Hymns by Women Authors in the New Covenant Hymnal
Author: Chuck King
August 07, 2025
Part 3: Fanny Crosby: Hymns of Joy
The story of Fanny Jane Crosby (1820-1915) is familiar to many; her hymns are even more familiar. The list of her hymns in the NCC hymnal (The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration, HWC) is among the longest in the collection (15)–-surpassed (by one) only by Charles Wesley*, and equaled by no other hymn writer of any generation.
Blinded at the age of six, she was educated to the extent possible for a nineteenth-century female without sight. With an apparently natural flare for poetry, she wrote lyric poetry and gospel songs, many of which were popular in her day. She met presidents, jurists, governors, and war heroes. She was frequently tasked with composing poems to welcome and honor famous visitors to the institutions where she studied and taught. Hers was the first female voice heard in the Senate chamber, Washington, D.C. (reading one of her poems).
Her hymns were integral to the emerging business of gospel music publishing. Our own Dr. Edith Blumhofer wrote an excellent biography: Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby. You’ll be glad you read it!
What is it about Fanny Crosby’s hymns? Perhaps the most evident feature is joy. What Dr. Don Hustad called “the primary emotion in Christian worship” is present even in her hymns of repentance and meditation on the cross. (See HWC 337, 358, 365, 385.) We more often sing those hymns of undisguised joy: “To God Be the Glory” (66), “Praise Him! Praise Him!” (106), and “Redeemed (how I love to proclaim it).” “Redeemed” is so joyful that HWC has it in two very singable tunes, 520 and 521.
Then, there is an evangelist’s urgency, a heart for missions: “Rescue the Perishing” (299), “Jesus Is Calling” (327), and “Saved by Grace” (550). The distribution of her hymns in HWC spans a number of themes, but many are found in those sections related to the Christian life. “Pass Me Not” (337), “I Am Thine, O Lord” (358), “Close to Thee” (365), and “He Hideth My Soul” (496). Her urgency for holiness and for ministry, and her love of Jesus, her gratitude for grace, and her commitment to the gospel, have placed her hymns at the core of mainstream evangelical song.
One hundred ten years after her death, Fanny Crosby continues to bless the church with songs of joy in all things.
Sources: Fanny Crosby Speaks Again (ed. Donald P. Hustad); www.hymnary.org; and Edith Blumhofer, Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby.
*Like Charles Wesley, Miss Crosby’s total poetic output numbers in the thousands; most have never been set to music.
Chuck King, M.M., M.A., is Music Director of New Covenant Church in Naperville.
Photo by Geoff Chang on Unsplash.
BACK