I’ve been reading Her Heart Can See, by Edith L. Blumhofer for a bit. It’s billed as “The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby,” but really it’s about the “Life and Times of Fanny J. Crosby.” Actually the times part of my version for the sub-title is the greatest strength of the book.
Her Heart Can See takes for an interesting journey through the world of 19th Century Evangelicalism – exploring how it coped, evolved, and managed to thrive in an era of great social upheaval. It’s a fascinating read once you get deeper into the examination of the world of Fanny Crosby. The first section is necessary to understand the material, but it does tend to drag.
What I have found most interesting as I’ve read this book is just how much the language and approaches of modern Evangelicalism™ originated in the 19th Century, as well as the positive impact that Evanglical Christianity had on the United States during the 1800’s. I’ve known for years that certain things that Evangelicals assume are as old as the Church really started out of the Holiness Revivals of the 19th Century, but Blumhofer does a such wonderful job unfolding the world of 1800’s Evangelicalism that the links are hard to miss. Actually, reading this book made me laugh (and, to be honest, bang my head on the desk a bit) because Evangelicals are still fighting the same battles. While most Americans applauded the growth of music schools in the early 1800’s, many also came to derride what was viewed as repetitive emotional pietism embedded into the musich which was the legacy of those schools – music which appealed to intuition and heart rather than doctrine and heart. Fanny J. Crosby’s music, for example, fit well into the Holiness tradition – but did not include the doctrinal depth of earlier Methodist hymns. The recitation of those arguments were hauntingly familiar.
At the same time, Blumhofer did an admirable job in showing why Evanglicals shifted into a much more intense form of Evangelism in the 1800’s. The population explosion, combined with the technological innovations, of the early 19th Century led to a wide-spread poverty and lack of education that was previously unknown in either the Colonies or the Early Republic. As a result, Evangelicals strove to combat the lack of education and morality by offering an emotional appeal to a better life. It was a novel approach in the United States at the time, and it’s the same strategy that is often used today – with very little alteration. While I’m critical of how the approach works out in the world of the 21st Century, Blumhofer led me to appreciate why the shift was (almost sub-consciously) undertaken – faced with a great trial American Evangelicals in the 1800’s did their best to be a blessing to their world. I wish they’d make a similar shift today.
It would be wrong to say, however, that Evangelicals only tried to be a blessing by offering a mentally vapid (but emotionally appealing) Gospel. Blumhofer spends significant time exploring the Evanglical push to improve both society in general, and Church singing in particular, through the introduction of European “scientific” music. Through this emphasis Evangelicals offered one of their greatest gifts to American culture, the pursuit of music education in public schools. So, for all you band geeks out there, be sure to thank an Evangelical for your fondest band memories some time. They won’t know what you’re talking about, probably (Evangelicals™ are a-historical unfortunately), but perhaps you can help Evangelicals to remember who they were a long time ago. Lowell Mason’s passion for improved congregational singing also gave birth to the Boston Academy of Music. The 1800’s were a time when Evangelicals wanted to creatively shape and support culture as part of their religous impulse. Sadly, that impulse has shifted in Evangelicals™ so that they now conservatively hide from and mimic culture – a tragedy made all the more sad when one looks at the need for creative contributions during our current societial upheaval spawned by the digital era.
All in all, if you’re even the least bit interested in the history of Evangelical faith in America, you really should consider reading Her Heart Can See. At the very least you’ll understand where that dang rally day ritual came from.
