Recent customer reviews from Christianbook.com

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by Joyce (Huntsville, AL), July 15, 2010

Just what we needed. Has old & new which we love. We have a small church with a new beginning and these will work great for us. Hope to need to order more in the near future.

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by Keith (Hurricane, WV), June 14, 2010

I am a hymnal collector, and I have over 20 different hymnals in my collection. Though I like them, I have a problem with each one of them for various reasons. This hymnal is stunning. I simply cannot believe the care that has been taken in its compilation. The incorporation of Gospel songs and liturgical hymns makes it available to various traditions. The Christmas section is unbeatable. Also, one of the many complaints I receive from pastors concerning their church hymnals is that the key settings are just too high for their congregation to sing comfortably. This is not so with The Christian Life Hymnal. The hymn settings are perfect for the support of congregational song. I likewise find the explanation of the older lyrics at the bottom of the pages a nice feature. If you are contemplating the purchase of the Christian Life Hymnal for your home or church use, please consider it no more. I know as a person who is both a minister and a musician that this will be an invaluable and irreplaceable resource.

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by Gary (Lakeport, CA), July 14, 2010

This is a great hymnal! Most of the great old hymns are there with the added benefit of being transposed to a lower key. As the pastor of a small church, I teach adult Sunday school, lead in worship through singing and then preach immediately after singing. I greatly appreciate the songs being in a lower key. My voice hasn’t been strained since we started using this hymnal. It has also benefitted the ladies who are no longer straining to “hit the high notes.” We purchased the binder for the pianist and the organist and the singers each have a hard copy of their own. Definitely worth buying.

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by Rebecca (Natchez, MS), June 11, 2010

I found this songbook perfect for the church congregation who likes to sing songs that are in a lower key than the more common original keys most songs are usually found. I also am church organist playing with a church pianist who only plays only in flats, and this book is really great for that. I am so thankful I found this book and will use it very, very often. Thank you christianbook.com

4.5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by Ed (Rochester, NY), May 15, 2010

I wanted something to ease me back into playing the keyboard after long years of just dabbling. This is a wonderful hymnal, chock full of the old standards and favorites in addition to some newer. I find myself just picking it up, reading the hymns and singing quietly to myself. I really should turn on the keyboard sometime and get going. Recommended.

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by Vickie(Bedford, PA), March 23, 2010

This is an exceptional hymnal for the low price. The hymns are in singable ranges !!! Finally a hymn book for the alto singer.

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by Ruth (Greeley, IA), April 30, 2010

Thank you. It was just what we were looking for. We have a pianist who is self taught. She plays chords with the left hand and needs the guitar chords as well as the notes. 

Review of THE CHRISTIAN LIFE HYMNAL in THE ORGAN by David Baker

I found an on-line review of The Christian Life Hymnal by David Baker in THE ORGAN recently.

This North American-published collection of 641 hymns combines old and new in a useful anthology that will complement hymnals with a more UK-centric approach. There are many popular tunes and texts from this side of the Atlantic, but a good many also that were unknown to me that could usefully be added to the repertoire of the church choir (as simple anthems) if not the congregation. The hymnals compilers have adopted a policy of relatively low keys for most of the tunes; this will be useful to the organist who finds transposing a challenge and also congregations that would welcome a less stretching range, especially when it comes to the treble. I certainly find modern worship songs in particular pitched too high for the average male voice. This edition might encourage more men to join in the singing! The edition is well printed, though the compact layout at times caused me problems, given that the texts are typically printed between the two staves. However, once one gets used to the arrangement, it is actually quite convenient. The various indices are also useful, though the type size was far too small in places, and (magnifying) glasses will be required. This is nevertheless a useful addition to the hymnal corpus, even though I would expect its usefulness to be relatively limited in most churches. DB

Copyright Musical Opinion Limited May-Jul 2007

Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved

Entry on HymnWiki.org

Christian Life Hymnal, 2006

This is a hymnal edited by Eric Wyse, a Tennessee church musician employed by an Anglican church, and published by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. in 2006. It is not denominational in focus.

It contains 641 numbered items, of which the first 607 are hymns or songs and the remainder are service music. The collection features fewer recent hymns and fewer one-stanza “Praise songs” than recent hymnals from “competing” non-denominational hymnal publishers like Word Music, Inc. and Hope Publishing Company. Such material is not completely lacking, but is much less predominant here.

The selection includes many late-nineteenth century gospel hymns that have been pushed out of competing hymnals by the very newer hymns that are here omitted. Examples might include “O Boundless Salvation” by the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth; “Beulah Land” by Edgar Page Stites; “Master, the Tempest Is Raging” by Mary Ann Baker; and “Only Believe” by Paul Rader.

Notable too is the tendency to include more stanzas of many hymns than are included in other recent non-denominational and evangelical hymnals, for example, comparing selected hymns in the Christian Life Hymnal (CLH) with Word’s Hymnal for Worship & Celebration (HWC), we find that the former has six stanzas of “All Creatures of Our God and King” to HWC’s four; “Crown Him with Many Crowns” is seven versus four; etc., with CLH having more stanzas almost five times more often than HWC does. The publisher’s claim that they have “all the verses” is however an exaggeration; for example, while their five verses of “How Firm a Foundation” outnumber HWC’s four, CLH is still missing two (the second and sixth) of the complete seven found in the 1985 LDS Hymnal. [Note: I have asked the publisher to clarify - our intent was not to mislead - we are not trying to fool people that all 18 stanzas of "O for a Thousand Tongues" are included (they are not, but we did include 7 with the tune AZMON); simply, we tried to include more of the stanza's commonly used in hymnals and let the music director in a church decide which ones to use that day. Thus '"For All the Saints" had 8 stanzas; "Lo, How a Rose E'er Bloming", 4; "Our Great Savior," 5: etc. Perhaps better wording in the advertising copy would be: " Contains many more stanzas to longer hymns than most recently published hymnals. - Eric]

Another interesting feature is that more hymns than usual are set to two or even three tunes. For example, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” is set to Beecher, Hyfrydol and Blaenwern, where most hymnals give only one tune; “Amazing Grace” is set not only to the ubiquitous New Britain but also to Land of Rest.

