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Hello and welcome to another short bonus episode of the Giants of the Faith podcast. Today we're taking at look at that preeminent Christmas hymn from Isaac Watts - the one that you and I have sung hundreds of times during the season of Advent - that is in fact not a Christmas hymn at all. It is, in fact, a song looking at the second advent - the second coming of Christ. I'm speaking, of course, of Joy to the World.

RESOURCES

The Gospel Coalition: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/joy-to-the-world-a-classic-christmas-hymn-reconsidered/

Prince on Preaching: https://www.davidprince.com/2015/12/23/joy-to-the-world-christmas-and-the-second-coming/

Ligonier Ministries: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/joy-to-the-world-all-year-long

Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/PUBLICDOMAINJoytotheWorld

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You’ve surely heard or read something about the coming AI revolution spurred on by OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google. I thought it’d be interesting to incorporate AI into an experimental podcast episode. I asked Microsoft’s Bing AI to write a biography of Isaac Watts that’s suitable for a podcast and then asked it a follow-up question about Congregationalism. What you’re about to hear is the result. And just for fun it’s read by Microsoft's Immersive Reader. 

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Today's episode is focused on, as my good friend Pastor Dave Ungar would say, the big mamma jamma. He's the Father of English Hymnody, the genius of logic and theology, the Master of Metre, the Puritan Poet, the Prince of Praise, the dissenting unrelenting Southampton Singer, Isaac "Wondrous" Watts. Well, silly introductions aside, Isaac Watts was a remarkable man.

RESOURCES

Wholesome Words: https://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bwatts7.html

Banner of Truth: https://banneroftruth.org/us/about/banner-authors/isaac-watts/

Christian Classics Ethereal Library: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/watts

The Reformed Reader: https://www.reformedreader.org/watts.htm

Evangelical Movement of Wales: https://www.emw.org.uk/2020/05/when-i-survey/

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In our regular episodes we're progressing through a season featuring hymnists that have produced some of the greatest hymns in the history of the Church. But it kind of begs the question - what is a hymn? To be honest, that's not something that occurred to me to ask until I was five episodes through profiling hymn writers. To me, hymns just are what they are and you know one when you hear one. But there has to be more to it than that. And while I'm certainly no musical theorist or even a garden-variety musician I'm going to try and answer that question today.

RESOURCES

My Song in the Night: https://mysonginthenight.com/2012/10/01/what-makes-a-worship-song-a-hymn/

DifferenceBetween: http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/entertainment-miscellaneous/difference-between-song-and-hymn/

Reformed Worship: https://www.reformedworship.org/article/june-1987/what-hymn

Hymnicity: http://hymni.city/what-is-a-hymn

Evangelical Movement of Wales: https://www.emw.org.uk/2020/06/blessed-assurance/

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We're in the midst of a series profiling hymnists and in this episode I'm bringing you the life of Reginald Heber. Now, that's not a name that jumps off the page as a well known Christian – at least it didn't to me – but he wrote one of the greatest hymns, maybe even THE greatest, of all time – Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. 

RESOURCES

Hymns and Carols of Christmas: https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Biographies/reginald_heber.htm

Hymnology Archive: https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/reginald-heber

Virginia Lucas Poetry Scrapbook: https://scalar.usc.edu/works/lucas-collection-poetry-scrapbook/biography-of-bishop-reginald-heber

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Hello and welcome to episode 53 of the Giants of the Faith podcast. I'm Robert Daniels and I'm the host of this show. This is the podcast where we look at men and women from the age of the Church whose lives have had an impact for the Kingdom of God. Today we're continuing our series of episodes focused on hymn writers by looking at the Queen of Gospel Song Writers, Fanny Crosby.

