Category Archives: Historical

I come from a worship tradition that emphasizes the great hymns of old. You wouldn’t find electric guitars or backing vocalists at my home church…rather, our congregation (Lutheran – Missouri Synod) focuses primarily on traditional instrumentation and traditional songs.

Fast forward a few years and I’m attending a Christian college where few students are familiar with these hymns. Most of my classmates are more comfortable with Chris Tomlin, Hillsong United, and Matt Redman than Fanny Crosby, Isaac Watts, and Charles Wesley. As one might expect, this was a relatively abrupt transition.

It is the dichotomy between old and new worship traditions that Robert Morgan has sought to address in his series “Then Sings My Soul.” Fortunately for new readers such as myself, each book is a stand-alone work. This one is divided into four sections: first, an overview of Christian hymnody through the centuries (from Biblical to modern times); second, a series of short backstories for a variety of hymns; third, several extended accounts detailing the composition of six well-loved hymns; and fourth, two essays on the role of hymns in private and public life.

This four-part structure occasionally gives the book a disjointed feel, but to be fair, this work probably wasn’t intended to be read in one sitting. As a daily devotional, I’m sure it would be outstanding. Numerous brief vignettes describe the history behind well-loved hymns (“How Great Thou Art,” “Blessed Assurance,” etc.) while offering devotional commentary and ideas for implementation into worship.

The book really picks up energy, however, in its latter half. Several fascinating extended anecdotes shed light on the origins of still more classic hymns – for instance, one tells the story of Horatio Spafford (author of “It Is Well”), providing information not often included in modern accounts. Throughout the book, it is abundantly clear that Morgan has done his homework – detailed background material is constantly offered.

The book’s concluding essay, “Old New Praise,” is one of the best and most cogent pieces on church music that I’ve ever read. Morgan calls for “interwoven worship” that blends the great hymns of Christian history with the contemporary praise songs of today. He indicts the recent tendency toward separating “traditional” and “contemporary” worship styles, recognizing that value and significance may be found in both. Instead, Morgan calls for a synthesis: retaining the greatest hymns of the past while embracing modern songs. In response to criticism that modern praise music lacks depth, Morgan simply points to the thousands of shallow hymns that have been produced throughout Christian history (not all classic English hymns are on par with “Amazing Grace”!). Present-day hymns with legitimate value, Morgan contends, will survive – but it will take time to sift them out.

Is “Then Sings My Soul” worth buying?

As a historical work, the book is intriguing but may be too superficial for some (it treats many hymns in a page or less). As a devotional work for longtime lovers of the hymnody, however, it succeeds marvelously. Morgan also offers a balanced vision for church music that may be reasonably embraced by both traditionalists and modernists. At the very least, it’s well worth a read – church librarians would be advised to consider buying a copy. Morgan’s love for the classic hymns of the past is contagious…and it’s a love that today’s Christian leaders would be well served to share.

VERDICT: 8/10
An informative, well-written exploration of Christian hymnody through the centuries.

* I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I’m definitely a fan of Cold War-era spy thrillers (Clancy, Ludlum, etc.), not to mention John le Carré’s classic “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.” Thus, when I heard that a Hollywood production of le Carré’s best-known novel – “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” – was in the works, I was optimistic. The cast looked stellar – Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, and Colin Firth, just to name a few – and early reviews were glowing.

Rarely have I been so wrong about a movie. “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” ranks among the worst films I have ever seen.

The plot is incomprehensible. A full hour into the movie, all I had ascertained was that “there is a mole at the highest level of British Intelligence, and retired spymaster George Smiley has been called in to find the mole.” This should have been an intense, tautly plotted thriller – especially given its fascinating setting and straightforward plot. Instead, viewers are treated to a montage of dull, disjointed interactions between lifeless characters.

Several problems stand out as particularly egregious. For starters, there’s virtually no dialogue, which makes it difficult from the get-go to understand what’s happening. There is also a serious problem with identifying characters – while the same faces turn up throughout the movie, their names are mentioned once in a muttered whisper, which makes it next-to-impossible to tell who is who. The film also relies on a nonlinear narrative structure – a technique employed beautifully in films like “Memento,” but one that’s utterly botched here. The time frame is consistently murky, which negates any suspense or tension.

Most crucially, however, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” is stupendously dull. 95% of the movie may be summarized as “aging British men talk in decrepit London rooms.” From a filmmaking standpoint, this plays out as “two characters exchange three or four meaningless sentences in a decaying office, and then two more characters exchange three or four equally meaningless sentences in a decaying living room. Repeat pattern for the next two hours.” That’s not to say that a movie can’t be subtle – but these characters are paper-thin robots sleepwalking through an uninteresting plot.

I am perfectly comfortable appreciating difficult movies (“The Fountain” is one of my all-time favorites) but “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” is utterly devoid of substance. A slow-paced film like “The Tree of Life” explores deeply spiritual and meaningful themes, but there is no such subtext at work here. If I felt that the aesthetics of “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” were communicating a particular message, this review would be less harsh. But there’s simply very little to praise in this movie.

Objectionable content in the movie (which carries an R rating) comes in the form of briefly glimpsed nudity, a handful of f-words, and one or two bloody shootings. More objectionable than any of these elements, however, is the fact that two irretrievable hours of one’s life are wasted on this film. There’s no intriguing worldview underlying this film, other than “life is miserable, dull, and fragmented.”

While the set design is impeccable, this movie is a complete and total failure. (I would have labeled this movie a “train wreck,” but a train wreck would be far more interesting than this film.) I found it to be a waste of $10 and two hours. You will likely feel the same.

VERDICT: 2/10
2 stars because of good staging and set design. That’s it.

Normalized Score: 0.0