This hymnal has a larger Christmas section than most, with “Advent”, “Birth” and “Epiphany” encompassing 73 songs. The indexes, too, are more copious than in many hymnals, with a Scriptural Allusion Index, a Hymn Tune Index, a Metrical Tune Index, an index of Authors Composers, and Sources, a Church Year Index, a Topical Index, and an index of Hymn Titles and First Lines with Key.

All in all, The Christian Life Hymnal is one of the most noteworthy hymnals to appear in the new millennium.

-HymnWiki.org

Here’s what people are saying about the ACCOMPANIST EDITION (reviews from ChristianBook.com)

Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5 out of 5 stars Reviewed by HOLLY BAIRD (Zurich, Montana), January 01, 2009
I definitely agree with the other 5 star reviews of this accompaniment edition! I would like to add that the music is written in very easy to understand format, without complicated score, which is helpful when one needs to pick up a new tune quickly. I highly recommend to anyone of any skill level!

5 out of 5 stars Reviewed by Martin Reynolds (Manchester M41 9nw, UNITED KINGDOM), October 16, 2008
I have found this Hymn Book is GREAT. With being spiral bound & clearly marked, it fits lovely on my Yamaha Clavanova Piano. Well worth the money & a variety of Hymns & Gospel Songs. I am a trained singer & pianist & organist & could find many hymns not in normal hymn books EXCELLENT. 10/10 STARS!!! MARTIN UK.

5 out of 5 stars Reviewed by Victoria Miles (Buzzards Bay, MA), August 11, 2008
I ordered this book two years ago and just received it. Definitely worth the wait!! This book is wonderful. It makes it easy to make copies for the people in our praise team. Also it is 6-hole punched, not 3-hole, thereby making it less likely that pages will fall out of the binder. Also guitar chords are typed above the piano notes. And two choices are given for the guitarist: For example, “F” or “D Capo 3″ with all the associated transposed chords. An added bonus is guitar chord charts at the end of the binder. Very helpful!!! This book would be a fantastic value at $200. The price is a “steal” considering all the benefits this book offers. If you are considering a hymnal for your congregation, two other pluses include: *verses from multiple translations and *each hymn/song is in a lower key, because the original keys for hymns are usually too high!

ANOTHER REVIEW…

Great review on the CBD website on the hymnal:

5 out of 5 stars Reviewed by Grace Bible Baptist Church (Accokeek, MD), October 24, 2008

There are several reasons we chose and why you should choose The Christian Life Hymnal. The most important reason is these hymns are true to God’s Word. Each hymn gives a scripture reference that inspired or backs up it’s message. Frankly, I am amazed at the value for the money. I challenge you to find a better price anywhere: it’s not likely to happen. It has over 600 hymns and songs. In those 600+ hymns and songs you have so many of the old favorites: How Great thou Art, It Is Well With My Soul, Amazing Grace, The Old Rugged Cross. If you so choose you could do 3 or 4 songs at every service and never repeat a single song within a year of getting these hymnals. There is a large amount of seasonal songs. I was very impressed with the Christmas section when I looked at it. I could keep on going, but I will conclude my comments by saying that I am very glad we found this hymnbook and you will be glad as well.

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REVIEW: The Living Church 15 July 2007

Review in THE LIVING CHURCH (An Independent Weekly Supporting Catholic Anglicanism):

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE HYMNAL

Hendrickson Publishers. Pp 668. $9.95

ISBN 1565639529

Every hymnal errs in one direction or another. And there is no perfect hymnal (except, apparently, according to some people in the pew, the one that has just been replaced by the latest model!) The Christian Life Hymnal is no exception. On the positive side, it contains many of the standard hymns one would expect to see in any hymnbook of quality. In addition, it contains a goodly number of songs drawn from the contemporary Christian music industry of the past 20 or 30 years by artists such as Twila Paris and Stuart Townend.

There has also been a recognition by the editors that today’s congregation may not understand some of the lofty antediluvian language of old texts. (What exactly is a diadem, anyway?) They have, therefore, footnoted such words with definitions to assist the reader in worship. Finally, tucked quietly away in the back, there are a number of new settings of service music. In particular, composer Eric Wyse has offered Mass settings that are both interesting and singable. Church organists seeking a little variety should take note.

On the down side, The Christian Life Hymnal overdraws from evangelical revivalist songs of the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. This could leave a congregation unfamiliar with this genre more or less uncomfortable and unable to use a significant portion of the hymnal. More than once, the very order in which the hymns are presented is cause for amusement. For example, Hymn 400 title “Does Jesus Care?” is followed by number 401 “No, Not One!”

The Christian Life Hymnal offers good quality for the price for use in public worship or private devotion. The typesetting is readable. As an independent hymnbook, it attempts to serve a broad ecumenical audience. That is not easy to do and this is a good effort.

–(The Rev.) Scott Allen Seefeldt

Racine, Wis.

© The Living Church Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.