RESOURCES

Christianity Today: https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/poets/fanny-crosby.html

Wholesome Words: https://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bcrosby8.html

Revive Our Hearts: https://www.reviveourhearts.com/blog/fanny-crosby-her-story-her-song/

Foundation for Economic Education: https://fee.org/articles/blind-but-not-disabled/

Enjoying the Journey: https://enjoyingthejourney.org/hymn-history-safe-in-the-arms-of-jesus/

Evangelical Movement of Wales: https://www.emw.org.uk/2020/06/blessed-assurance/

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We're continuing our series of episodes on hymn writers  And since it's almost Christmas at the time I'm publishing this episode we're going to take a look at the life of the writer of that most popular Christmas song, Silent Night  Silent Night was written by Joseph Mohr, an obscure Austrian priest who nearly went unrecognized but who's work has been enjoyed by generations of Christians. 

RESOURCES

Stille Nacht Museum: https://stillenacht-wagrain.com/e_stm_mohr.php

Salzburgerland: https://www.salzburgerland.com/en/joseph-mohr-1792-1848/

In Mozart's Footsteps: http://inmozartsfootsteps.com/836/the-story-of-silent-night-joseph-mohr-and-franz-gruber/

The Silent Night Association: https://www.stillenacht.at/en/history/joseph-mohr

The First Silent Night: https://play.google.com/store/tv/show/The_First_Silent_Night?id=2LGzbFpSGc8

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This is the podcast where we look at men and women from the age of the Church whose lives have had an impact for the Kingdom of God with the ultimate goal of finding inspiration and strengthening our faith. This is the second episode in season four of this podcast where we're exclusively focusing on hymn writers.

The subject of today's episode wrote what is widely considered the most popular English-language hymn of all time - Amazing Grace. I'm speaking, of course, of John Newton. 

RESOURCES

Christian History Institute: https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/amazingly-graced-john-newton

Ligonier Ministries: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts/5-minutes-in-church-history-with-stephen-nichols/the-life-of-john-newton

Christianity.com: https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/john-newton-discovered-amazing-grace-11630253.html

Banner of Truth: https://banneroftruth.org/us/about/banner-authors/john-newton/

Christianity Today: https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/pastorsandpreachers/john-newton.html

Challies: https://www.challies.com/articles/christian-men-and-their-godly-moms-physical-weakness-spiritual-strength/

Evangelical Movement of Wales: https://www.emw.org.uk/2020/06/amazing-grace-traditional/

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t's been a while since I've been able to record an episode so I thought we'd jump right into what I'm calling season four and for the duration of season four the episodes will focus exclusively on folks who have written some of the greatest hymns this side of heaven. We're going to kick off this season by looking at the life and times of Robert Robinson. Robinson wrote the excellent hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, which is sung by churchgoers every Sunday in churches all around the world and every night by me when I'm putting my eldest grandson to bed. I love this song, and since it happens to be my wife's favorite hymn, I could not help but kick the season off with Robinson.

RESOURCES

Baptist Bible Tribune: https://www.tribune.org/the-strange-case-of-robert-robinson/

Blue Letter Bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/hymns/bios/bio_r_o_robinson_r.cfm

Desiring God: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/was-he-too-prone-to-wander

Christianity.com: https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/did-robert-robinson-wander-as-he-feared-11630313.html

St. Augustine Record: https://www.staugustine.com/story/lifestyle/faith/2016/04/29/story-behind-song-come-thou-fount/16310394007/

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In this episode we're taking a look at the life of Jinsey Young - a woman who's dedication to Christ and Christian service transcended her era and circumstances. She is known as a light in a place that was darker than a thousand midnights. And, though you might not have ever heard her name, she is certainly qualified to be called a Giant of the Faith.

RESOURCES

Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne: http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/GrayFormedforServiceTheWorkofRosaJinseyYoung.pdf

Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church: https://ourredeemers.net/rosa-jinsey-young-mother-of-black-lutheranism/

Encyclopedia of Alabama: http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1373

The Federalist: https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/10/how-one-black-teacher-in-rural-alabama-inspired-education-and-faith-spanning-generations/

Place for Truth: https://www.placefortruth.org/blog/rosa-young-committed-to-serve

The First Rosa Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PFC68Zcpgs