://hdl.handle.net/11370/a19a5111-ca44-4b4e-8458-24baf66c14ea