Songs of Faith

Songs of Faith Hymnal - Cover

The hymnal, Songs of Faith, was a 1933 publication of Southern Baptists.


As you can tell, the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention released this volume about 7 years prior to the Broadman Hymnal. It was during the time when Dr. I.J. Van Ness was leading that institution – you can see his signature under his introduction to the hymnal. (Some will recognize this name because of songs copyrighted by Van Ness Press.) At that time, Hope Publishing Company published Songs of Faith for Southern Baptists. This was before B.B. McKinney became music editor for the Sunday School Board in 1935. (See B.B. McKinney: A Shaping Force in Southern Protestant Music, the doctoral dissertation for Terry C. Terry, August, 1981.)

Songs of Faith Hymnal - Title
Songs of Faith - Foreword


Those familiar with the Broadman Hymnal will readily see many similarities. Two that I noticed right away are the page layout and the inclusion of choral anthems. In fact, I recognize many of the hymns in this volume because they are in the Broadman Hymnal or the 1956 Baptist Hymnal. It includes only 307 numbered musical selections plus the Call to Worship under the Van Ness signature, so it is a smaller book than these other two.

Songs of Faith Hymnal - First Page
Songs of Faith - Elements
Songs of Faith - Hymns
Songs of Faith - Anthem

Songs of Faith also includes the basic General Index and a Topical Index. It also has a selection of Responsive Readings. For a list of the hymns included in this volume, please check hymnary.org.

Songs of Faith - Index
Songs of Faith - Topical
Songs of Faith - Readings


Unfortunately, I was unable to find any additional information from my currently available resources. If you know more about Songs of Faith or have a working knowledge of it, I would love for you to give us more information.

Songs of Faith Hymnal - Spine

Blessings,
Richard


PS: this hymnal was among those donated by Bill Coen. Thank you, Bill!
PPS: I posted the original article on Facebook on March 10, 2021. I have edited it for inclusion here.