What's in a [Hymnal] Name?

The United Methodist Church — and its predecessor denominations — has always been a singing church. It's an important element of our worship, and we support it through the publication of numerous hymnals and songbooks. There are frequent questions and confusion over one hymnal in particular: the 1966 hymnal published by The Methodist Church. The confusion arises over the different titles of this hymnal as well as multiple dates. Here is the story.

According to The Companion to the Hymnal, "The results of the hymnal committee's work were recorded in a 515-page report and sent in January to the delegates of the 1964 General Conference which met in Pittsburgh in April. The first major business session of the General Conference was devoted to the hymnal committee's report. After an hour's presentation and discussion, the conference adopted the report without a negative vote. Two years were spent in editing and producing the new hymnal" (p. 61).

Thus, it was the 1960 General Conference that constituted the revision process. The hymnal committee's report was approved by the April 1964 General Conference in Pittsburgh. It took more than two additional years for the hymnal to be ready for delivery (July 1966), during which time the new hymnal was being promoted and advance orders taken. The 1964 date, then, refers to the official acceptance and authorization by General Conference. The 1966 date more accurately reflects the publication date.

It's also important to remember that, by this time, The Methodist Church and The Evangelical United Brethren churches were well on the way toward merger, completed in 1968. The EUBs had published their last hymnal in 1957, so it was still relatively new. They were concerned over what would happen to their hymnal upon merger and consolidation of EUB printing facilities with those of The Methodist Church in Nashville. Responding to this concern, the post-merger called session of General Conference in St. Louis in 1970 retitled The Methodist Hymnal (1966) as The Book of Hymns and gave assurance that the 1957 EUB hymnal would remain in print for a time.

In summary:
1957: Publication of The Hymnal, the first and final official hymnal of The Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB).

1960: Methodist Church General Conference voted to revise the 1939 Methodist Hymnal

1964: Methodist General Conference accepted the proposed new Methodist Hymnal; revisions and editorial work continued an additional two years, during which time orders were placed by local churches for the new hymnal.

1966: Publication, release, and first delivery of the new Methodist Hymnal; the year 1966 most accurately reflects the date of publication of this hymnal.

1968: Merger of The Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist Churches to form The United Methodist Church; concern expressed by EUB over the fate of the 1957 hymnal.

1970: The UMC General Conference approved continued use of the 1957 EUB hymnal and the 1966 Methodist hymnal, along with the ritual and liturgy they contained, as co-equal official hymnals of the new denomination. It renamed the 1966 Methodist Hymnal as The Book of Hymns. Both hymnals continued in service until publication of the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal.