The New Century Hymnal - Inclusive Language and The New Century Hymnal

Inclusive Language and The New Century Hymnal

The New Century Hymnal is perhaps most famous both in and outside the United Church of Christ for its approach to using "inclusive language". Arthur Clyde, hymnal editor, writes "The New Century Hymnal is not the first hymnal to deal with the issue of inclusive language. It does, however, represent the most even and consistent approach to language of any hymnal yet published. Rather than choosing to present only new hymns in inclusive language, those responsible for the language of this hymnal took the General Synod request for an inclusive hymnal quite literally. Thus hymns of other ages are presented in ways that seek to maintain the theology and beauty of the original but without some of the biases of the time in which they were written."

Clyde identifies a number of approaches and concerns implemented in considering hymn text language, which include:

• Translation: Some hymns that were written in languages other than English were retranslated to avoid the linguistic biases of the older translation.
• Archaic Language: Avoiding "thee", "thine", "thou", "ebenezer", "betide", etc. since such language is no longer commonplace in English and is losing its intelligibility to new generations.
• Gender of God: Seeking to reduce the solely-masculine use of language for God, and/or balancing masculine images with feminine and non-gendered images (A few Trinitarian references to God "The Father" were retained). The United Church of Christ describes the New Century Hymnal as "the only hymnal released by a Christian church that honors in equal measure both male and female images of God."
• Gender of Christ: Retaining masculine language for Jesus when the context is his historical, earthly life, but attempting to avoid masculine language for in reference to "the resurrected Jesus, the Christ, who is our Sovereign."The United Church of Christ describes the New Century Hymnal as "the only hymnal released by a Christian church that honors in equal measure both male and female images of God."
• Sensitivity to the use of the word "Lord": Recognizing that "Lord" implies authority/sovereignty, but also a gender (male), the hymnal retains many references to Jesus as "Lord" (particularly in well-known 'memorized' hymns), removes them from non-English texts where Lord was introduced in translation, and changed language in certain other cases. Furthermore, "Lord" is not employed as a name for God (only Jesus Christ). "The overall result of the entire revision process is that the word 'Lord' appears with less frequency than in many other hymnals". The United Church of Christ describes the New Century Hymnal as "the only hymnal released by a Christian church that honors in equal measure both male and female images of God."
• Kings, Kingdoms, and Masters: Noting its gendered status, "King" as a reference for God was avoided as much as possible. Similarly, "Master" is not only masculine, but also evokes the oppressive imagery of master-and-slave. In both cases, various alternatives were implemented, including the use of "Sovereign" as implying the same sovereignty metaphor as king. Similarly, in many places the gendered "Kingdom" was avoided by using words such as "realm" or "dominion." The United Church of Christ describes the New Century Hymnal as "the only hymnal released by a Christian church that honors in equal measure both male and female images of God."
• Militaristic Language: As Clyde writes, "It is certain that some will lament the loss of metaphors, but others cannot sing language of such strong military tendency in a world where violence abounds." In many cases, the message of struggle, conflict, and fight was retained, but with 'toned-down' militarism. For example, in "For All the Saints", "O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold, fight as the saints who nobly fought of old, and win with them the victor's crown of gold" becomes "Still may your people, faithful, true and bold, live as the saints who nobly fought of old, and share with them a glorious crown of gold."
• Trinitarian Language: "The hymnal committee developed a statement concerning the trinitarian formula: 'Where a hymn is clearly trinitarian, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit language may be used, but we will consult poets, theologians, and others in order to search for new ways of expressing the Triune God within the orthodox parameters.'"
• Gender inclusivity with regard to humanity: Language that does not employ male gender-marked words referring to people has been used throughout. The United Church of Christ describes the New Century Hymnal as "the only hymnal released by a Christian church that honors in equal measure both male and female images of God."
• Use of the Word "Dark": Recognizing the racial implications of many traditional uses where "dark" was meant as negative, bad, or evil, the hymnal has sought to find different language to indicate the contrast or show the absence of light ("shadows" instead of "darkness", or "drive the storms of doubt away" instead of "drive the dark of doubt away", as examples)
• Language about people's abilities: "If the hymn indicates that one must walk or see in this life to participate in the faith, then a change is warranted. If the hymn indicates that walking or seeing or hearing are things that happen when one is utterly overwhelmed by finding oneself in the presence of God in the hereafter, then a change is not necessary."

The language revisions made necessary by these principles became very controversial upon the hymnal's release. Some congregations, mainly from more liberal backgrounds, found the changes liberating, while other ones, typically of moderate-to-conservative theological or social bent, have refused to adopt the new hymnal because they feel the changes were too "radical". Most often, however, complaints about the changes are not theological, but rather because the updated language is seen as unpoetic or as conflicting against the congregation's stored memory (these complaints are particularly made in relation to Christmas carols and American songs, such as America the Beautiful). The 1995 issues of Prism (the theological journal of the UCC) contain critiques and criticisms of the new hymnal.

The New Century Hymnal is not alone in having received this criticism; the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and predecessor bodies) and the 1982 Lutheran Worship (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) hymnals received similar complaints from parishioners and clergy about language revision (although even with the criticisms, the Lutheran Book of Worship eventually achieved much more widespread adoption in its denomination than either The New Century Hymnal in the UCC or Lutheran Worship in the LCMS). All three bodies mentioned operate under a substantially congregational polity, with no denominational mechanisms compelling uniform usage.